WUTC-FM 88.1 has been awarded a 2017 Edward R. Murrow Award for feature reporting.
The winning entry, #NoogaStrong: New ‘Chattanooga Rain’ Song Honors Staff Sgt. Wyatt, Who Was One of the Fallen Five, was produced by WUTC News Director Michael Edward Miller.
The Edward R. Murrow awards recognize the best electronic journalism produced by radio, television and digital news organizations around the world. They are bestowed by the Radio Television Digital News Association.
The “Chattanooga Rain” feature grew out of WUTC’s association with Operation Song, a Nashville-based nonprofit established in 2012 that uses songwriting as therapy to empower veterans, active-duty military and their families to share their stories musically by pairing professional songwriters with active and veteran military personnel and their loved ones.
“We at WUTC are honored to have received the Murrow award for ‘Chattanooga Rain,’” Miller said. “That piece and the others in the Operation Song radio documentary that WUTC produced represent the true spirit of community radio: that radio has the power to draw us together and share a common experience.”
The music therapy outreach program began working with veterans in the studios of WUTC, the National Public Radio station licensed by the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga — early in 2016.
“To be selected by the RTNDA, which dedicates itself to maintenance of journalistic ethics and the preservation of the free speech rights of broadcast journalists, is an amazing honor,” Miller said.
At the invitation of American Forces Network radio, WUTC produced a 2016 Memorial Day program featuring segments from Operation Song. The special aired on Memorial Day over the Armed Forces network to active-duty military and their families worldwide and can be heard online at WUTC.org. It marked the first international broadcast of a WUTC-produced radio documentary.
“Chattanooga Rain” was entered in the Region 8 Small Market Radio category, which includes radio stations in Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina.
“Remarkable journalism is being done every day in newsrooms across this country,” said RTDNA Chair Vincent Duffy. “We’re proud to recognize the most outstanding ways journalists are keeping the public informed, holding the powerful accountable and enhancing the quality of life in their communities.”
The award marks the second time that WUTC has been honored by the journalism association. WUTC previously received an Edward R. Murrow Award in 2013 in the audio news documentary category for Just Plumb Gone: A Year After the Tornado in Apison, Tenn.
This year, RTDNA awarded 751 regional Edward R. Murrow Awards in 16 categories, including Overall Excellence, Breaking News, Investigative Reporting, and Excellence in Innovation. RTDNA received nearly 4,300 entries during the 2017 awards season.
Regional recipients of the Murrow awards automatically advance to the national Edward R. Murrow Awards competition, which will be judged in May. National awards will be announced in June and handed out at the RTDNA Edward R. Murrow Awards Gala in New York City on Oct. 9
From a USAF Veteran who joined at that Lee HWY location and now goes to UTC, THANK YOU and GREAT JOB!!!