Three students received awards from the National College Broadcasting Inc. on Saturday, Oct. 29 for their shows on WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM.

Sophomore Lauren Smyth took first place in Best Newscast or Sportscast, alumna Rachel Kookogey ‘22 received first and second place for Best Sports Reporting, and senior Josh Barker won third place for Best Hard News Reporting.

“This is the fifth year the station has entered submissions for the CBI awards,” General Manager of WRFH Scot Bertram said. “We’ve taken home five first-place awards during that stretch.”

Out of the more than 1,100 entries this year, Hillsdale students stood out to CBI’s panel of experts.

“It’s always exciting and gratifying to have industry professionals acknowledge the hard work and outstanding content created by our students at WRFH,” Bertram said. “I can tell them all I want that they’re doing a great job, but hearing it from someone outside of Hillsdale means a little bit more.”

In her newscast, “Lauren Smyth News,” Smyth covers national and local stories, along with sports and weather updates. 

“The broadcasts we submitted to the CBI awards were recorded just a few weeks after I got started,” Smyth said. “To anyone who wants to get started in radio: Know that you will mess up spectacularly. But don’t let that stop you.”

Segments of Kookogey’s feature, “Sports Story Time,” in which she told a three-minute short story about sports, placed twice in the sports reporting category. 

“It was a three-minute ‘feature’ and in each episode I told funny, unbelievable but true, stories from hockey history — everything from eventful games to fun facts and weird things fans or players did,” Kookogey said.

Barker, the program director at Radio Free Hillsdale, won third place for his show “The Policy Corner.” In the episode submitted to CBI, he discussed election reform bills with state Rep. Andrew Fink (R.).

“So much of cable ‘news’ is actually just talking points and sophistry lacking any substance,” Barker said. “‘The Policy Corner,’ on the other hand, focuses on the substance.”

Bertram said he is glad to see the work of Hillsdale radio students pay off. 

“We are proud of our students and all of their hard work in creating some of the best radio programming in the state and, indeed, the country,” Bertram said. “They have dedicated themselves to producing high-quality content, and it’s satisfying to see others recognize their passion and effort.”