We are pleased to announce that
Penguins in the Desert has won an honorable mention for the award for
Outstanding Media Effort of the Year at the 2009 Xcelsior awards.
The
Xcelsior awards recognize student groups and leadership on the Binghamton University campus.
Last year we won the award for
Outstanding Broadcast of the Year, but
this year the Xcel center (the organization that hosts the awards) consolidated their award categories which eliminated
specific media and organization categories and consolidated the media
awards into this one category - consequently making it even more
difficult to win.
Our show was up against other WHRW radio
shows, the many different magazines, newspapers, the campus TV station and other publications produced or broadcasted on campus, as well as several of the individual articles/columns that these publications
nominated.
To account for the fewer awards, Xcel presented the award to one organization and then handed out honorable mentions where necessary - which is different from years past. Our competition was stiff, and one of the big newspapers on campus took home the plague, but we got a trophy, so it's all good! We figured that one of the big print publications as
a whole would take the award, and was hoping for at least an honorable
mention We are honored, excited and appreciative. We can't even begin to tell you how happy this makes us!
We are stoked and we want to thank you guys for your support!
Below is our nomination - which had to be 1,000 words or less - we have exactly 1,000 ;)
The nomination is for the period of end of Spring 2008 (April on) up until the begining of the Spring 2009 (cutting off at March) semester .
-------------------------------------------------------------------------Penguins
in the Desert (PitD) is a weekly three hour radio show broadcast on
WHRW hosted by twins Jeri and Hayley [our last name]. Since it first
aired in Spring 2006 PitD has become WHRW’s most successful student run
weekly program. Each week PitD exposes their listeners to new music
often debuting new songs from both new and established bands. Several
times each semester PitD conducts interviews with musicians from
independent and major labels ranging from up and coming bands to
established and well known bands. Last year PitD was honored to win the
XCELsior award for Most Outstanding Broadcast of 2008 and has since
continued to improve and has become an exceptional media effort here at
Binghamton University.
PitD has regular listeners world
wide, across the country, on campus and off campus through terrestrial
radio and whrwfm.org’s online radio stream. For the six consecutive
weeks since WHRW has been in Spring Programing, PitD has has broken the
record for the most listeners tuning in at the same time through WHRW’s
online radio stream every single show this semester. Each week they
have broken the record they established the previous week and has even
capped the stream's listener capacity. While unable to count how many
people are listening to the show through Campus Channel 42, or 90.5FM
on the radio, WHRW can keep track of how many unique computers tune in
via the web stream. This semester, more people have been tuning in to
PitD online, than any other program on WHRW ever. This accomplishment
is especially noteworthy not just because of the sheer amount of people
tuning into a normal, non-speciality radio show, but because it
signifies that PitD has not only retained listeners but has a tangible
record that shows that they are gaining new listeners each week. Not
only does PitD have an audience that extends beyond the Binghamton
campus and community, but the content on PitD is of substantial
quality. It is difficult to get people to tune into WHRW during the
work day as most people are in class, school or work so it certainly
impressive for the twins' show to be able to garner so many listeners
during the afternoon in the middle of a weekday.
As DJs
and co-hosts, the twins are very comfortable on air and have chemistry
with one another that cannot compare to any other broadcast on WHRW.
Their show sounds very professional and is enjoyable to listen to. PitD
find a way to engage listeners and include requests, dedications and
input into the show. PitD is not only entertaining, but is also
insightful. Hayley and Jeri have extensive knowledge about music and
songs that they play. They often provide listeners with information on
how to learn more about the music that they hear, they update their
audience about upcoming tours, as well as relevant music news.
PitD
has conducted interviews on their show that has garnered worldwide
attention. Often listeners have said the questions the twins have asked
and the interview as a whole was the best interview with that artist
that they have ever heard as it’s not only an entertaining broadcast,
but because of the significance of the information released through the
radio show. In fact it is not only the listeners that recognize the
twins professionalism, several of the musicians that they have
interviewed have claimed that their interview with Hayley and Jeri was
the best interview they have ever done and that the questions they were
asked were insightful and professional.
An exceptional interview
that he twins conducted on PitD occurred with musician Amanda Palmer
the singer/songwriter of the Dresden Dolls, a band that’s on a major
label and has played sold out headlining shows across the world, even
opening up for bands like Nine Inch Nails and Panic At The Disco. The
twins conducted the first interview with Palmer post-vocal chord
surgery to talk about her upcoming solo album that she was working on
with Ben Folds as producer. On PitD Palmer debuted major information
about her album that she had not released anywhere else before,
including the CD’s release date and exclusive information about a book
project she had just confirmed with acclaimed author Neil Gaiman. As a
response to this, fans of both the radio show and Palmer took this
information and entered it as the first official source in the
Wikipedia page for Palmer’s WHO KILLED AMANDA PALMER CD. It is notable
that PitD was used as the official media broadcast to release this
exclusive information and that Palmer did so through PitD instead of
releasing it on her website or even on a commercial media outlet or
website.
Although the radio show regularly has an abundance of
listeners, the amount of people tuning into the show extends past the
weekly airings. The twins update their myspace blog each week with not
just a list of songs that they played, but also make every past show
available for stream or download, enabling even more listeners to tune
in at their leisure. They also put up for stream their past interviews
and celebrity station identifications that they have gained, utilizing
their website as a resource for their show in the fullest possible
capacity. In the past two years since it’s creation, their web page has
been viewed almost 16,500 times, and their streaming audio has received
just over 14,000 hits!
The radio show has received a lot of
positive feedback from other DJs and listeners a like. Amongst the
appreciation numerous listeners have mentioned that while the PitD
opens the door for them to make musical requests, they don’t feel the
need to because the show already plays music they want to hear. Many
listeners often say they look forward and that it is even the highlight
of their week!
Aside from people sending in positive feedback
PitD has been top friends on MySpace with some well known acts,
including Dredg - the band "Penguins in the Desert" got their radio
show name from!
========================================================
SUPPLEMENTAL INFO:
Pengiuins in the Desert is accessible to their listeners in several
online mediums in addition to WHRW’s requestline (607-777-2137)
AOL Screen Name: WHRWPenguins
G-Mail:
WHRWpenguins@gmail.com Twitter:
www.twitter.com/whrwpenguins MySapce:
www.myspace.com/whrwpenguins Show Blog:
www.blog.myspace.com/whrwpenguins Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Penguins-in-the-Desert/38136852103 Imeem to stream all celebrity interviews:
http://www.imeem.com/penguinsinthedesert/playlist/qRk0IMaZ/interviews-music-playlist/Penguins in the Desert in the Who Killed Amanda Palmer wikipedia page
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Killed_Amanda_Palmer#BackgroundPenguins in the Desert radio promo announcement stream:
http://www.imeem.com/penguinsinthedesert/music/_s3D3sba/hayley-and-jeri-promo-penguins-in-the-desert-radio/TESTIMONIAL:
One
listener, Mike, tuning in from California recently said of a recent
show, “Great show, by the way. I can be a pretty harsh critic for media
stuff, and I really enjoyed it. Much better than I expected (I really
hope that doesn't come across as harsh...it's just...college radio can
be hit and miss). You and your sister sound comfortable, and work well
together” (
http://www.theshadowbox.net/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=3029c96bbf8062a0aa7b76808c4c972b&topic=7325.msg186841#msg186841).