San Diego State’s KCR College Radio won several national awards, including best station overall, at the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System awards on March 5 in New York City.
“It was amazing,” said Matt Hoffman, KCR’s general manager. “We’re this small station, we operate out of one tiny room with a mile-wide frequency, most of our budget comes from member dues, but we still beat out these huge stations at other schools that have lots of funding. It’s crazy.”
In addition to winning the best overall recognition, KCR received awards for the best online station, best blog and best sports play-by-play in the baseball/softball category. This is the second year in a row that KCR has won the best online station award from IBS.
“We all just screamed when they announced that we had won,” Hoffman said. “It was just amazing. All 16 of us went up to the front of the room to shake (the presenter’s) hand.
“It’s amazing that we’ve gotten this recognition on the national stage. It really was a team effort between all of the different departments.”
Completing the application for the best station awards is a labor-intensive process. Different pieces are edited together into one hour-long sample that highlights different shows from the station.
Hoffman said he and many of the staff members spent hours combing through content to find the best segments.
They highlighted news, sports, music and talk shows, among other segments. In addition to the one-hour piece, each station must submit supporting documentation, such as flyers, posters and a letter of support.
After winning the award, the KCR staff celebrated with a night out in New York City.
“We had already agreed that whatever happened at the awards, we were going to go out to dinner afterwards,” Hoffman said. “It was just amazing, I really didn’t think we would win.”
Hoffman has been involved with KCR for three years.
“It’s been great to watch and be a part of the transforming culture of KCR,” he said. “This wouldn’t have been possible without all of the members of the KCR family.”
KCR recently re-entered the AM airwaves for the first time in approximately 10 years.
SDSU philosophy professor Mark Wheeler and SDSU alumnus Al Floyd funded the installation of an AM transmitter that allows KCR to broadcast on and around campus through AM 1610.
The equipment has been available for several years, but was only installed last month.
The installation cost approximately $500. Wheeler and Floyd also host a KCR show on Mondays at 11 a.m.
“Somehow radio has always meant student freedom, student expression, student exploration,” Wheeler said. “KCR represents that for me.”
The award-winning radio station can be accessed through AM 1610, kcr.sdsu.edu, via Cox channel 956, Time Warner channel 1959 or through the TuneIn Radio app.
