Ah, New York City. Like Alicia Keys said, it’s the place where dreams are made of, and in the case of Wayne State College student Grant Ferrell, a place where awards are won. 

I got the pleasure of tagging along to NYC with Ferrell, who, along with WSC student John Campbell, was nominated for national awards at the 2024 International Broadcasting System Conference. 

 Ferrell, a member of the KWSC FM radio station, was nominated in the Best Station/Event Promo category. Campbell, a member of KWSC Sports, was nominated for the video category of Best Station Promotion. The conference was held within Times Square. 

As representatives of WSC at the conference, students fulfilled their duties by attending sessions that provided tips on numerous subjects, from DJ personalities to Sports Radio to how to enter the industry after college.  

Many of these panels included radio professionals from a variety of backgrounds. Josh Martinez, a DJ from Z100, one of the top radio stations in the United States, was not only on a panel giving a lot of useful information on working for radio stations, but also gave a handful of radio students a tour of the iHeartRadio building.  

The main event came Saturday night when the awards ceremony took place. Even being nominated for an award meant being in the top six entries, or conversely top six in the nation. Some events only looked at the top three submissions, and others were international. 

Campbell’s work was pitted against that of his peers at Montclair State University, Marshal University, Susquehanna University, Arkansas State, and the University of Akron. 

“It was cool to represent WSC on a national stage. I can’t talk about the convention itself because I did not go. Unfortunately, I got sixth and that’s quite the distance from first, but maybe next year,” said Campbell.  

Ferrell won first place in his category, beating out contemporaries from Columbia College Chicago, Loyola University Chicago, and St. Ambrose University. 

“It was exciting to receive an award in the category I enjoy the most working in. It shows that what you enjoy doing often turns out better than what you have to do,” said Ferrell.  

Students from KWSC FM, KWSC TV, and writers at the Wayne Stater will have another important competition, albeit regional, this upcoming weekend at Golden Leaf, here on campus.