WKAR TV and Michigan Radio received awards at the Michigan Association of Broadcasters’ Broadcast Excellence Awards Wednesday evening.
Michigan Radio was recognized as Public Radio Station of the Year for the third consecutive year. The radio station also received five Merit awards and eight “Best in Category” awards. Michigan Radio was recognized for its hard news and feature reporting as well as news specials and public affairs programming.
The station’s Best awards included: Community Involvement; Hard News & Current Events Story; Feature/Use of Medium; News Special or Public Affairs Program; Membership Appeal; Newscast; and Special Interest & Cultural Programming.
Merit Awards included Special Interest & Cultural Programming; News Special or Public Affairs Program; Musical Programming; Newscast; and New Media.
Television station WKAR TV was awarded with the 2017 Michigan Public Television Station of the Year award along with other awards. The station was the recipient of two Best awards and eight Merits, which included one in the Independent Producer category for That Strange Summer film by ComArtSci professor Geri Alumit Zeldes.
“WKAR TV is honored to be recognized as the Michigan Public Television Station of the Year, especially among so many other inspiring Michigan public media stations,” said WKAR content and community engagement manager Julie Sochay. “Through the Broadcast Excellence Awards, our stations have an opportunity to showcase our news, educational, and promotional content over the last year. Thank you to the MAB for your continued support of public broadcasting.”
WKAR-FM also received three Best awards and one Merit in the Public Radio portion of the ceremony.
“Our team has worked extremely hard to produce engaging and informative content for all our listeners,” said WKAR Radio station manager Peter Whorf. “These awards are a reminder of that hard work and an encouragement to do more in the coming year.”
A total of 93 Michigan stations and companies submitted more than 960 entries in this year’s competition.
WKAR received two Best awards, including: Marketing Materials and Promos for WKAR Family Sizzle Reel, and Mini Documentary or Series for The Perfect Cup of Coffee.
The station also received Merit awards for: Station of the Year, News or Public Affairs Special, Community Involvement, Cultural Programming, Cultural and Performing Arts, and Special Interests Programming.
“We’re grateful to the Michigan Association of Broadcasters for their leadership and support of the public broadcasting community,” said WKAR director of broadcasting and general manager Susi Elkins. “We’re honored to be recognized by our peers who understand the hard work and dedication that goes into serving our audiences with the quality content they deserve.”
WKAR provides the state’s capital region and the global community with original programming as well as content from NPR and PBS television stations. The station also provides community outreach through its Ready to Learn Service as well as PBS LearningMedia. WKAR is largely funded by listener and community viewer contributions, with additional support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Michigan State University.
The annual Broadcast Excellence Awards honors broadcasting achievements by public and commercial TV and radio stations. Michigan Radio competes in Group 2 of the Public Radio Broadcast Excellence Award Divisions, while WKAR-FM competes in Group 1. Group 2 is for stations with budgets over $2 million.