Peninsula High radio broadcast students soak up limelight, awards at conference

Peninsula High School hosted the 10th annual Washington State High School Radio Conference and Awards on Friday, taking home first place for Best Team Newscast and second place for Best Public Service Announcement.

Sweeping through the awards with seven first-place finishes was KMIH-FM from Mercer Island High School. Other winners included KNHC-FM at Nathan Hale High School with three first-place awards, and a first-place award each to KTCV-FM at Tri Cities Tech and KAHS-FM at Aberdeen High School.

Peninsula’s Best Team Newscast included students Sydney Rose Gillis, Dorian Sonneman, Elisabeth Hood, Christopher Sexton and Nathan Plumb. Brandon Johnson took second place for Best Public Service Announcement.

Mercer Island also claimed the General Excellence Award, which PHS won during last year’s conference, said Leland Smith, a CTE teacher at PHS who teaches radio broadcasting.

Radio broadcasting classes are part of the CTE — Career and Technical Education — classes offered to PHS students on KGHP-FM, a community radio station that reaches Gig Harbor and the Key Peninsula.

The conference, now in it’s tenth year, was started to provide students a way to network, gain some experience submitting their broadcasting work and for an opportunity for students to engage in some friendly competition for awards.

“We have 13 different events the kids can compete in,” Smith explained. “Kids love prizes. There’s enough for everyone to throw their name in ... It really gets the kids involved.”

Judges for the awards are industry professionals who judge the submissions by professional industry standards. The 2017 judges included: Geoff McNeish, from KIRO-FM; Matt Martin, a professional voiceover artist: Kyle Pauley, program director and morning host on KXRO Aberdeen; Tim Hunter, from Wacky Week; Cathy Falkner, a voiceover artist; Russell Houghtaling, the associate athletic director for the Ideation team at Oregon State University; and Pedro Bartes, producer at 95.7 FM.

The conference brought together the six Washington state high schools that have radio stations and programs for students: KTCV-FM at Tri Cities Tech, KMIH-FM at Mercer Island HS, KNHC-FM at Nathan Hale HS, KASB-FM at Bellevue HS and KAHS-FM at Aberdeen HS in addition to KGHP at PHS.

This year’s keynote speaker was Keith Shipman, president and CEO of the Washington State Association of Broadcasters. Other presenters included Tom Evans Krause, director of Broadcast Operations for KGRG-FM and KGRG-1 at Green River College; Geoff McNeish, producer for the “Jason and Burns” show on KIRO-FM and staff writer for the Morning News with Dave Ross; and Jon Jensen, 35-year sports broadcast veteran.

The conference rotates between the different high schools, allowing each school a chance to host the conference and awards ceremony.

The conference provides an annual event for students to work toward and look forward to, encouraging networking and friendly competition, but Smith added that, with the internet, students are able to listen to each other’s broadcasts year round.

“Kids at PHS can hear something from Nathan Hale,” Smith said. “That’s the moment we want, when you realize that you’re not just the big fish at KGHP but there’s more out there.”

This growth and challenge to do better is something that Smith wants in all his students, which will prepare them for a career in the industry should they choose.

“They realize it’s not magic, that they can get there too,” he said. “In this day and age if you have the internet, a mic and a camera, (along with) some passion and some talent, you can reach your audience.”

KGHP-FM can be heard on 89.9, 89.3 and 105.7 or online at kghp.org.

This story was originally published March 30, 2017 at 10:06 AM with the headline "Peninsula High radio broadcast students soak up limelight, awards at conference."