University of Wisconsin Oshkosh student radio station WRST is the 2008 winner of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference’s (WIAC) Tom Butler Award. It is the first student organization to receive the honor.
The Tom Butler Award was established in 1998 and has been given annually to a member of the print or electronic media for their outstanding coverage of WIAC athletics. The league’s sports information directors select the award winner. The award is dedicated to Tom Butler, who served the conference faithfully as its sports information director from 1967 to 1996.
WRST, located at 90.3 on the FM radio dial, began broadcasting diverse programming to Oshkosh and other Fox Valley communities in 1966. The radio station began streaming all local programming on its Web site (www.uwosh.edu/wrst) in 2005.
During the 2007-2008 academic year, WRST broadcasted UW Oshkosh baseball, football, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s soccer, women’s softball, women’s volleyball and wrestling sporting events. In addition, they covered the 2008 WIAC and NCAA Division III wrestling championships.
The call letters of WRST stand for Wisconsin’s Radio Station of the Titans. WRST staff includes station manager Daniel VanDenEng and sports directors Scot Frassetto and Matt Gabriel.
WRST also serves as a training facility for UW Oshkosh students, primarily those in the Radio-TV-Film major. Former WRST personalities include Bob Brainerd of Time Warner Cable Sports and WISN-TV in Milwaukee, Burke Griffin of WFRV-TV in Green Bay, Mike Heller of WTSO Radio in Madison, Dennis Krause of Time Warner Cable Sports in Milwaukee, Dan Needles of WISN-TV in Milwaukee, Ryan Nolan of WDJT-TV in Milwaukee and Doug Russell of WSSP Radio in Milwaukee.
- For more information about the Tom Butler Award, visit www.wiacsports.com/awards/tombutlr.htm.
Kennan Timm is sports information director with the athletics department. UW Oshkosh faculty, staff and students are encouraged to contribute calendar items, campus announcements and other good news to UW Oshkosh Today. Click here to submit.