At John Carroll University in University Heights, Ohio, a modest crew of roughly 50 students operates the campus radio outlet WJCU. Their recent triumphs have catapulted the station onto the international stage, making it the first university ever to hold both flagship accolades from the International Student Broadcasting Championship in a single year.
Winning both Station of the Year honors
In 2024, WJCU captured the competition’s primary Station of the Year Award a prize determined by seasoned industry professionals. The following year, the station also secured the organization’s People’s Choice Radio Station of the Year a vote driven by listeners worldwide. General Manager Jasen Sokol summarized the feat: “So there’s two different Station of the Year awards. One is judged by industry professionals. The other one is basically a popular vote, and we are now the first school in the world to have ever won both.” This dual victory underscores the station’s ability to excel both in technical quality and audience appeal.
Diverse campus involvement fuels success
WJCU’s roster is not limited to communications majors; roughly one-third of participants study communications, while the remaining members hail from STEM, business and sports-management programs. Sokol emphasized this mix: “We draw from everything. We draw from STEM majors, we draw business majors, we draw sports management majors.” The cross-disciplinary environment equips students with a blend of hard skills—such as audio engineering and scheduling—and soft skills—including public speaking, teamwork and social-media strategy.
Senior Nikolena Samac co-director of sports programming, illustrated the personal impact: “I learn a lot in the classroom and it provides the fundamental that I need to be successful, but having this opportunity in WJCU has really boosted me above that. It’s given me leadership opportunities. It’s given me hard skills and soft skills, so public speaking and organizations, scheduling, social media.” Samac’s experience epitomizes how the station serves as an incubator for professional growth beyond the traditional curriculum.
International recognition and future pathways
The International Student Broadcasting Championship is headquartered in Perth, Australia. Representatives flew from Australia to present the trophies, granting students a rare glimpse of the global media landscape. Sokol noted, “The International Student Broadcasting Championship is based in Perth, Australia. They flew here from Australia to present those trophies, and that was a really neat opportunity for our students because they got to see a whole other side of the media world because we learned that college radio is very different in other parts of the world.”
Samac also earned individual distinction, being named the competition’s Best Color Commentator. She believes she was the first woman to receive that honor, adding, “Being a woman in sports and being named the best color commentator in the world just put such a spotlight on John Carroll and the hard work that we put in here.” The achievement highlights the station’s role in amplifying under-represented voices.
Recently, the WJCU team attended the College Broadcasters Incorporated convention in Philadelphia, a gathering that will move to Cleveland next year. Exposure at such industry events equips student broadcasters with networking channels that could translate into future careers in media, advertising, or corporate communications.
