Deb Benedict, after receiving the AMPERS Broadcaster of the Year award.
Two WTIP broadcasters received community broadcasting awards at the 2018 Association of Minnesota Public Educational Radio Stations (AMPERS) annual meeting, which was held in Grand Marais on June 14 and 15.
Bill Burkhardt, independent producer of Swing Session, was awarded “Volunteer of the Year.” Said Burkhardt, “I am grateful to the AMPERS organization for this award. My father was a County 4-H Club agent whose career was centered around nonprofit service and enlisting volunteers. And, during my professional career, I worked for employers who stressed the importance of volunteerism to our communities. Throughout Minnesota there are 31,528 nonprofit organizations that serve all walks of life. About 25 percent of our state’s population volunteers for these service organizations. Like these volunteers, the 110 WTIP volunteers are dedicated to the values and mission of the organization and the community we serve, without any thought of compensation or reward. That’s what makes this award such a pleasant surprise.”
WTIP executive director Deb Benedict, who is retiring after 18 years of service, was named “Broadcaster of the Year.”
“Receiving this award, as we transition the leadership role at WTIP, means a great deal to me,” Benedict said. “Working with the Ampers network for these past 18 years has been so important to the station and for me personally.”
Ampers, Diverse Radio for Minnesota’s Communities, is an association of 18 independent community radio stations in Minnesota. Each station is locally managed and programmed by and for the local communities they serve. The stations are all licensed to a college, school, university, Native American tribe, or directly to the community.
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