Indiana University’s WIUX radio was named the best college radio station among schools with over 10,000 students at the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System Awards on March 7 in New York City.
The station was up against five other colleges for the award.
Students Coady Raab, Mitchell Banks and Joanie Dugan also won Best Comedy Program for a WIUX show.
Students were also nominated for six other awards, including Eliza Craig for Best Giveaway, Tanner Chaille for Best Community News Coverage, Abby Harrison for Best Line/Sweeper and Best Underwriting Spot, Sam Neidermann for Best Football Play-by-Play and Yeeseon Chae for Best Station Blog.
Intercollegiate Broadcasting System is an organization with a membership of more than 1,000 nonprofit, education-affiliated radio stations and webcasters.
Annual awards give students an opportunity to network and students are able to attend panels and discussions facilitated by industry professionals.
WIUX President Michaela Dumesny said WIUX is thrilled to win after competing against colleges with over 10,000 students.
“It is an absolute honor for our station," Dumesny said.
WIUX is the university’s largest student media organization, according to its website. It initially began as a radio station, Dumesny said, but now includes video and online content as well. They also run events, such as the yearly Culture Shock Music Festival in Dunn Meadow.
Dumesny has taken advantage of the opportunities offered by WIUX throughout her years at IU, hosting a radio show and serving as the director of public relations before taking on her role as president.
“We’ve really extended into other areas,” Dumesny said. “It’s really great to see how things are evolving with the station.”
WIUX operates daily programs on 99.1 FM or on B-Sides Internet Radio.
Students can produce any content that they want, as long as it complies with the guidelines from the Federal Communications Commission. B-Side Internet Radio, however, is not FCC regulated.
Programming Director Coady Raab said opportunities for students at WIUX are numerous, such as writing for an online blog, hosting a podcast or having a radio show.
“We want WIUX to be a place where you can express yourself creatively,” Raab said.
Raab, who hosts the show “Radio Ha-Ha," said that the submission process for the awards began in October 2019. There are more than 50 different categories students can submit to, according to the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System website.
“We needed ten minutes of audio, so I compiled ten minutes of what we thought were the funniest from the skits that we had done the previous semester,” said Raab.
Raab said that the skits are biweekly and topics range from politics to sports.
Raab, a senior who has been involved with the station since his freshman year, credits the station with building his college experience.
“WIUX is a really cool thing,” Raab said. “It really made my college career.”
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story incorrectly spelled the name of Michaela Dumesny and incorrectly identified the amount of time WIUX has been to the awards ceremony. The IDS regrets this error.
