The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) has announced that public radio station WUFT-FM is one of five finalists for the prestigious 2018 NAB Marconi Radio Awards in the non-commercial station-of-the-year category.
WUFT-FM, operated by the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications, is the local NPR affiliate in the Gainesville-Ocala, Florida market, serving a 19-county area in North Central and Central Florida area.
In addition to overall excellence, the station, was cited, in particular for its coverage of Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017. WUFT is the founder of the Florida Public Radio Emergency Network (FPREN), a statewide collaboration of public radio stations operated from a storm center operation at WUFT. It is the only network of its kind in the nation and provided extensive multimedia coverage of the hurricanes in 2017.
“We couldn’t be more excited about this honor for our staff and station”, said Randy Wright, executive director of WUFT-FM and the Division of Media Properties at the College. “WUFT-FM has long been a foundation of what makes our community great and recent efforts to expand our impact throughout Florida with FPREN have proven to be valuable to our colleagues and listeners across the state. This Marconi Award finalist recognition is wonderful for our extraordinary staff who makes it all happen for WUFT-FM.”
The NAB Marconi Radio Awards were established in 1989 and named after inventor and Nobel Prize winner Guglielmo Marconi. These prestigious awards recognize stations and individuals for their excellence and performance in radio.
