Hillsdale College Students Win National Broadcasting Awards
Hillsdale students came in first place in two categories in the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System College Media Awards.
HILLSDALE, Mich. — Hillsdale students came in first place in two categories in the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System College Media Awards. The winners were announced on Feb. 21 at the 86th International IBS Conference in New York City.
“Our students are dedicated and creative,” said Scot Bertram, general manager at WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. “They consistently produce outstanding content, and it is exciting to see their work recognized among some of the finest programs in the country.”
“It is exciting to see their work recognized among some of the finest programs in the country.”
Erika Kyba ’26 won first place in the Best Specialty Show (Non-Music) category for her WRFH show, “The Poetry Fix,” a five-minute weekly podcast feature that makes the beauty of classic poetry accessible to a modern audience. In each episode, Kyba reads a poem and analyzes the poet’s use of language.
Lauren Smyth ’25 was named Best News Director, Radio. Smyth’s role was to ensure that news coverage on WRFH was accurate, timely, educational, and fun. She recruited newswriters to do original reporting, provided feedback on newscasts, and planned one-time events like WRFH’s 2024 election night coverage.
Hillsdale College students have been named finalists in the College Media Awards every year since 2018 and taken home 10 national first-place awards. This year Hillsdale had finalists in eight categories.
WRFH is the student-run radio station of Hillsdale College. Since its founding in 2016, students have created thousands of hours of content and hundreds of episodes of radio shows on topics from sports and politics to poetry and astronomy. Hillsdale students and WRFH have earned seven first-place awards from Collegiate Broadcasters, Inc.; 10 from the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System; and 32 from the Michigan Association of Broadcasters.