photo by Liz Berie
General station manager Trever Sheets, junior broadcasting major, is doing a show in the WPPJ studio inside Lawrence Hall.
Four Point Park broadcasters have been recognized by the Intercollegiate Broadcast System (IBS) as among the best college broadcasters in the nation, making this the sixth straight year WPPJ 670 AM has received such nominations.
The honorees, Tim Zahren, Paul Daniels, Matt Kruth and Tyler Polk will travel to New York to attend the 76th annual Intercollegiate Broadcast System (IBS) Conference and College Radio Awards ceremony March 4-6. David Fabilli, WPPJ’s advisor will accompany them.
“It’s certainly gratifying, and I’m honored the people at the college broadcasting awards thought to nominate my show,” Zahren, a senior mass communication major, said.
Zahren describes his talk show, “The Tim Zahren Show,” as “extremely loose and fun.”
“I usually have a live audience in the studio during my show with a lot of ideas and banter among people happening,” Zahren said. “I like to create a fun environment in the studio that permeates through the airwaves.”
Zahren’s show is WPPJ’s very first nomination in the “Best Talk Show” category.
Daniels and Kruth are both nominated for “Best Sports Talk Program” for their work on “The Paul Daniels-Matt Kruth Show.”
“Our show is called ‘PM Sports’ and we have always had fun doing the show year in and year out,” Daniels, a junior broadcast reporting and broadcast production and programming major. said. He also serves as WPPJ’s Programming Director.
Daniels added, “I was surprised when Matt texted me about the nomination, because I knew the competition nationally was strong and it’s not easy to get recognized.”
Daniels noted that he became nervous considering the competition for the award when Fabilli sent an email to members of WPPJ. The email, sent a week before the nominations were due to come out, said that the committee needed more time because this year’s field was so strong.
“This was our first year submitting our material, and it’s tough to say whether I thought we would be considered for an award,” Daniels said. “I knew our show was great and the material we talked about was solid, but there are a lot of sports college radio shows out there and it’s not easy to get a nomination for anything nationally.”
The final program nominated is a radio drama.
“Larceny,” written and produced by Polk, is a gritty crime drama based on the video game “Grand Theft Auto.”
Nominated for “Best Radio Drama,” the program is about a bank heist that takes a serious turn at the very end.
“Primarily the betrayal at the end, that’s where the name comes from,” Polk said.
“I was truly surprised at the nomination. I’ve never been to New York. This will be my first time there,” Daniels added.
IBS picks five finalists in every category, and the awards are only part of the conference.
Speakers at the event include New York radio personalities Dan Kelly and Shawn Novatt, ESPN program director Justin Craig and representatives from WABC News Talk Radio.
Attendees will also have the opportunity to visit CBS Radio New York, 107.5 WBLS, 95.5 PLJ and NASH-FM.
“I’ve never been to New York, so this should be pretty exciting. It feels a little like the Heisman Trophy Awards, except with extremely un-athletic people,” Zahren said.
