Some students of Impact 89FM say they are grateful to be rewarded for the work they've put in this past year.

“It was really rewarding to be recognized as national radio station of the year,” journalism senior and Impact Sports Director Luke Sloan said. “Especially to be able to do that in a pandemic. I think that really says a lot about the kind of people that we have.”

According to MSU Today, Individual Impact students were also recognized nationally for their work. Sloan earned a third-place award for Best Audio Sportscast. Sophie Elrick, Ally Beshouri and Dylan Gray earned an honorable mention in Best Online Ad.

“It felt great to be rewarded,” Sloan said. “But, I wouldn't be able to pull off something like that if it weren't for the support system, people around me. It's all on them. I give them the thanks.”

Impact 89FM is MSU’s student-run radio station and media organization. It mainly operates as an independent alternative radio station, but it also produces content for sports broadcast, music review, editorial coverage, local coverage, audio production and advocacy work. 

“We wear a lot of different hats,” Station Manager George McNeill said. “So a lot of what we do is driven by student interests and passions.”

Impact 89FM has a long history of breaking barriers — in the 1990s, the station was one of the few student-run college run radio stations to broadcast 24/7, 365 days a year; in 2004, the Impact was the first student-run college radio station to broadcast in HD.

Consequently, the station also has a long history of earning unprecedented recognition — Since 2001, Impact has won 15 College Radio Station of the Year distinctions from the Michigan Association of Broadcasters and Broadcast Music Inc. The station has also been nominated and awarded nationally by groups such as CMJ Music Marathon, College Broadcasters, INC. and MTVU.

The staff of Impact 89FM credits its success to the ability to adapt from a simple FM radio station to a multimedia platform.

"This award really is a testament to the dedication, the sacrifice the collaborative spirit that exists within our staff," McNeill said. "We've spent a lot of time being very deliberate about what our identity as a station, what our values are, what we want to become and how we want to do that. So, I'm just really grateful for the leadership and resilience that our staff has shown in the last two years and earlier to make this award happen."