Kent State University’s student-run television station TV2 was awarded the first place Pinnacle Award for Station of the Year at the 2015 College Media Association conference in Austin, Texas.
TV2 also was awarded first place for best newscast and best sportscast and second place for special event coverage. This is the fourth year in a row for TV2’s placement, having been named Station of the Year in 2012 and 2013, and placing third in 2014.
When sophomore broadcast journalism major Mitchell Felan, the student representative for TV2 at the conference, heard the news, he says he immediately contacted TV2’s general manager, Vivian Feke.
“I texted her as soon as we got it, and it was just very exciting for everybody,” Felan says. “We posted about it on Facebook, we posted on Twitter and everybody was retweeting it and reposting it. And after that, everyone started posting ‘I’m proud to be a part of this station, and it’s a great station to work for.’”
Feke says she felt excited but anxious while waiting to hear this year’s results.
“This year, we were really nervous about what would happen because we knew we were finalists, so we would at least be third again, but obviously we were hoping for first,” Feke says. “However, we had a really strong competition entry for the award, and I think that helped us win.”
TV2 submitted three pieces to be considered for Station of the Year: a Tuesday morning newscast; Amateur Hour, which is one of its entertainment shows; and a feature story from KentConnects, which is a feature-focused broadcast.
Kevin Dilley, director of student media, says he was impressed with student media when he began working at the university this past summer. He says he loves watching the students continually grow in their level of commitment, professionalism and desire to learn.
”The awards verified what I suspected of this crew,” Dilley says. “They’re award-winning and deserving of the highest accolades among their peers. The winning of these awards comes down to the quality and to the initiative, drive and passion of the students. We have a great faculty supporting them, and we have a really strong student media structure supporting them as well, but without the students, we don’t have these awards.”
Feke says she is thankful for the support from faculty, especially TV2’s faculty advisors, John Butte and Gary Hanson. Butte advised the station in the fall semester, and Hansen took over in the spring.
“Both of them together really helped the station,” Feke says. “They were always supporting the leaders and supporting our coverage and were people we could turn to when we had questions.”
Feke says she also believes TV2’s successes are a result of hardworking students and endless opportunities for students to become involved in the organization.
“We have so many opportunities for people, and on top of that, we have a newscast every single weekday and a lot of news stations across the country only have one or two a week or only for a class they’re taking in the school,” Feke says. “We’re really lucky and fortunate to have so many opportunities here that we can learn and grow from.”
One of the experiential opportunities TV2 offers students is the chance to attend the College Media Association conference. As a sophomore, Felan was able to attend the conference where he learned more about the broadcast industry and meet professionals and peers in the industry.
“It’s mostly a convention that has so many learning opportunities,” Feke says. “We always try to send younger students so they can take back lessons they learned and hopefully implement those when they become leaders.”
While at the conference, Felan says he attended social media and diversity presentations and now he is working with the station to implement his new knowledge in the newsroom.
“I know a lot of stations would not let a first-semester sophomore run his own show, produce his own show, host his own show, be a part of the e-board — the stuff I do right now,” Felan says. “I think it’s so cool that we can be named station of the year and still have all these opportunities for younger people.”
To watch any of TV2’s shows or news broadcasts, visit www.kentwired.com.
For more information about TV2, visit www.kentwired.com/site/about.html or contact Dilley at kdilley@kent.edu.
