WHJE earns top awards from IASB competition

By Shireen Korkzan
<skorkzan@hilite.org>

On March 9, this school’s radio station, 91.3 WHJE, earned the “Radio School of the Year” Award for the second consecutive year from the Indiana Association of School Broadcasters (IASB). The competition was conducted at the University of Indianapolis. This year, WHJE scored 31 points, seven points ahead of Franklin Central, which was also last year’s runner up.

The station earned first place in eight out of 11 total categories; of those eight, two categories, Live News Report and Live On-Air Show, were conducted live on campus. Many of the remaining categories were submitted via CD last month and were judged by 32 professional broadcasters in the area. Out of 296 total entries between radio and television, 23 schools entered the contest. All of the winning contestants listed below are seniors.

Interview: First place – Brian Bondus, third place – Pat Boylan
Sportscast: First place – Pat Boylan
Imaging: First place – Griffin McHaffie
In-Depth: First place – Brian Bondus
Drama: First place – Matt Kraft, third place – Colin Byard and Griffin McHaffie
Football/Other Play by Play: First – Pat Boylan and Sam Agee (Football), second place – Sam Agee and Taylor Wagner (Wrestling)
Basketball Play by Play: First place – Pat Boylan and Joe Bennett
Live News Report: First place – Pat Boylan
Live On-Air Show: Second Place – Pat Boylan and Brian Bondus, third place – Sam Agee and Matt Kraft

WHJE Station Manager Brian Spilbeler said, “This honor is simply a byproduct of all the hard work and time these students have put into our radio program. The current managers were my first lab students at Carmel High School and for the past three years they have dedicated themselves to serving the Carmel community through this station. WHJE is happy to receive this award, but even more proud of the high quality program we provide to our listeners every day.”