Wayne State College junior Travis Boock of Allen won first place in the Best Public Service Announcement (PSA) category at the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System (IBS) Media Awards held March 8 in New York City.
Boock, whose PSA was titled “Driving While High,” is majoring in Electronic Media at Wayne State with a minor in Media Promotions. At Wayne State, he is involved with KWSC-FM radio (91.9 The Cat), KWSC-TV, and The Wayne Stater college newspaper.
IBS is an 84-year-old, volunteer-led organization that supports the students, faculty, and staff of college and high school media outlets.
Several Wayne State students representing KWSC-FM radio and KWSC-TV were also nominated for IBS Media Awards.
KWSC-FM radio (91.9 The Cat) nominations were:
Best Morning Show
CJ Silvera, New York City, New York, and Gabe Ter Wee, Larchwood, Iowa, for “CJ and Jaspie’s Beat Lounge”
Best News Report
Becca Arkfeld, Battle Creek, for “Anne Frank Exhibit at Wayne State College”
Best Sports Play-By-Play
Nate Bope, Mayfield Village, Ohio, and Quin Otto, Osceola, for “Women’s Basketball: Northern State vs Wayne State College”
Best Sports Play-By-Play (Other)
Tori Olguin, Phoenix, Arizona.; Nate Bope, Mayfield Village, Ohio; Carson Schnitzler, Cornlea; and Maddie Ackerman, Bennington; for “Volleyball Blackout Game: Augustana vs Wayne State College”
KWSC-TV nominations were:
Best News Feature
Becca Arkfeld, Battle Creek, “Anne Frank Exhibit at Wayne State College.”
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KWSC-FM radio (91.9 The Cat) is a fully equipped broadcast radio station, operating 24 hours a day during the school year. KWSC-FM is one of the oldest campus radio stations in Nebraska, serving the Wayne community since 1971.
Known on the air as “Your Music Authority, 91.9 The Cat,” the station is an on-air training ground for students, who regularly win college media awards. The station offers a college rock format, but also has specialty shows each semester, such as Country, Oldies, Independent Music, and News/Sports/Talk programs. Students on 91.9 The Cat also broadcast a full schedule of Wayne State College home athletic events with student play-by-play announcers.
KWSC is student managed and operated, providing hands-on experience on the air, in audio production, planning of special events and promotions, and in leadership (with guidance from a faculty advisor). The student directors make decisions about programming, promotional activities, staff scheduling, and other management and leadership functions. They also mentor less experienced students. Student management positions include general manger, program director, production director, sports director, music director, and promotion/special events director.
KWSC-TV (KWSC Studios) is the student-run educational cable access channel for American Broadband in Wayne. Student programming is aired on Channel 6 and streamed online. KWSC-TV has been a part of the city of Wayne’s cable system since its construction in 1976. The station carries sports, news, and entertainment programming that supports the educational needs of the mass communication program and the informational needs of the campus and Wayne community.
The production side allows students to create immersive, real-world productions including commercials, public service announcements, short films, music videos, documentaries, news features, instructional videos, and other work for portfolio use and competitions. Students learn in a simulated studio environment, full of the same equipment used in the industry.
Students gain practical hands-on experience as they work collaboratively under the guidance of an advisor to create an expertly produced final product. From budgeting, scheduling, to project development and distribution, Wayne State students gain the experience to work in the video production industry.
For more information about Wayne State’s Department of Communication Arts, visit www.wsc.edu/communication-arts-department.
