(NEWARK, NJ) -- On Saturday June 25th, the PMJA (Public Media Journalists Awards) announced its award winners for exemplary work done in calendar year 2021, including two first place and two second place awards for WBGO, Newark Public Radio. This year, the judges reviewed over 1,500 entries, and the Seattle conference culminated by recognizing the best in public media from across the country.
Founded in 1979, WBGO has been honored by the recognition from the PMJA (formerly PRNDI) for many years, competing against other public media outlets with newsrooms of 1-4 people (Division C).
“I’m extremely proud of the team effort at WBGO," noted WBGO News Director Doug Doyle. "This national recognition is a great reminder of the quality programming that comes from our news department. Shows like Newark Today and WBGO Journal are making an impact and it’s wonderful to be honored by our public radio peers.”
WBGO is a publicly-supported cultural institution that preserves and promotes jazz, blues, Latin jazz and classic rhythm & blues. From its home base of Newark, New Jersey, public radio station WBGO has long been an anchor institution in community engagement through its music and news programming, live performances and partnerships.
WBGO reaches a diverse audience from its broadcast location in America's number one media market, the New York/New Jersey metro area. Through programs such as Jazz Night in America, produced in partnership with NPR and Jazz at Lincoln Center, the organization’s reach extends to millions more across the country, and around the globe through WBGO.org and the WBGO mobile app and social media plus Facebook Live broadcasts. WBGO is broadcast at 88.3 FM in the NY/New Jersey area and may be streamed from WBGO.org.
This year's winning entries from WBGO:
FIRST PLACE - AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT PROGRAM (DIVISION C)
WBGO - "Newark Today on Police Reform" Host - Michael Hill; Producer - Alexandra Hill; Executive Producer - Doug Doyle; Show Engineer - Corey Goldberg; Technical Support - David Antoine
FIRST PLACE - SPORTS FEATURE
WBGO - "Documentarian Ken Burns aims for "the greatest" work in "Muhammad Ali" Reporter and producer - Doug Doyle
SECOND PLACE - FEATURE
WBGO - "WBGO'S Jon Kalish celebrates 50th Anniversary of Comic Strip Doonesbury" Reporter and producer - Jon Kalish
SECOND PLACE - SPOT NEWS
WBGO - "Always go for Gold: Trenton celebrates hometown Olympic hero Athing Mu" Reporter - Kenneth Burns
