This year, 97.9 The Hill WCHL received three awards from the North Carolina Association of Broadcasters: Station of the Year (Non-Metro), Personality of the Year (Non-Metro) for “The Aaron Keck Show” and the award for Radio Community Involvement – an inaugural award for which there was only one state-wide recipient.
“We are so honored to receive these three awards,” said Aubrey Williams, general manager of 97.9 The Hill WCHL. “We all know that 2020 was a beast of a year and this team showed up every single day to produce award-winning content. It is very validating to be recognized by our peers in the industry.”
The North Carolina Association of Broadcasters (NCAB) Awards Program is intended to recognize outstanding achievement by North Carolina radio and television broadcasters, while encouraging high standards of reporting, community service and production creativity.
“Each award is exciting for different reasons,” said Williams. “First, the Station of the Year award. This is a testament to the team of people here at 97.9 The Hill that works tirelessly for our community. For Personality of the Year, no one is more deserving than our own Aaron Keck. He is so smart, thoughtful, and prepared and he takes such good care of his listeners. This is a professional milestone for him, and we are thrilled to celebrate his success with him. And finally, the first ever Radio Community Involvement Award, of which there is only one. We are honored and humbled and it only inspires us to do more and be better.”
This year’s Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Broadcasting were presented during the Annual Awards Lunch which was held virtually on October 26, 2021. Awards are based on projects first aired during the previous year.
The 2021 award marks the second consecutive Station of the Year given to 97.9 The Hill WCHL. The station earned the honor in 2019 and NCAB did not hold awards in 2020. Meanwhile, this is the sixth time the association has given Personality of the Year to 97.9 The Hill, with former morning show host Ron Stutts winning the award five times.
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“CONGRATULATIONS WCHL!!!” These awards, the “triple crown” of broadcast excellence, are a wonderful and well earned endorsement by broadcast peers. For the rest of us fortunate enough to listen to WCHL, those awards reflect the world class standards and work ethic that WCHL staff behind and in front of the mic embody 365X24, that make WCHL the world class award winning radio station we enjoy everyday. Especially this past year, with so many challenges, we all would have understood if caution dictated “phoning it in.” Instead, WCHL staff “leaned in,” courageously kept the station open despite risk, and reached out to community leaders and local businesses for the latest news, interviews, features, musicians, and even sports (when there wasn’t any!). Y’all have the set the bench mark for quality and excellence in broadcasting. In unprecedented pandemic times, WCHL became the radio station that helped people get through another day, another week, another year. History happens in moments like this. And y’all did it generating even more community centric programming, too! That was “going the extra mile” and then some. That showed “True Grit” and revealed so much about the award winning character and integrity that WCHL staff has and what makes this extraordinary team of folks different in the best way. For the rest of us, as we “sheltered in place” and hunkered down during many long stretches, WCHL was more than “just” a radio station that could be heard over conventional radios, streamed over the Internet, and complemented in cutting edge stories on Chapelboro.com, Instagram, and Twitter. WCHL became a vital connection to a larger community and that was (is) good for mental health and undoubtedly helped save lives, too. Hope in Hard Times. Resiliency is like that and that’s what WCHL staff and programming modeled, too. More than that, y’all the best bunch of people on the planet. “WAY TO GO, WCHL!!!” 🙂