WTHS, the student-run FM radio station at Hope College, won four national awards during the 74th annual conference of the International Broadcasting System Inc. (IBS), held in New York City on Friday-Sunday, March 7-9.
WTHS won first place among all college and university radio stations in the country for “Best Sports Talk Show,” for “Real Radio” by junior Tom Zahari of Canton, who is sports director and co-news director, and junior Nate Winter of Saugatuck.
The station won finalist awards, placing in the top five, in three categories: “Best Public Service Announcement,” for “Hope Fighting Hunger” by Zahari and senior Carter Jones of Traverse City, who is co-new director; “Most Creative Program,” for “The Stick” by seniors R. Forrest Dodson of Kalamazoo, who is the station’s general manager, and Christopher Rodriguez of Kalamazoo, who is the station’s co-music director; and “Best Website,” for wths.hope.edu, by 2012 Hope graduate Kevin Watson, who designed the site, and sophomore Jhon Volk Dunbar of Louden, N.H., who is the station’s web director.
Dunbar and Zahari represented WTHS at the conference.
Founded in 1940, the IBS is a not-for-profit education corporation that serves not-for-profit education-affiliated high school radio and college radio stations and streaming/webcasters, and has more than 1,000 member stations. The annual IBS Conference features more than 150 speakers and more than 1,000 attendees from all over the world. The conference featured finalist and winner awards in more than three dozen categories.
WTHS, which began in the 1950s as a “carrier current” station and spent more than 25 years on AM, has broadcast at 89.9 FM since 1985. The station features alternative college music, also highlighting activities on campus, local news, sports and current events. Its studio is in the college’s Martha Miller Center for Global Communication.