Each year, members of Wildcat Electronic Media attend the Kansas Association of Broadcasters awards in Kansas City, Mo., and this year was historic. 

WEB encompasses both Wildcat 91.9 FM, Kansas State’s student-run radio station, and Channel 8 News, K-State’s student-run TV station. At this year’s KAB awards, held on April 9, the two outlets took home 41 total awards, including 18 first-place accolades — more than any other media outlet that attended the event.

“I think that success like that is a reflection of the student media as a whole,” Dawson Wagner, assistant director of WEM, said. “Because we’re bringing in students from all different types of majors that are involved with Wildcat Electronic Media and just giving them a platform to figure out what they want to create and how they can make it engaging and impact the audiences around Manhattan.”

But the event wasn’t just an award ceremony; it was also a seminar, where students from high schools and colleges throughout Kansas could gain valuable insights from industry professionals. Wildcat 91.9 FM also had its own table, where members handed out stickers, buttons and T-shirts to promote the station.

WEM’s success at the KAB awards has increased Wagner’s optimism about the future of media at K-State.

“The future of the program for Wildcat Electronic Media is extremely bright right now,” Wagner said. “It is so exciting to see the amount of talent that’s coming up between CMG [Collegian Media Group] and Wildcat Electronic Media and the collaboration that’s starting to happen. … I’m excited for that future and how we can take this time and the resources and tell the stories that truly matter here in the community. And I think that the KABs this year were a great representation of how we’re going to continue expanding in that direction.”