WRST-FM Oshkosh, the student-run radio station at UW Oshkosh, recently won its 10th College Broadcasters, Inc. award and its ninth College Media Association award for outstanding student submissions.

Two student-run podcasts, “The Sports Page,” hosted by Nick Bode and Hunter Vaughn and “Script to Screen,” hosted by Gideon Patrick and Max Fredrick, were honored within their categories with first and third place at the College Broadcasters convention this fall in St. Louis, Missouri.

Patrick, who cohosts “Script to Screen” with Frederick, credited him with starting the show with the help of Randall Davidson, the station faculty adviser.

Patrick said the show airs movie reviews every week and often produces bonus shows for both the on-the-air and their podcast.

“My cohost Max and I tend to have drastically differing viewpoints and taste in films, so that brings a sensibility to the show that you don’t often get from other podcasts,” Patrick said.

“I enjoy working at WRST a lot, and I would honestly say it’s one of my favorite parts of going to school at UW Oshkosh,” Patrick said. “It was awesome to get an award for all the work we put in last year, and it will be fun to see where the show goes over the coming semesters.”

Student station manager Andrew Haese won second place for Best DJ/personality at the CMA convention this fall.
Haese, a junior radio/TV/film major and journalism minor, said he came to UWO for the radio station opportunity and the RTF program.

“There’s no program like the RTF program at any other UW school. It’s something very very special,” Haese said.
“There’s so many opportunities outside of the classroom for students like me who want to just get their hands on and do stuff.”

Haese has been running his own station out of his bedroom since he was 14, with the goal of someday getting his station on the iHeart Radio app.

“I finally signed my partnership with them actually just a couple days ago so I’m officially an iHeart Radio partner,” Haese said.

Haese is currently working on getting WRST a partnership with iHeart Radio as well.
Starting A100, his self-run contemporary hit radio station, has taught him how radio works, but Haese said working at WRST has taught him much more.

Haese said WRST is different from commercial radio stations because the music you hear is actually hand-picked, where commercial radio stations play “cookie cutter” music.

“Here, we’re playing music and we’re presenting shows that are generated by students for the community, and I think that’s key for a good public radio station,” Haese said.

Community involvement is the most important aspect of a radio station, according to Haese.
Haese said that while all forms of media are necessary and helpful, radio is one of the last personalized media platforms.

“Radio is one last standing form of media that is truly one-to-one,” Haese said.

To Haese, creating content for the listener and getting positive feedback from them is one of the most rewarding parts of working in radio.

“The whole thing with radio is you’re trying to connect to that one listener. You’re trying to keep them. That’s the whole goal.”

WRST-FM can be listened to on 90.3 FM or at uwosh.edu/wrst.