Rogers State University communications students and a recent graduate won awards at the 2012 Oklahoma Broadcast Education Association Student Competition. Gary Webb, Cody Nix and Ricky Cagle received their honors at the March 8 awards ceremony.
All three submitted radio pieces to be judged in the competition.
Nix, a senior in radio/television communications, won first place in the magazine/talk category for his interview with Barry Manilow about Manilow’s new album “15 Minutes.” Nix, a Fort Worth, Texas native, said he felt like the interview came together very fluidly. He contacted the company promoting Manilow’s new album and within a week recorded the interview.
Cagle, a Claremore native who graduated in May 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in communications, entered a spot calling for students and faculty to submit lyrics for consideration as the RSU fight song. It won second place in the promotion category.
He recorded the spot as if it were an audition with three bad contestants. He voiced the judge and one of the contestants. Garrett Powders, a senior from Tulsa, and Gary Webb, a Honolulu, Hawaii native, voiced the other contestants. Powders sang like a terrible country music singer, Cagle’s contestant sounded like a stuffy old man and Webb did a metal audition.
“When I was writing the spot, I was inspired by American Idol auditions. Some of them are so hilariously poor that I thought a similar theme would fit perfectly into this spot,” Cagle explained. “People love to laugh and in doing so, can more easily recall what it was that made them laugh. The whole point was to garner interest in submitting lyrics for the fight song, so I thought comedy would be a great way to do that.”
Webb won second place in the personality air-check category. He submitted a piece of his announcing for college/indie rock music. This was Webb’s fourth year to submit a piece to the OBEA student awards and his third year to be recognized.
In addition to these three awards, the RSU Radio staff was awarded second place in the public service announcement category.
Cathy Coomer, assistant communications professor and SBA advisor, explained that the collaborative piece was a public service announcement about the annual Claremore dog show and fundraiser.
“I kept thinking about Lady and the Tramp and wanted Garrett to write a spot that included a number of voices,” she said. “Gary, Cody, Garrett and Emily (Mahan) took on the roles of the dogs and used accents in their voices. It turned out to be hilarious and very entertaining.”
Both Coomer and Steve Doyle, operations manager of RSU Radio, said they were very proud of the students for participating in the OBEA Student Competition.
“Talent is always a factor in competition,” Doyle said, “but the skill involved in winning, especially when it comes to writing and production, is invaluable. These students have put in countless hours honing their skills both inside and outside of the studio, and these awards are proof of that.”
By Monique Demarais, RSU PR Intern