Steven Dodrill ’09 on National Broadcasting Award Winning Team at WATD-FM
Jun 23, 2010
Steven Dodrill with Mike Capuano former candidate for the United States Senate. Capuano
was a democract candidate in the race to fill the seat once held by Ted Kennedy.
Steven Dodrill ’09 of Hanson, Mass. is on the WATD-FM (Marshfield, Mass.) national broadcasting award winning team. The station was awarded two 2010 National Edward R. Murrow Awards and Dodrill’s work is included in the award entry. The Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) awarded WATD the national award for Overall Excellence in the small market radio division and a national award for Best Audio Newscast, "The MidDay Report with Christine James."
"I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this top-notch news department,"
said Dodrill. "The passion I have for my career is what fuels me day in and day out,
but I’d like to think that my Franklin Pierce experience, and all that I have learned
since starting at WATD last June, is what has helped me reach this career milestone."
The Overall Excellence award is presented to a news organization which, according
to the RTDNA, consistently demonstrates depth and scope in its coverage.
This year's winning Overall Excellence entry included Dodrill’s live in-depth coverage of the funeral of Senator Edward Kennedy, live coverage of an Abington, Mass. home invasion-turned-pot bust, the coverage of a double-murder in Brockton, Mass. followed by the dramatic arrest of self-proclaimed white supremacist Keith Luke, the Marshfield Rams' return from their Massachusetts High School Super bowl victory, the arraignment of accused Craigslist killer Phillip Markoff, President Barack Obama's vacation to Martha's Vineyard and the mysterious case of Clark Rockefeller.
This marks the fourth time that WATD has received the National Overall Excellence award. WATD received the award in 1999, 2002 and 2006.
"Getting an award is wonderful, but the real test is whether or not you are serving your community, and I believe our news department does that in a magnificent way," said Edward F. Perry Jr, Owner and General Manager of WATD.
This year’s national recognition of Best Audio Newscast for "The MidDay Report with Christine James" marks the first time that WATD has won that award. The newscast includes coverage of news stories on local government and politics, as well as Veterans Day remembrance ceremonies in WATD’s coverage area and Dodrill’s coverage of a Veterans Day Parade.
Dodrill and one of his co-workers will accept the award on behalf of the station at the RTDNA Awards Dinner in New York City in October.
Dodrill began working at WATD as a high school intern and then re-joined the WATD news team in June 2009, just a month after graduating from Franklin Pierce University. He works as a full-time news reporter and weekend anchor while assuming the duties of Manager of Web and News Services where he adds a blend of new media to the traditional news for WATD listeners over the airwaves and for the readers on the Web.
Steven is no stranger to recognition for his work in the communications field. He has won numerous broadcasting awards for breaking news, two from the Associated Press and two from the RTDNA. He earned two personal awards as an intern for WATD back in 2004 for coverage of "A Hole in the Ice" and most recently in 2008 for coverage of a story titled "Scituate Home Explosion." In his senior year at Franklin Pierce University, Dodrill was awarded the Fitzwater Medallion for Contributions to the Public Discourse. He graduated Cum Laude and with honors in Mass Communication from Franklin Pierce University in May of 2009.
The RTDNA, the world’s largest professional organization devoted exclusively to electronic journalism, has been honoring outstanding achievements in electronic journalism with the Edward R. Murrow Awards since 1971. Murrow Award recipients demonstrate the excellence that Edward R. Murrow made a standard for the electronic news profession.
Franklin Pierce University is a regionally accredited university grounded in the liberal arts, with a focus on personal attention and high-quality instruction. The University consists of the College at Rindge and the College of Graduate & Professional Studies. Degrees are offered through the doctoral level.
