UW-Whitewater students earn top National Broadcasting Society honors
Released: April 1, 2002
The National Broadcasting Society (NBS) National Convention in Atlanta was a sort of welcome back party for the newly reactivated NBS chapter at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. With little fanfare and fewer expectations, UW-Whitewater won two major awards, one for Best Sports Program and another for Best Play-by-Play.
“Whitewater has quietly been producing exceptional sports programming the last three years,” said UW-Whitewater senior Jim Disrude. “Its great to get some national recognition for all of the hard work.”
Disrude, Fort Atkinson, picked up the award for Best Sports Program for producing “SportsHawk,” a half-hour sports commentary, for the campus cable station. Junior Joe Weber, Wauwatosa, along with Disrude won for their coverage of the Warhawk Women’s Volleyball team this past fall.
“Jim and I basically try and have fun when the cameras start rolling, and we can only hope that the viewer picks up on our relaxed attitude,” said Weber. “Lets face it, in the great department store of life, play-by-play broadcasting falls somewhere between the toy aisle and the electronics department.”
Peter Conover, director of University Cable Television, said that the agreement with Charter Cable Television has allowed the student productions to be seen throughout southern Wisconsin. “The National Broadcasting Society has recognized their play-by-play coverage of this year’s NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball playoffs as the best in the nation. The students and the university can be proud of their achievement.”
The national convention gathered 375 students from over 35 schools around the nation. Universities in attendance included the University of Miami, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale and Hofstra.
The NBS chapter at UW-Whitewater was reactivated in February by Disrude, who is also the acting chapter president. Things have really moved quickly for the young chapter.
“This is a great jumpstart for the NBS chapter at Whitewater, and it’s scary to think where we can go from here,” said Disrude.
“It was great to win and be recognized, but I really feel like there's so much more that we can do as a team to make the sports broadcasts even better,” added Weber. “We've come a long way with the help of Charter Communications and the university.”
NBS is an organization that enhances the development of college and university students involved in broadcasting, cable, telecommunications and other electronic media. The goal of NBS is to provide university students exposure to the telecommunication industries, assist in career preparation and provide opportunities for the development of members through advanced media education programs at local, district, regional and national levels.
- Steve Garczynski ,npa@uww.edu
