WMUL-FM students win 2 firsts, 4 seconds from “The Virginias” Associated Press Broadcasters
05.05.2020
Tuesday, May 5, 2020
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. -- Students from Marshall University's public radio station, WMUL-FM, received two (2) first place awards and four (4) second place awards in the metropolitan classification during the seventh annual “The Virginias” Associated Press Broadcasters awards ceremony. The awards ceremony took place online Saturday, May 2, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr. Chuck G. Bailey, professor of radio-television production and management in the W. Page Pitt School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Marshall University and faculty manager of WMUL-FM, said for the third time the university’s radio station competed in the Radio I/ Metropolitan Division with the major commercial and noncommercial radio stations from throughout the two states. He added, "Winning the 2019 Best Station Promo and Best Sports Play-by-Play first place awards are an amazing accomplishment considering that Best Station Promo is a new category entry for WMUL-FM and the FM 88 Sports Staff now has won Best Sports Play-by-Play for three straight years in the Radio I/Metropolitan Division while competing against veteran broadcasting professionals working for all the major news/sports talk radio stations across both West Virginia and Virginia. Also, this contest marks the first year in the Radio I/Metropolitan Division that WMUL-FM has placed simultaneously in both Outstanding News Operation and Outstanding Sports Operation. These six total awards won this past weekend helps to build upon another successful award-winning year and demonstrates the value of this campus radio station to Marshall University, the College of Arts and Media and the W. Page Pitt School of Journalism and Mass Communications.”
The two (2) first place station and individual award-winning entries
in the seventh annual “The Virginias” Associated Press Broadcasters awards contest were:
BEST SPORTS PLAY-BY-PLAY****
WMUL-FM’s broadcast of College Insider.com Tournament Championship Marshall men’s basketball versus University of Wisconsin Green Bay played at the Cam Henderson Center in Huntington, West Virginia, Thursday, April 4, 2019. The students calling the men’s basketball game broadcast over FM 88.1 were:
Play-by-Play announcer – Nick Verzolini, a junior from Stewartstown, Penn.;
Color Commentator – Andrew Rogers, a sophomore from Clarksburg;
Courtside Reporter -- Savanah Matney, a senior from South Point, Ohio;
Engineer – Wesley Steele, a sophomore from Flatwoods, Kentucky.
No judges’ comments were available.
BEST STATION PROMO****
“WMUL Sports Flavor Parlor” an in-house promotional announcement broadcast in WMUL-FM’s Promotion Announcement rotation Thursday, December 2, 2019, and is still in rotation was written and produced by.
Tyler Kennett, a sophomore from Rock
The four (4) second place award winning entries were:
OUTSTANDING NEWS OPERATION FOR THE VIRGINIAS****
The Newscenter 88 Team led during 2019 calendar year by WMUL-FM News Director Makaylah Wheeler, a junior from Huntington.
No judges’ comments were available.
BEST STATION PROMO ****
“WMUL Cult” an in-house promotional announcement broadcast in WMUL-FM’s Promotion Announcement rotation Thursday, September 26, 2019, and is still in rotation was written and produced by Zane Bowles, a junior from Sandstone, and features the primary voice talents of Zane Bowles, and the background cult chanting talents of David Adkins, a junior from Huntington; Derrick Bowen, a junior from Huntington; Haley Brown a freshman from Weirton; Andrew Corliss, a sophomore from Evans; Ashley Ross, a junior from Huntington; Tristan Shepard, a junior from Prichard; and Wesley Steele, a sophomore from Flatwoods, Kentucky.
No judges’ comments were available.
OUTSTANDING SPORTS OPERATION FOR THE VIRGINIAS****
The FM 88 Sports Staff led during 2019 calendar year by WMUL-FM Sports Director Nick Verzolini, a junior from Stewartstown, Pennsylvania.
No judges’ comments were available.
BEST SPORTS PLAY-BY-PLAY****
WMUL-FM’s broadcast of Marshall Football versus Virginia Military Institute (VMI) played at Joan C. Edwards Stadium in Huntington, West Virginia, Saturday, August 31, 2019. The students calling the football game broadcast over FM 88.1 were:
Play-by-play announcer---Andrew Rogers, a sophomore from Clarksburg;
Color commentator---Nick Verzolini, a junior from Stewartstown, Penn.;
Sideline Reporter---Savanah Matney, a senior from South Point, Ohio;
On-site Engineer---Spencer DuPuis, a senior from Leesburg, Virginia;
Engineers---Wesley Steele, a sophomore from Flatwoods, Kentucky and
Tyler Kennett, a sophomore from Rock.
No judges’ comments were available.
“The Virginias” Associated Press Awards for the 2018 calendar year
| Station | First Place Awards | Second Place Awards | Total Awards |
| WVFT-FM Roanoke, Va. |
5 |
5 |
10 |
| WCVE-FM Richmond, Va. |
4 |
3 |
7 |
| WVPB-FM Charleston, W. Va. |
2 |
5 |
7 |
| WMUL-FM Huntington, W. Va. |
2 |
4 |
6 |
| WTOP-FM Washington, D.C. |
5 |
0 |
5 |
| WRVA-FM Richmond, Va. |
1 |
2 |
3 |
| WFIR-AM/FM Roanoke, Va. |
2 |
0 |
2 |
| WHRO-FM Norfolk, Va. |
1 |
0 |
1 |
|
|
22 |
19 |
41 |
The judges for the metropolitan radio division were Associated Press member news organizations located in Dallas, Texas; Los Angeles, California; San Francisco, California; Missoula, Montana; Reno, Nevada; Santa Fe, New Mexico; and Shelby, Mississippi.
There were 535 entries into The Virginias Associated Press Broadcasters Contest covering entries from the 2019 calendar year that were judged in 2020.
“The Virginias” Associated Press Category Breakdown
Radio I – Metropolitan for 2019
First Place Award Winners are underlined, and Second Place are not.
Spot News ***
WVTF-FM, Roanoke, Virginia, Sandy Hausman, "A Life Sentence for Fields,
and His Victims"
WRVA-AM, Richmond, Virginia, Matt Demlein, Andy Doernen and
Deanna Malone, "Bus Crash."
Continuing News ***
WVTF- FM, Roanoke, Virginia, "The Week That Shook Virginia"
WCVE-FM, Richmond, Virginia, Whittney Evans and Yasmine Jumaa,
"Evictions Cause Alarm at Richmond Public
Housing Communities."
Light Feature ***
WHRO-FM, Norfolk, Virginia, Gina Gambony, "Naro Expanded Video to Close,
but Seeks Extended Life for the Collection"
WVTF-FM, Roanoke, Virginia, Sandy Hausman, "Yak! It's What's for Dinner."
Serious Feature ***
WVTF-FM, Roanoke, Virginia, Robbie Harris, "Mussels in Trouble"
WVPB-FM, Charleston, West Virginia, Liz McCormick, "Unseen Impacts of
Opioid Epidemic: More Autopsies, Staff
Shortages and Transporting the Dead."
Best Specialty Reporting ***
WTOP-FM, Washington, D.C., J.J. Green, "The Fog of Espionage"
WVPB-FM, Charleston, West Virginia, Caitlin Tan, "Arts and Culture
Reporting"
Investigative Reporting ***
WVPB-FM, Charleston, West Virginia, Brittany Patterson and
Alexandra Kanik, "Mine Safety
Debt for West Virginia Governor
Justice’s Family Companies
Grows to $4 Million
WCVE-FM, Richmond, Virginia, Ben Paviour and Roberto Roldan,
"VCU President's Pro-Coliseum
Op-Ed Ghostwritten by Developer."
Documentary or In-Depth ***
WTOP-FM, Washington, D.C., Jenny Glick, "Starving for Perfection"
WVTF-FM, Roanoke, Virginia, Mallory Noe-Payne, "Arming Teachers”
Newscast ***
WFIR-AM/FM, Roanoke, Virginia
WRVA-AM, Richmond, Virginia, Deanna Malone, Matt Demlein and
Ashley Stokes,
Best Team News Coverage ***
WCVE-FM, Richmond, Virginia, "Making New Histories: Rumors of War
Sculpture Unveiled in Richmond."
Best Reporter ***
WVTF-FM, Roanoke, Virginia, Sandy Hausman
WVTF-FM, Roanoke, Virginia, Robbie Harris
Editorial or Editorial Series ***
WTOP-FM, Washington, D.C., Chris Core, "Core Values"
Sports Feature ***
WCVE-FM, Richmond, Virginia, Ian Stewart, "In Central Virginia, Groups
Tackle Swimming Disparities
That Stem from Segregation"
WCVE-FM, Richmond, Virginia, Yasmine Jumaa, "After School Program
Pushes Richmond Youth to
Conquer Their Fears
Through Skateboarding."
Sports Play-by-Play ***
WMUL-FM, Huntington, West Virginia, Nick Verzolini, Andrew Rogers,
Savanah Matney and Wesley Steele
"Marshall Men's Basketball vs.
Green Bay in the CIT Championship"
WMUL-FM, Huntington, West Virginia, Andrew Rogers, Nick Verzolini
Savanah Matney, Spencer DuPuis,
Tyler Kennett and Wesley Steele
Marshall Football vs. VMI"
Radio Sports Anchor ***
WRVA-AM, Richmond, Virginia, Gary Hess
Website ***
WTOP-FM, Washington, D.C.
WVPB-FM, Charleston, West Virginia, Chad Matlick
Multimedia/Online Journalism ***
WTOP-FM, Washington, D.C., Megan Cloherty, "The Dance of Life"
WVPB-FM, Charleston, West Virginia, Brittany Patterson, Larry Dowling and
Chuck Kleine, "Mountain State Mead
Makers Provide a Taste of
Appalachia."
Station Promo ***
WMUL-FM, Huntington, West Virginia, Tyler Kennett, “WMUL Sports Flavor
Parlor Promo"
WMUL-FM, Huntington, West Virginia, Zane Bowles, David Adkins,
Derrick Bowen, Haley Brown,
Andrew Corliss, Ashley Ross,
Tristian Shepard and Wesley Steele,
"Cult Promo"
Douglas Southall Freeman Award ***
WCVE-FM, Richmond, Virginia, "Where We Live: Affordable Housing,
Evictions and the History of Housing Policy" WVTF-FM, Roanoke, Virginia, Sandy Hausman, "A Prescription to Save
Rural Hospitals."
Old Dominion Heritage ***
WCVE-FM, Richmond, Virginia, Ben Paviour, Peter Solomon and
Yasmine Jumaa,
"Virginia's Country Music Roots"
WVTF-FM, Roanoke, Virginia, Sandy Hausman, "Hurricane Camille
50th Anniversary."
Mountain State Heritage ***
WVPB-FM, Charleston, West Virginia, Caitlin Tan, "The West Virginia
Monster That Crept into International
Pop Culture"
WVPB-FM, Charleston, West Virginia, Caitlin Tan, "How to Bake Bread Like
Appalachia's Ancestors."
Outstanding Sports Operation of the Virginias ***
WFIR-AM/FM, Roanoke, Virginia, Greg Roberts and Randy Leftwich
WMUL-FM, Huntington, West Virginia, Nick Verzolini, Sports Director
Outstanding News Operation of the Virginias ***
WVTF-FM, Roanoke, Virginia
WMUL-FM, Huntington, West Virginia, Makaylah Wheeler, News Director