Like music to its ears, MSU's college radio station, WDBM (88.9-FM) was named College Station of the Year by Broadcast Music Inc. and the Michigan Association of Broadcasters.
The station, more familiarly known as The Impact, beat out radio stations from schools such as Central Michigan University for the regional award, which the Impact has won four out of the five years that it has been given.
"It's like the Big Ten Championship for college radio," the station's General Manager Gary Reid said.
The Impact will celebrate its 15th anniversary on Feb. 24. The station first went on air in 1989 and employs 150 people with 47 students as on-air staff. The Impact also runs http://TheFix.org, the Internet radio station.
"It's quite a massive student undertaking," Reid said. "We're on the air 24/7, 365 days a year."
The station's goal is to "play a diverse set of music and serve the community through educational organizations, and to teach people how to be a part of the radio and be DJs, producers and broadcasters," said telecommunication, information and media studies graduate student Ed Glazer. Glazer also is the station manager.
The Michigan Broadcasters Association holds its conference and awards ceremony annually, where the best college and high school broadcasters are awarded.
"It's good for high school students because they are at the awards ceremony so they see us being named station of the year, and they see the quality of our production facilities and quality of our telecommunications department," Glazer said.
For the individuals, the awards come as a confirmation of the station's success.
"I feel like I have a lot of experience, but it's a special bonus to be recognized for stuff you're putting together," said telecommunication, information and media studies graduate student Holly Giesman. She is production director for the Impact.
The Impact also won several television awards.
Glazer won an honorable mention for a public service announcement on responsible drinking, and Giesman and telecommunication, information and media studies senior Tom Lietz took second place for a public affairs announcement on careers at the Wharton Center.
"Gary instills the motivation to be as professional as possible," said telecommunication, information and media studies senior Brock Elsesser. "We're sort of an anomaly to the genre of college radio in the fact that we try to do things as professionally as possible.
"The people here really love what they do."
As for the future of The Impact, Reid said the station is looking into digital radio and broadcasting and is pushing the station for more diversity and professionalism.
"These types of awards really raise the bar for us and helps us give incoming staff something to strive for," Reid said.
