Jason Parrott, Tri States Public Radio, receives an AP Award from Brian O'Keefe.

Jason Parrott, Tri States Public Radio, received an llinois AP Award in the Sports Reporting category for the feature “Roller Derby Queens.”

He is pictured receiving the plaque from Brian O’Keefe of the AP Board at the recent Illinois News Broadcasters Association Convention in Macomb, IL.

Matt Fischer, Sean Ingrassia, Michael Broskowski, and Joshua Gleason with their awards.

From Roger Sadler:
It is my pleasure to announce that the following Western Illinois University Broadcasting students won statewide awards Saturday at the Illinois News Broadcasters Association convention held in Macomb, IL:

• Matt Fischer, senior, broadcasting, Plainfield, IL:  1st Place, Outstanding Radio Sports Play by Play
• Joshua Gleason, senior broadcasting, Memphis, NY:  1st Place, Outstanding Radio Sports Reporting
• Sean Ingrassia, senior, broadcasting, Chatham, IL and Andrew Bacon, freshman, broadcasting, Chatham, IL: 1st Place, Outstanding TV Sports Program, “Pigskin Preview”
• Michael Patrick Broskowski, senior, broadcasting, Jefferson, WI: 2nd Place, Outstanding Radio Sports Play by Play
• Kelsey Wolfe, senior, journalism, Oregon, IL: 3rd place, Outstanding Radio News Reporting

Also, congratulations to Kelsey who was awarded an INBA scholarship.

COFAC is very proud of all of broadcasting student successes.

From Galesburg.com

Renee Stoetzer Weaver

METAMORA —Abingdon native Renee Stoetzer Weaver is one of the Ten Outstanding Young Professionals of Illinois chosen by the Illinois Jaycees.

This year’s TOYP Honors Program is Saturday, May 12 at the Springfield Hilton in conjunction with the Illinois Jaycees’ Spring General Assembly Meeting.

The Jaycees chose the young professionals because of their accomplishments in a number of fields, including financial success and economic innovation, philanthropic contribution or voluntary service, politics or government service, scientific or technical contributions or legal reform and cultural achievement.

Weaver is a 1991 graduate of Abingdon High School and a 1996 graduate of Western Illinois University. She is a former WMBD-TV news anchor and won Miss Illinois USA in 2000. She lives in Metamora and works as director of public affairs and media relations for the Heartland Partnership in Peoria.

WIU Broadcasting students attend the BEA Conference in Las Vegas.

Sam Edsall, professor broadcasting, has just returned with 7 students from Las Vegas for their first BC 379 Study Abroad trip. Students participating were all broadcasting students: Jennifer Powelson, senior, Macomb; Dan Kruzel, junior, Glenview; John Mullin, freshman, Geneseo; Nick Sintich, senior, Des Plaines; Sarah Jennings, senior, Burlington, IA; Kelsey McKenna, senior, Springfield; Adam Bachleda, senior, Marengo.

The course allowed the students to participate in the the Broadcast Education Association conference held at the Las Vegas Hotel Convention Center in LasVegas, NV. WIU students were able to talk with experts in the field, watch award-winning productions, and meet broadcasting students and professors from other universities. They also attended the BEA Job Fair where over 30 media outlets actively recruit broadcasting students.

Besides that, they were also able to attend the National Association of Broadcasters convention at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The large exhibition hall is filled with vendors in the broadcasting industry including Sony, Panasonic, Avid, Grass Valley, Cannon, JVC and 100’s more. They could learn tips and tricks in audio and video editing and post production. Some of the students also joined Edsall for two special events: the Media Motion Ball and the Creative Pro Users Group SuperMeet with representatives from Apple and other Final Cut Pro users.

This course offered our students a ‘real world’ broadcasting experience outside the confines of our department. The BEA sessions taught them new techniques and technologies. They saw award-winning audio, video, online and multimedia productions from other broadcasting students and faculty. They experienced the latest hardware and software in television and radio production with opportunities to try out the new gear. All these things certainly revealed to them what the broadcasting business is really about and what is expected from them.

And like all good broadcasting students, they did podcast of the conference and you can find them here.

Buckle Buddy program logo

May 1, 2012: Children’s Hospital of Illinois in association with the Illinois Department of Transportation-Division of Traffic Safety (IDOT-DTS) announces the first and third place entries in the statewide 2012 Be A Buckle Buddy! PSA contest.

Western Illinois University Student Geoff Norfleet won third place ($250) with his radio entry entitled “If You Saw A Child…”  Norfleet is a junior broadcasting major from Macomb.

College and University students from across the state participated in the fifth annual Be A Buckle Buddy! PSA contest. A panel of five judges comprised of representatives from Children’s Hospital of Illinois’ Advocacy Center, Administration, Marketing and Community Advisory Board, as well as representatives from IDOT-DTS judged blinded copies of each entry in the following five categories: Script Quality, Alignment with the Be A Buckle Buddy! Message, production Quality, Talent Performance, and Overall Impression.
Be A Buckle Buddy! is a public education program featuring a statewide toll-free hotline that any concerned individual may call to anonymously report an unrestrained or improperly restrained child passenger traveling in a motor vehicle. The reported driver will receive an informational packet containing information about the program, child passenger safety practices, and state law regarding passenger safety. No tickets are issued with this program, it is purely an educational program.

(Editor’s Note: With questions or interview opportunities, please contact Savanna R. Bohm at 309-671-481.3)

Matt Fischer, Sean Ingrassia, Michael Broskowski, and Joshua Gleason with their awards.

From Roger Sadler:
It is my pleasure to announce that the following Western Illinois University Broadcasting students won statewide awards Saturday at the Illinois News Broadcasters Association convention held in Macomb, IL:

• Matt Fischer, senior, broadcasting, Plainfield, IL:  1st Place, Outstanding Radio Sports Play by Play
• Joshua Gleason, senior broadcasting, Memphis, NY:  1st Place, Outstanding Radio Sports Reporting
• Sean Ingrassia, senior, broadcasting, Chatham, IL and Andrew Bacon, freshman, broadcasting, Chatham, IL: 1st Place, Outstanding TV Sports Program, “Pigskin Preview”
• Michael Patrick Broskowski, senior, broadcasting, Jefferson, WI: 2nd Place, Outstanding Radio Sports Play by Play
• Kelsey Wolfe, senior, journalism, Oregon, IL: 3rd place, Outstanding Radio News Reporting

Also, congratulations to Kelsey who was awarded an INBA scholarship.

COFAC is very proud of all of broadcasting student successes.

Society for Cinema and Media Studies logo

Richard Ness, Department of Broadcasting, chaired the panel “Bollywood Does Hollywood” (on Indian remakes of Hollywood films) and presented the paper “Mr. Smith Goes to Mumbai:  Class, Caste, and Karma in Indian Versions of Frank Capra Films” at the Society for Cinema and Media Studies Conference in Boston, March 21-25.

Brian O'Connell, 2012 Country Music Promoter of the Year

Congratulations to Brian O’Connell, broadcasting major and 2007 WIU Alumni Achievement Award recipient, for receiving his SIXTH Academy of Country Music Award as the Country Music Promoter of the Year!

Way to go Brian!

Read more.

Amber Hannen and Tony Jones with their National Student Electronic Media Competition Awards.

Broadcasting students had great success at the 70th National Broadcasting Society Convention in New York City in March. Three WIU student works were nominated in the National Student Electronic Media Competition, and the students won three first place awards!  Plus one WIU student won a special on-site award.  Pat Stout, broadcasting advisor, attended the convention with the students.  Yeah from COFAC to these student winners!

• Tony Jones, freshman, Chicago, IL:  Best Audio/Music Program, “DISCovered”
• Paul Strater, senior, Peoria, IL:  Best Instructional/Industrial Video, “Cable Clinic”
• Amber Hannen, senior, Macomb, IL:  Best Animation, “The Neighbors”
• Bianca Williams, junior, Peoria Heights, IL:  Best On-Site Community Service, NBS Blood Drive
  

  Bianca Williams, 2012 NBS Best On-Site Service Award

The National Broadcasting Society - Alpha Epsilon Rho, is a student and professional society of over eighty-five chapters on college, university, community college and high school campuses. Through the years, NBS-AERho has had as its purpose the goal of encouraging and rewarding scholarship and accomplishment among students of broadcasting, to establish meaningful communication between student and professional broadcasters and to foster integrity in the use of the powerful instruments of radio, television, film, cable and its’ many associated businesses and industries.
The Society as we know it today had its beginning in the early 1940’s on the campus of Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri. In May 1943, when it was officially announced that AERho had been organized, there were four chartered chapters including Stephens College, the University of Syracuse, Michigan State University and Ohio State University. By March of 1993, the number has increased to over 120 active chapters on campuses nationwide. Over 30,000 individuals have been initiated into the society since its founding. The future looks very bright for the National Broadcasting Society - Alpha Epsilon Rho.

Tim Abshire, BA Broadcasting, 1992

You really never know where you will find a WIU alum.  You wouldn’t have found Tim Abshire, BA Broadcasting, 1992 at the Super Bowl but you would have seen his work if you were tuned in.

From University Relations:
MACOMB, IL — With all the cameras at Super Bowl XLVI focused on quarterbacks Eli Manning and Tom Brady, Western Illinois University might have missed the show put on by one of its own.

A WIU graduate stole the attention of more than 100 million viewers for 30 seconds of the broadcast, and while he may not have been sporting shoulder pads, a helmet or those shiny pants, his brief time in the spotlight was some of the game’s most loved and remembered … the E*Trade Baby commercial directed by WIU alumnus Tim Abshire.

Tim Abshire directing the Super Bowl E-Trade baby commercial.

Abshire’s spot featured the iconic pint-sized financial wizard dishing out his usual mixture of investing wisdom and offhanded humor to a nervous new father, all while incredulously watching another of his infant friends “speed-dating” on the other side of the glass in a hospital nursery.

He recently “met” with Western broadcasting students via FaceTime, where he fielded students’ questions about his E*TRADE commercial, the advertising industry, and career advice in general, which comes after more than 10 years directing spots for some of the biggest players in the business, including Google, Coca-Cola, Chevrolet, Gamefly (remember the ad with people screaming at their TVs?), and of course, E*Trade. And yet, in spite of the pressure of being in charge of such high-value projects and clients, Abshire said he is having the time of his life.

“I get to do something new every day,” he said. “It’s an absolute blast of a way to make a living.”

Abshire attended WIU in the formative stages of the broadcasting department, when the TV studio was first built.  “It was a pretty interesting time,” Abshire recalled. “Everybody was kind of figuring the studio out and learning it together. We did a whole lot of experimenting.”

And experiment he did, creating and directing game shows outside of schoolwork where contestants comprised of sororities and fraternities battled it out playing classic games like Pictionary, Trivial Pursuit and Twister. His career’s meteoric ascent began after one of his experimental videos won him an internship with MTV On Air Promos after graduation. He started as a intern, then worked his way up revising spots and finally, got the opportunity to direct commercials for MTV’s Video Music Awards, the Video Music Awards and everything in-between.

Read more.

And to view more of Tim’s work, check out his website.