Shown in the WNYO radio studio, Raina Horetz's honor in the Best On-Air Personality competition was one of seven awards that SUNY Oswego students and faculty earned recently through the national Broadcast Education Association.
SUNY Oswego students and faculty recently earned honors in seven categories -- more awards than any other SUNY school by a large margin -- through the national Broadcast Education Association.
“This was a banner year for us,” said Michael Riecke, associate professor and chair of communication studies said of the awards, which will be presented in person at the organization’s annual conference in April in Las Vegas. “I think one of the reasons we’ve had success in this competition is because there is a level of commitment among our faculty to really mentor students and help them navigate the process.”
Awards included:
Student Audio Competition:
- Best On-Air Personality
Third Place: “Be Afraid with Naked Raina” on WNYO: Raina Horetz - Multimedia Sound Design
Second Place: “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” scene: Jabari Williams, Juli-Anne Atwood and Jason Weiss
Student News Competition:
Television Short Form News Feature
Award of Excellence: “What's behind the sign?”: Thomas Cafarella
Television Hard News
Award of Excellence: “Buried in Barnes Corners”: Thomas Cafarella
Television News Special Event
Award of Excellence: “Oswego Now: Eclipse Special”
Student Scriptwriting Competition:
Original Television Series Pilot
Award of Excellence: “DELISH”: Maura McCloskey
Faculty Sports Competition:
Short-Form Sports Video
Best of Competition: Michael Riecke: "Girls' Wrestling Expands"
The success of graduates and current students, faculty expertise and the alumni network developing in fields like broadcasting means that students are well-prepared to excel at this level, Riecke noted.
“A lot of our students get jobs in the field before we even graduate,” Riecke said. “We try to mimic what students will do in the field in our classes.”
Riecke also noted that students are high achievers with high expectations.
“It helps our students realize that they walk away with skills that will make them incredibly competitive in the marketplace,” Riecke said. “In many cases, they never quite think their work is good enough. They’re never sure if their work can play at a national level, but the fact of the matter is they can.”
Blending passion with skill
For Horetz, a junior communications major from Red Hook, the BEA award supports a variety, music and talk show on student-run WNYO 88.9 FM, with “a different theme every week related to a different musical genre or mood,” Horetz explained. “I love music history and I love connecting with an audience. I’ve been told I’m very outspoken.”
As for the story of the show’s strange name: “Be Naked With Naked Raina” comes from an inside joke –- Horetz answering an ad seeking models in Tyler Hall, it sought nude models. The original show concept was “Naked and Afraid with Raina,” with the change to avoid copyright issues.
“The joy of knowing that somebody has to say the name of my show at an awards ceremony is one of the best things in my life,” Horetz said with a smile.
Also the general manager of WNYO, Horetz is in the third year of doing the show, which runs 8 to 10 p.m. Tuesdays. It dates back to a longtime passion for telling stories about music.
“My brother and I, we made our own MTV afternoons,” Horetz recalled, playing videos and watching documentaries of whatever latest band they were interested in.
Horetz’s brother will often call into the show as well. “It’s my way of keeping that up, connecting with my brother while I’m away at college, doing what we enjoy, which is talking about music,” Horetz said.
Having two minors in health sciences and in expressive arts therapy reflect Horetz’s main interest of connecting with and helping people. Horetz also appreciates all those helping make this success possible.
“I’m extremely grateful to the people I’ve met and worked with,” Horetz said, citing faculty members and peers, such as senior public relations major Melinda Brancato and May 2024 broadcasting graduate Jolie Santiago.
Horetz is especially enjoying a podcasting class taught by Francisco Suarez, among other opportunities.
“I’ve learned so much here,” Horetz said. “The professors are very welcoming. They encourage you to just do it. That’s why I appreciate people like Dr. (David) Crider, so much. There’s never a ‘no,’ it’s just go find a way.”
Working around farms and farmers markets growing up, Horetz credits an initial interest in Oswego to regularly seeing one of its most famous alumni.
“Al Roker came to the farmers’ market I worked every weekend, and he always seemed to come in an Oswego hoodie,” Horetz recalled.
‘Just go for it’
Atwood, a 2024 broadcasting graduate who now works as a residence director at Franklin Pierce University in New Hampshire, echoed Horitz’s theme of faculty encouragement.
Atwood and Williams had previously collaborated on an audio scene from “The Incredibles,” so when they had a similar assignment in Jeff Bradbury’s “Sound Design for TV and Film” class, paired with Weiss, they proposed doing this ambitious scene.
“Professor Bradbury was very helpful and encouraging,” Atwood recalled. “He told us: ‘Just go for it.’”
As a result of the previous collaboration, “we came into this project with a lot more confidence and got more help with Jason Weiss,” said Williams, a 2024 audio recording and production graduate. “My role in this project was primarily mixing and recording all of the sounds.”
Atwood’s role was casting, trying to find the right person and voice to fit the character. “I thought it was great because I had so many great people to work with,” Atwood said. “We worked very well together and were on the same page. We trusted each other’s judgment.”
Weiss, meanwhile, focused on creating all the sounds, often gathering unique items to make sounds befitting the scene.
“I felt very proud to learn about this honor because it is validating to know that all of the skills I have gained over the years have amounted to something worthy of getting recognized,” Williams said. “I was confident in my skills before, but this has given me the motivation to keep going and see my potential for future success.”
“I was extremely happy,” Atwood noted. “It was nice to see so many other people from Oswego who got awards.”
This kind of challenge really reinforces the learning process, Williams noted.
“One lesson that I have learned with not only this project but all projects in general is that every project comes with its own unique challenges and experiences that I have the opportunity to learn from,” Williams said. “One example of this would be the scene where Miles first comes out of his room. That scene is packed with so many sounds and was intimidating at first, but it became manageable once we took the time to make a list of each and every sound.”
Working in higher education now, Atwood frequently references Oswego experiences on a day-to-day basis.
“After being here for four years, I’ve come across all kinds of people,” Atwood said. “I always find myself referencing Oswego now. I never thought I would be that person. I think it’s a passion thing.”
Finding those passions and turning them into experiences and careers is a real Oswego strength.
“The professors here give so many opportunities for students to do different things,” Atwood said. “I’m so thankful for broadcasting faculty, communication studies and the whole School of Communication, Media and the Arts. They are the most understanding, empathetic and really helpful people.”
Atwood also recalls a life lesson from faculty member TJ Bandla from a theatre design class that transcends majors and fields.
“TJ said, ‘skill is one thing, but kindness takes you further,’” Atwood recalled. “And it’s true. No matter how skilled somebody is, it’s always easier to work with someone who is kind.”
Shining during an eclipse
Winning the award for the Oswego Now eclipse coverage –- the focus of a special “Covering the Eclipse” class in spring 2024 connected to the total solar eclipse in April –- rewarded a lot of hard work from a variety of students.
“The eclipse special posed a challenge of how do you host a 90-minute live broadcast, knowing that things can go wrong and then how do you handle that?” Riecke recalled.
Clarissa Karki, who won multiple BEA awards in the past including a Best in Show for a video package on local operetta “The Golden Cage,” was in the eclipse class and said “we learned from each other” and “it was almost like a mini-newsroom.”
“We had TV producers, we had digital journalists working together, we had PR people, we had a marketing team, we had reporters and on-air talent, and we had the professors guiding us as well,” Karki said.
Faculty members Riecke and Catherine Loper facilitated the discussions but allowed the class to make final decisions, fostering a professional environment, Karki recalled.
“I’m really glad that it got the BEA recognition,” said Karki, who double majors in broadcasting and mass communication and in global and international studies. “That’s really an honor and I’m proud to be on that team.”
In addition, Karki will have another unforgettable experience after earning a BEA Student MMJ (multimedia journalist) opportunity that will cover producing video content during the Las Vegas conference as well as a subsequent National Association of Broadcasters convention.
Earning the very competitive position is as "an incredible opportunity," Karki said.
"I'm really excited," Karki said. "I'll be doing real-world multimedia journalist experience before I graduate. ... It's great to have all the honors and recongitions it provides for our campus as well as for the students. It's going to be fun covering it as a journalist."
Faculty award as example
In addition to teaching and chairing the department, Riecke has remained a professional freelance storyteller, and his award comes from a recurring role with WPBS, a public television station based out of Watertown serving a large audience in Northern New York and parts of Ontario, Canada.
“The story I entered was a piece I did about the growth of women’s wrestling in New York state,” Riecke said. “Especially in the North Country, there hadn’t been a lot of coverage of the sport that was exploding.”
Nearby Fulton, in Oswego County, “had the largest girls’ wrestling team in the state,” Riecke noted. “Fulton has a legacy of having a strong wrestling program on the boys’ side.” He also looked at other strong North Country schools, including one just starting the program.
“What I found was this group of girls that were so proud of being first in this sport that belonged to the boys for generations,” Riecke said. “They saw themselves as being in the forefront.”
Beyond that story, Riecke said this work serves as an example for students, whether through successes or challenges.
“I tell my students we’re all in the trenches together,” Riecke said. “When you’re in the business, this is a team sport. We’re all working together. I can take my experiences in the field and share the challenges and lessons in the classroom. Or if students confront the same challenges in the field, I have recent experiences I can reference.”
A longtime storyteller albeit without a big sports journalism background, Riecke said it showed students that they can learn and expand their viewpoints and skills. While a sports story, the piece on women’s wrestling showed a larger point. “I try to convince my students that journalism is journalism, storytelling is storytelling, and this was a great example,” he said.
That variety of experience and skills SUNY Oswego students possess and build was well-reflected in the variety of awards attained.
“One of the things I really appreciated this year as well was the wide array of categories we found success in,” Riecke said. “It was a reminder of all we do and how we’re preparing students for a variety of careers.”
A view of the master control room during SUNY Oswego's student-run eclipse special broadcast in April, one of several efforts to win Broadcast Education Association awards. (Photo by Michael Riecke)