Washington Township News Report

Local radio host wins award

By JORDAN FENSTER
Editor

Award-winning film director and Rowan University Senior Mike Licisyn, won an award at the Philadelphia Achievement in Radio (AIR) Awards on Nov. 9.

"I guess you could call it the Oscars in Philadelphia for radio," Licisyn said. Licisyn heads up a rock music show on WGLS Rowan Radio and won the award for best promo.

Among the attendees at the AIR Awards were Philadelphia Mayor John Street and local radio icon Pierre Robert, who Licisyn calls "one of the most elite DJs in the area."

Though he does not hesitate to play up the importance of the AIR Awards, Licisyn did not say that he had put any extra effort into the promotional material that won the award. "I do it so much that I don't think twice about it," he said.

According to Licisyn, the keys to making a good promo are, "the performance and how you edit it." "It has to be "kind of crazy, kind of funny," he said.

Primarily a film director, Licisyn's film, "Township," about life in Washington Township, has won several awards, including "best director" at the 2005 Delaware Valley Film Festival. The film was screened at the New York International Independent Film Festival on Nov. 10.

Any awards "Township may have won at the film festival will not be known for some time, although anecdotal evidence was overwhelmingly positive, Licisyn said. "It was a relatively small audience, but my guess is all 30 or 40 of them liked it."

Many of the skills involved in making a film, Licisyn said, transfer to radio quite well, specifically editing. "The main thing I pride myself in is," Licisyn said, "I like to edit, whether it's film or audio. I'm a good editor."

In film, sound and sight must work in concert, a fact Licisyn believes is not always remembered. "Whenever people think film, the first thing they think is the visual. But audio is just as important."

Radio, though, does not have the medium of video, so to be successful, "You have to explore new and different ways of getting your point across to your audience," Licisyn said.

This is the second year WGLS has entered the AIR competition, according to General Manager Frank Hogan.

Hogan said that, in the three years since he accepted his post at Rowan, WGLS has won over 100 awards. He was hired, he said, to transform Rowan radio and has accomplished this, in part, by entering, and winning, competitions.

"It has helped to make WGLS one of the premier college radio stations in the country," he said.

The AIR. Awards is a national radio competition designed to celebrate excellence in local radio. Entry categories cover all aspects of the radio industry, from programming and promotions to news, public affairs and advertising. All proceeds from the AIR. Awards benefit the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation, whose sole mission is to eliminate birth defects and infant mortality.

The AIR. Awards celebrated its 19th anniversary with competitions in more than 10 major radio markets.