Radio TV film students from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh garnered the most production awards at the annual student conference of the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association (WBA) in Middleton on Feb. 27. UW Oshkosh took home 12 of the 58 awards issued–more than any other college participating.

A total of 290 entries were received by WBA.

UW Oshkosh took a total of four first place awards, including the first place honors in sports play-by-play for both radio and television. The radio award went to former WRST sports director Tony Bettack for a basketball tournament broadcast between UWO and UW-Whitewater. The TV winner was a Titan TV offering of football between UWO and UW-Whitewater directed by Titan TV sports director Ross Kohlhase and announced by Cody Krupp and Tyler Stricker.

Titan TV also took first place in the category for public affairs program for their special broadcast “Osh the Record,” which was done as a live broadcast from a campus residence hall. The program featured a chemistry demonstration by UWO Chancellor Andrew Leavitt. It was hosted by Reegan Wallander, Sherry McMahon and Ben Rehn and was directed by Tyler Stricker.

Another first place award was in the radio category for news series or documentary. It went to WRST student news director Mariah Tralongo for her long-form documentary about a Menasha blacksmith.  She also took the third place award in this category for her behind-the-scenes profile of 9-1-1 dispatchers.

Other awards won by UWO include:

• Second Place/long form production/non-news/radio: for a WRST feature on video game addiction
• Second Place/promotional-public service announcements- commercials/TV: for a promo for the Titan TV series Video Venue
• Second Place/sports programming/non-play-by-play/radio: for a radio interview with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
• Third Place/sports programming/non-play-by-play/radio: for the WRST sportscast of April 23, 2015
• Second Place/sports programming/non-play-by-play/TV: to Titan TV for Titan Playbook: ‘Basketball Breakdown’
• Second Place/Website for the WRST website
• Third Place/Website for the Titan TV website

Thirty-seven students shared these twelve awards. UWO has won 97 WBA awards since the student production competition was begun in 2004.

A total of 15 UWO students attended the conference and took part in the many panels and networking sessions. UWO RTF instructors Justine Stokes and Randall Davidson accompanied the students and led some of the panels. Also, UWO RTF alumnus Steve Boettcher ’82, was the keynote speaker at the event. Boettcher is president of Boettcher Media Group, a five-time Emmy winning production company. His work has appeared on NBC, CBS, PBS, The Discovery Channel, CNN and ESPN.

Titan TV can be seen in the Oshkosh area on Time Warner Cable digital channel 97-4 and also at titan-tv.org. WRST is heard locally in the Oshkosh area at 90.3 on the FM dial and elsewhere at wrst.org.

Faculty, staff and students are encouraged to contribute calendar items, campus announcements and other good news to UW Oshkosh Today.