KCSN News Earns Two More First Place Awards

Cal State Northridge's acclaimed public radio station KCSN-FM (88.5) has won two first-place, statewide awards from the Associated Press Television Radio Association.

KCSN News was the winner in the category of "Best News Broadcast--More than 15 Minutes" and for "Best Investigative Reporting." The station also was a finalist in the category of "Best Use of Sound--Feature." This is the second year in a row that the station has won first place in the "Best News Broadcast" category.

KCSN competes in Division Two, which consists of professional radio stations in California and Nevada with five or fewer full-time staff in the newsroom, including stations in Palm Springs, Fresno, Ventura and Bakersfield. KCSN's news division is made up of one only one full-time employee: News Director Keith Goldstein. The rest of the staff is made up of students majoring in broadcast journalism.

Goldstein said the first place for "Best News Broadcast" for the Oct. 27, 2005, broadcast of the "Evening Update," "represents a really solid team effort" by journalism students who worked an entire day, starting at 8 a.m., preparing stories and reports for the 6 p.m. broadcast.

"The strength of the show is the nature of the stories we cover," he said.

The award-winning program was anchored by senior Jenna Carrerio and featured a sports segment by senior Brian Flores, a health segment by senior Rachelle Escaravage and an in-depth special report by senior Heather Sinclair on the Los Angeles County District Attorney's "Courageous Citizens" Awards.

Senior Mystie Heckler received a first place award in the category of "Best Investigative Reporting" for her in-depth story on "Releasing Jail Inmates."

Goldstein said her honor was particularly notable because investigative reporting in radio is "fairly rare" due to the amount of time required to put such a piece together.

Senior Arevik Taymizyan was named one of three finalists in the category of "Best Use of Sound--Feature," for her creative coverage of "Veterans' Day Ceremony."

The awards will be formally presented next month at the association's convention at Disneyland's Paradise Pier Hotel in Anaheim.

KCSN has won more than 400 awards in national and state competitions against professional broadcasters and university students.

Contact: Carmen Ramos Chandler, (818) 677-2130, carmen.chandler@csun.edu