Two broadcast journalism students along with CSUN’s radio station, KCSN, were awarded two Golden Mike Awards from the Radio and Television News Association of Southern California (RTNA).
Matt Johnson, 24, won “Best News Reporting” for producing “Teacher Layoffs and Education Cuts,” while senior Jason Rose won “Best Business and Consumer Reporting” for producing “Bartering in a Tough Economy,” said Keith Goldstein, news director at KCSN.
Goldstein said RTNA flies judges, who are news directors, from all over the country to take a look at previous year’s work and see how they best fit the requirements of each category. The standards include accuracy, objectivity and recording techniques, he said.
“For radio, it’s broken into 2 divisions – Division B includes six or fewer full time staff members of the news department, while Division A includes more than six full time staff members of the news department,” Goldstein said.
He attributed the success of KCSN to the quality of the broadcasting program at CSUN.
“Cal State Northridge has a strong broadcasting program where students get the opportunity to work at (a) radio newsroom that’s professionally supervised,” Goldstein said.
Rose, who is the Wednesday morning anchor and producer at KCSN said the win came as a surprise to him.
“(I) got a phone call from KCSN News Director Keith Goldstein informing me I’d not only been nominated, but had outright won a Golden Mike award,” Rose said. “I was taken completely by surprise because I didn’t know Keith had even submitted my piece. He never even hinted at it.”
Rose said broadcast students have been told that after graduation they must leave Los Angeles to become broadcasters but with his win he is “hoping to beat those odds.”
“I’m proud to have brought another award home to KCSN, and I hope it shows CSUN’s student body, as well as the community we serve that KCSN, is the product of one of the best journalism departments out there,” said Rose. “The Golden Mike doesn’t hurt my job prospects either.”
Like Rose, Johnson said he too was stunned with the news of his win.
“I was in shock,” Johnson said. “I was grateful to win — very honored –it was really great way to go on my career”.
Keith said students are held to the highest standards when working at KCSN and by taking their classes with professors who have worked professionally in television and radio.
“They receive instructions in different classes like radio,” he said. “The program puts emphasis on writing. Writing is one of the best characteristics of broadcast news.”
Students who work at KCSN are able to write for any of the five student-run newscasts, he said.
Journalism professor Sally Turner, who has taught both Johnson and Rose, said she was “very proud of both of them.”
