AVRIL KING
Managing Editor
Amid the chaos created by COVID-19, Fredonia Radio Systems took their annual trip to the Intercollegiate Broadcast System (IBS) conference, located in New York City, March 5-8.
The trip itself involved seminars and Q-and-A sessions for students interested in the broadcast field.
The most notable moment for most of the 12 FRS representatives, however, was the awards ceremony. Altogether, they came away with three trophies for nominations and one finalist award.
“Getting a nomination is actually somewhat bragworthy, as thousands of people send in submissions, making a ‘finalist’ submission [means being selected] in the top five percent of submissions,” said Jules Hoepting, a sophomore member of the radio station.
Hoepting, along with Paige Austin, were nominated for Best Station Promo. Crescenzo Fano received a nomination for Best Women’s Basketball Play-By-Play and Jaret Belschwinder was nominated for Best Hockey Play-By-Play.
Fano received the only finalist award of the group for Best Liner/Sweeper.
“Once I heard my name as the winner, I wanted to cry,” said Fano, a senior audio and radio production major. “For the first time in my life, I felt [like] and was a winner at something I gave everything for.”
Historically, FRS has seen many successes at the IBS awards. In 2017 and 2018, the student-run organization received Best College Station in the Nation. Last year, Fredonia saw eight nominations, but no winners.
In the middle of these triumphs was the ever-growing fear of the coronavirus. Being in one of the hotspots, the concern was palpable to the attending students.
“We were just told to wash our hands a lot [and] use hand sanitizer, which we certainly did,” said Hoepting. “In my opinion, the city wasn’t as busy as it should have been; we were next to Madison Square Garden, close to the Empire State Building, Times Square, etcetera. It was busy, I just thought it would be busier, and I suspect it had something to do with the coronavirus.”
At this point, none of those who attended the conference have shown symptoms, nor do they plan on being tested.