Students of Ashland University’s Journalism and Digital Media, JDM,Department were honored with finalist awards in the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System awards competition, recognizing their contributions to WRDL, AU’s campus radio station.

Among the nominations were: Best Live Music Broadcast, where Ashland placed in the Top 5; Best Public Service Announcement, which honored Waylon O’Donnell; Best Newscast, Jake Rayman; Best Comedy Program, created by Jake Smith, Jake Rayman and Dean Paloucci.

Among the nominations, AU was one of only two Ohio colleges to be recognized as a finalist.

General Manager of WRDL, Derek Wood, said that he is proud that his students were able to capture some awards in catagories they had never placed in before.

Wood said that the success of the students goes back to what the faculty has tried to do at JDM, by making the program highly accessible and an involved learning experience.

“You get that hands-on experience as soon as your freshman year, whether you want to write for the newspaper, produce television shows, or you want to be on the air for WRDL, you have that chance immediately,” Wood said.

The chair of the JDM Department, Dr. David McCoy, said that Wood was the “natural person to promote into the general manager role.” Entering the IBS awards were originally Wood’s idea.

A former JDM student, Wood himself shared the hands-on experiences that he had while a student at Ashland, saying that he was only in the program two weeks, and had already done studio for a football game, and color commentary his second week on campus.

Current JDM student, Dean Paloucci, echoed Wood’s sentiments.

“A lot of people come out of college with great grades, but in the field of media, getting experiences and accolades, and getting recognized by these large corporations like IBS will help me in my professional career,” Paloucci said.

A finalist in the Best Comedy Program division, Paloucci, along with Jake Smith and Jake Rayman, wanted to do something unique with their comedic personalities. They were looking for a way to be remembered and a legacy to be left behind in WRDL. Out of this, their comedy show was born.

The Comedy Program that captured an IBS finalist award was a product of the three’s close friendship and comedic nature. Paloucci describes the purpose of the comedy program as “telling comedic stories that people would get a kick out of.”

None of the three who created the program anticipated that it would “reach the magnitude it did,” Paloucci said.

The 80th Annual IBS International Media Conference will be held from March 6-8 at the Hotel Penn in New York City.

“These IBS awards, through the many years, which are independently judged allows it to be said that, this radio station, this small university in Ohio, is doing fine things,” McCoy said.