Friday, January 27, 2006
Winning awards, airing good programs
The Wisconsin Broadcasters Association held its annual awards banquet the day before yesterday, and I attended for the first time. It's the first time in a long time (if ever) that WORT has been represented at the WBA (except for Lea Zeldin the day before).
Now I typically don't put a lot of stock into WBA activities, since the organization tends to be more commercial-broadcast oriented. Many friendly, well-meaning people are involved, but they usually ask different questions than WORT tends to ask.
But I decided to submit a few WORT programs to the 2005 WBA awards competition, and I'll be damned, we came away with two Merit awards this year. Juan Ruiz's "Katrina Row," an excellent piece on the hurricane aftermath, won an award for feature-length documentary. Also, a 30-minute "2005 Spring Elections Preview" that I produced won an award in the "Special Issues Coverage" category.
So I'm pretty proud that WORT's all-volunteer news department managed to come away with a couple merit awards in the Large Market Division, facing professional, full-time news staff at all the radio stations in Milwaukee and Madison.
I also got to eat a free lunch and chew the fat with some other radio types. I found the WI Public Radio crew (not hard to do - most attendees were wearing dark suits; I was in tweed and WPR's Gil Halstead was in a sweater) and found some non-commercial radio solidarity there. The commercial radio folks I chatted with were amazed that we managed to air so much news and public affairs with an entirely volunteer-staff newsroom.
And it continues to astound me, too. Our volunteers produce so much amazing stuff, week after week, and we've been doing it for 30 years now. I'm listening to an excellent interview right now on "A Public Affair" with Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz. It won't win any WBA award - there's not even a category for call-in interview program - but it's powerful, informative, and critical of the powerful people who perpetuate injustice.
That's the real measure of good programming - whether it builds and creates community, serves those underrepresented in other media, airs discussion and analysis of critical public issues, and places itself on the side of liberation.
WORT airs 21.5 hours per week of locally-produced news and public affairs. That's more than 1100 hours per year. We received two awards for 60 minutes worth of that programming, and I'm pleased that we did. The plaques are pretty. But the most important markers are the intangible ones, the ones you can't hang on a wall. And we do awfully well in that category, as well.
Now I typically don't put a lot of stock into WBA activities, since the organization tends to be more commercial-broadcast oriented. Many friendly, well-meaning people are involved, but they usually ask different questions than WORT tends to ask.
But I decided to submit a few WORT programs to the 2005 WBA awards competition, and I'll be damned, we came away with two Merit awards this year. Juan Ruiz's "Katrina Row," an excellent piece on the hurricane aftermath, won an award for feature-length documentary. Also, a 30-minute "2005 Spring Elections Preview" that I produced won an award in the "Special Issues Coverage" category.
So I'm pretty proud that WORT's all-volunteer news department managed to come away with a couple merit awards in the Large Market Division, facing professional, full-time news staff at all the radio stations in Milwaukee and Madison.
I also got to eat a free lunch and chew the fat with some other radio types. I found the WI Public Radio crew (not hard to do - most attendees were wearing dark suits; I was in tweed and WPR's Gil Halstead was in a sweater) and found some non-commercial radio solidarity there. The commercial radio folks I chatted with were amazed that we managed to air so much news and public affairs with an entirely volunteer-staff newsroom.
And it continues to astound me, too. Our volunteers produce so much amazing stuff, week after week, and we've been doing it for 30 years now. I'm listening to an excellent interview right now on "A Public Affair" with Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz. It won't win any WBA award - there's not even a category for call-in interview program - but it's powerful, informative, and critical of the powerful people who perpetuate injustice.
That's the real measure of good programming - whether it builds and creates community, serves those underrepresented in other media, airs discussion and analysis of critical public issues, and places itself on the side of liberation.
WORT airs 21.5 hours per week of locally-produced news and public affairs. That's more than 1100 hours per year. We received two awards for 60 minutes worth of that programming, and I'm pleased that we did. The plaques are pretty. But the most important markers are the intangible ones, the ones you can't hang on a wall. And we do awfully well in that category, as well.
