GCSU’s own student-led television newscast and radio station, GC360 and WGUR, attended the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System (IBS) conference in New York City from Feb. 19 to 22, winning and being nominated for multiple awards in recognition of their dedication to student media.
The IBS conference is held annually, recognizing outstanding college media outlets since 1940. Broadcasting students from schools across the country are invited to network with industry leaders and share their work during the event.
“I feel like if you’re somebody in media I think it’s important to go to one of these things at least once, and to just be in the city because there’s so many cool opportunities.” said Andrew Brown, a senior mass communications major and executive producer of GC360.
Select GCSU students have attended this conference on and off over the past decade. This year, WGUR was recognized as finalists, placing in the top 10% of all their categories and receiving four nominations.
This student media organization was nominated for, “Best Live Music Broadcast Radio,” “Best Community Outreach Event” and “Best Production Director.” It was also nominated for “Best Live News Interview” for its interview with the founder, Frank Howell.
Howell founded GCSU’s radio station 50 years ago, but graduated before seeing its first broadcast. During their interview, WGUR students and Howell reminisced about his lifelong passion for radio, the steps he took to found the station and the importance of college radio today, ultimately leading to this nomination.
GC360 was also recognized by IBS for its work over the past year, receiving finalist nominations for “Best Variety Show,” “Best College TV Station” and “Best Social Media Director (TV).” News Director, Madelyn Agostini, and former Executive Producer, Erin Finnegan, took home awards for the “Best News Director (TV)” and “Best Station Manager (TV).”
Agostini expressed her surprise and pride in receiving the award, noting the competition GC360 was up against.
“The other two nominees were from Syracuse University and Auburn, and they were nominated for everything,” Agostini said. “Their TV broadcast station is crazy impressive.”
Sessions of all varieties, some of which included discussion of the music industry, news reporting, station PR and audio visuals, were present. This allowed for a range of media students to collaborate.
Kellen O’Neil, a senior mass communications major and the general manager for WGUR, described her conference experience, detailing the importance of building connections and learning new things outside of one’s range in media.
“These conferences are really important for so many reasons, they help us improve our stations as student media groups, we get to see how other stations function, how their organization is structured, and learn from them,” O’Neil said.
Brown also highlighted the conference’s collaborative atmosphere by emphasizing that the sessions available were beneficial to GC360, despite the heavy focus on the radio stations rather than television newscasts.
“It’s very eye-opening to talk to other people who do things in a different way, or might use different techniques and equipment.” Brown said. “Even for us if there wasn’t a ton of specifically aimed at what we were doing, that doesn’t mean there wasn’t things to pick up from other people in the industry.”
WGUR and GC360 returned to Milledgeville on Wednesday, Feb. 25, with WGUR by plane and GC360 by train. The students returned with stories to tell, especially the GC360 students who travelled 19 hours by train due to the recent blizzard that struck New York City.
“I think it made for an interesting trip and a really good story,” O’Neil said.
The Colonnade will embark on a similar journey to New York City, instead attending the College Media Association Conference. Select members of the executive board will travel to the city on Wednesday, March 4, participating in the conference’s exclusive networking events.
