WKU News

WKU Public Media, Western Kentucky University’s Public Television Service, has been nominated for awards in the Content Short, Entertainment – Long Form Content and Technical Achievement categories for the 61st annual Ohio Valley Emmy Awards.

Jess Arlinghaus (class of 2024) received her first Emmy nomination of her professional career for work she performed while a student at WKU. “I am so honored and excited that my video of WKU Soccer’s first home match was nominated for an Emmy,” Arlinghaus said. “I created that video during my last semester as a student intern. I am very proud of how it turned out and overjoyed that it was chosen to compete against some of the best videographers in the region.”

“We strive to cultivate an environment where creativity and hard work can thrive in ways that benefit the communities we serve,” said Jordan Basham, Interim Executive Director of WKU Public Media. “The recognition from our peers, provided in the form of these nominations, serves in part as an acknowledgment of those efforts. We find validation in our workforce development efforts through our student crew’s success on projects like these and the contributions they make on a daily basis to our operation.”

WKU Public Media received two additional nominations in two other categories, Entertainment – Long Form Content and Technical Achievement, for its production of ROMP, a television series centered around the bluegrass music festival of the same name, performed and filmed in Owensboro, Kentucky. 

“Working on ROMP has genuinely and consistently been the highlight of my career. It feels like every single year, whether I've been a student production crew member or a member of WKU Public Media's professional producer staff, ROMP has been the thing I've looked forward to working on the most. I've been producing ROMP for the past three seasons, and as we gear up to produce another season of this show, it makes me so proud and honored to see the show we work so hard on nominated for both the Entertainment - Long Form Content and the Technical Achievement categories,” said Elijah Smith (class of 2019), Producer/Director for ROMP.  

Several WKU alumni also worked on the ROMP program and were named in the Technical Achievement category nomination. 

“It’s been a privilege to contribute alongside such a talented group; this nomination is a testament to the incredible talent and collaboration behind the scenes at WKU Public Media, “said Robert Fischer, video engineer and member of the class of 2013. 

“These nominations demonstrate a legacy of talent, effort and achievement at WKU that I think we are all proud to have been a part of and to pass on to future generations of broadcasters,” said Josh Niedwick, member of the class of 2003, production manager at WKU Public Media, and fellow nominee in the technical achievement category.

Award recipients will be announced on July 19 in Cincinnati, Ohio. WKU Public Media has been nominated in each of the past 23 years and has received 33 awards.

WKU Public Media is housed on the campus of Western Kentucky University. For more about WKU Public Media, visit http://wku.edu/public-media/

Contact: Josh Niedwick, joshua.niedwick@wku.edu