KXSC wins national radio award

USC’s student-run radio station, KXSC, can now add another achievement to its list of awards.

KXSC recently beat out four other stations to win the “Biggest Improvement” award last week at the CMJ College Radio Awards in an annual conference held in New York City.

The station has been growing in size, getting more DJs and creating new programs, which contributed to the reception of the award, said Michel’le Roddy, promotions director of KXSC and a junior majoring in public relations.

“It’s very satisfying because all of our hard work is being recognized by people that are leading the industry for college radio,” Roddy said.

The station, which is completely funded by donations and sponsors, competed against four other radio stations that also made the final cut.

Since this was a national competition which also included schools from Canada, senior Karl Nickenig, general manager of the station, said he was humbled that the station took the award home.

“To be honest, I was pretty surprised. We had done a lot of work for it but we didn’t have high hopes coming into it,” Nickenig said. “I was very happily surprised with the results.”

According to Nickenig, winning the award consisted of several stages.

“You have to be nominated by multiple people such as industry promoters, representatives, record labels and other people working at CMJ,” Nickenig said.

Nickenig, who delivered an acceptance speech at the CMJ award ceremony, said the entire experience was surreal.

“It was a really great feeling. It felt incredible to be honored like that by your peers and other people in the industry,” Nickenig said. “I wasn’t expected to give a speech but I said thank you and I meant it.”

The radio station, which has 32 employees and numerous interns and volunteers, has been working hard to get its name out in the public.

Roddy has been with the radio station for the past three years and said she is excited about the direction the station is headed — which, she said, is largely because of the dedication of its employers.

“We don’t do it for the awards. We do it because we love radio, working with each other and doing quality broadcasting,” Roddy said. “All of these achievements will simply get people to know us more and listen to our radio station.”

The station is looking forward to a lot more in the upcoming future, Nickenig said.

“This is just the beginning,” Nickenig said. “Getting this award shows that people are starting to recognize us but we are in no way finished.”