KCLU, the local National Public Radio station for Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, won five awards for excellence in broadcast journalism Saturday at the Radio & Television News Association of Southern California’s 60th Annual Golden Mike Awards in Universal City.
KCLU was the only winner from Ventura or Santa Barbara counties. All the radio and television stations in the two counties compete in the Division B small-stations category.
The NPR station also won more Golden Mikes than any other small-market radio station in Southern California. The nonprofit RTNA of Southern California represents broadcast newsrooms stretching from San Luis Obispo and Bakersfield to the Mexican border.
The station won the 2010 award for Best Live Reporting for its coverage of Santa Barbara County’s Tea Fire and the Best Spot News Reporting award for its coverage of the Sesnon Fire in Ventura and Los Angeles counties.
Program Director Jim Rondeau received a Golden Mike for Best News Public Affairs Program for a marijuana policy-discussion on the interview program “Crosstalk.” News Director Lance Orozco won Golden Mikes for Best Sports Reporting for “Derby Darlings,” a look at Ventura County’s growing roller derby scene, and for Best Entertainment Reporting for a series of reports on the region’s arts and entertainment scene.
KCLU has won more than 60 Golden Mikes since 2001.
KCAL anchor Pat Harvey, former KNBC anchor Paul Moyer and San Diego Padres broadcaster Jerry Coleman received Lifetime Achievement Awards.
The Radio-Television News Directors Association of Northern California presented two awards for excellence to KCLU in November. Rondeau was honored for Best Public Affairs Program for “The Politics of Torture” on “Crosstalk.” Orozco, Rondeau and reporter John Palminteri received the Best Breaking News Coverage award for their Tea Fire coverage. KCLU’s coverage began airing within 10 minutes of the fire’s start and continued despite the fire destroying the station’s FM transmitter in Montecito.
KCLU provides NPR and local news programming to Ventura County at 88.3 FM, and Santa Barbara County at 102.3 FM and 1340 AM. Listeners around the world also can click here to tune in live or hear archived stories. The station is a community service of California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks.
— Karin Grennan is the media relations manager for California Lutheran University.