Palompon, Leyte - “Ato ni!” Who would disown his/her very own radio station when its success on air means four awards for its upcoming fourth year anniversary? News, talks, songs, nutrition tips and health information, these are what community radio of Palompon has in store for the community. 

On January 17, 2019, Radyo Kausbawan bagged four awards in the 4th Nutriskwela Community Radio Awards during the 9th National Conference of the Nutriskwela Community Radio Network Program at The Mansion, Iloilo City, which was attended by the College President Dr. Norberto C. Olavides, Radyo Kausbawan Station Manager Rothelia Maria G. Ugsad and Program Manager Ryan N. Wenceslao. The awards were the Best Female Broadcaster, Best Program Manager, 3rd Place Best Tarpaulin and Finalist for the Best Original Nutrition Plug.

After winning the Best Female Broadcaster award, Ugsad expressed, “I feel extremely blessed, humbled and honored to have been given the Best Female Broadcaster award. With all my passion to serve the community through Radyo Kausbawan, I truly believe that it is the Lord who has graciously allowed me to experience the victory by His amazing grace. I owe everything to God who gives me the gift or talent to share with others for His glory.”

“I think with constant coordination with the Community Radio Council (CRC), the president himself of PIT, including the students of the BA Com., every award that we received won’t be given to us if not for the stakeholders and the people who made it possible na tanan programs nato ma-air sa radio,” Wenceslao who won the Best Program Manager award said.

A radio station is successful not because of its microphones but because of the people behind its microphones. Wenceslao shared that the success of the radio station was because of the people who made the day-to-day running of the programs possible.

Among 44 Nutriskwela Commnity radio stations in the Philippines, Ugsad and Wenceslao made it to the top, while the Original Nutrition Plug produced by the students of the Bachelor of Arts in Communication made it to the top five.

“It felt great but at the same time pressured pud kay when I went to Iloilo most people were saying nga Sir this is for you na, para imo na jud ni. I didn’t expect this year nga makadaug ko due to the fact nga nadagdagan ta’g another 10 radio stations and we’re in competition with radio stations under LGU kay ang LGU-sponsored radio stations man kay mas muusbaw kaysa sa mga SUCs, considering the budget, so mao to naapil ta. I owe this one to God, to my ever supportive family and to my students because my job was only to track what’s in the program but katong mga nagkupot sa program mao to ang naghatag og kinabuhi sa radio station.”

The program manager shared that listeners should look forward to the production of live reports by the BA Com. Students and that there will be livestreaming of the programs on-air.

“We’re actually doing it now hopefully 16 hours na per day, and we’ll do video reports na instead of doing only airing it here sa radio and next school year audio and video formats na ang gamiton sa BA Com. and of course new set-up sa radio station.”

If the frequency of success means levelling the number of awards to the number of years a radio station is running, then Radyo Kausbawan is a sure winner(Marie Nelle Lumagsao)#