PENDLETON — The student run radio program at Pendleton Heights High School, WEEM 91.7, has earned honors from the Indiana Broadcasters Association (IBA) and the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB).
The radio station has been named a recipient of the 2018 Cardinal Community Service Awards, presented by the IBA, and were selected as a finalist for the NAB’s Non-Commercial Radio Station of the Year.
Cardinal Community Service Awards recognize dedicated service by IBA member broadcasters. Representatives from WEEM will be recognized at a ceremony conducted by the IBA in Indianapolis on Thursday, Aug. 23.
“Finding out that our students won the Cardinal Award and then almost immediately after that announcement getting the Marconi (NAB) nomination announced, it was like we won the lottery,” Chris Green, station general manager said, in an email to The Times-Post. “The recognition our students received, to me, it is a testament to their dedication to WEEM and our community.”
WEEM staff is comprised of almost 40 students, many of whom work several hours outside of class — after school and on weekends and holidays — to keep things going, and he couldn’t be more proud to see them recognized at the highest of levels of broadcasting in state and nationally, he said.
The radio station is an award-winning student-run program based at Pendleton Heights. The station signed on in 1971 and is approaching 50 years of service to Pendleton and the south Madison County community.
The ceremony will be one of three opportunities around the state this year where the Arabians Care Fund will have the chance to raise funds.
The Arabians Care Fund was created to support district students in times of need. The groups first fundraiser supported Abby Davis, a former WEEM student and recent 2018 graduate, after her Hodgkin’s Lymphoma diagnosis.
Nationally, the Marconi Radio Awards are presented annually by NAB to the top radio stations and on-air personalities in the United States. The WEEM radio station is the only high school radio station selected nationally as a finalist this year.
The station will find out if they won the top honor during a Thursday, Sept. 27, ceremony during the Radio Show Event in Orlando.
The high school station will be up against such competition as Educational Media Foundation’s KHJK, a Houston radio station carrying the Air-1 format, William Paterson University’s WPSC Wayne, New Jersy, the University of Florida’s WUFT Gainesville, Forida, and New Orleans radio station WWOZ, owned and operated by the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation.
WEEM is a non-commercial radio station airing a daily pop music format with special music programs produced by the students, coverage of Pendleton Heights athletics, news programs and community interest programming.
Funding to maintain the station is provided by corporate underwriters, individual donations and grants.
In addition to a number of individual student awards at various competitions across the state and country, WEEM has been recognized previously with the following awards:
2012 Indiana Association of School Broadcasters High School Radio School of the Year
2016 Intercollegiate Broadcasting System National High School Radio Station of the Year
WEEM alums include; Andrew “Drew” Carey, Bob and Tom Show; Kyle Smelser, morning radio host WRAL 101.5FM Raleigh, North Carolina; Corey Cox, Nashville recording artist; and Tyler Bradfield, Raycom Sports associate producer, Ball State Sports Link and Emmy winner.