Gary “Turbo” Webb, a Rogers State University communications senior from Verdigris, Okla., was named “Specialty Music Director of the Year” during the College Music Journal awards for college radio stations in North America.
Webb received the award during an Oct. 18 ceremony in New York City, beating out station directors from Seton Hall University in Seton Hall, NJ; Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada; and Manhattanville College in Purchase, NY.
Webb, who has been with the station for the past four years, specializes in metal music hosting the Metal Meltdown show on Tuesday nights from 8 p.m. to midnight and the Midnight Metal Meltdown on Wednesday nights 11 p.m. to 2 a.m.
Webb said the award was very important to his career in broadcasting.
“Winning the CMJ award is the final stamp and culmination of a lot of hard work that I have put into chasing the proverbial pipe dream of ‘making it’ in radio, particularly metal radio,” he said. “Being recognized by CMJ is not only huge for me, but also gives RSU radio some much deserved press. KRSC is the whole reason I decided to attend RSU. Moving forward, I would hope that the award allow me to me land a job doing what I love, which of course is being a radio personality.”
Webb acknowledged the mentoring he received from RSU Radio General Manager Cathy Coomer and Steve Doyle, operations manager, for helping him pursue his dream.
Honors for his broadcasting work are nothing new for Webb, who was recognized in 2011 with a Gene Dillehay scholarship from OETA presented to Oklahoma’s most outstanding broadcast students. He also has earned three awards in the annual Oklahoma Broadcast Education Association student competitions, including two second-place awards in the “Radio Personality Air Check” and one first place for “Magazine/Talk Radio” for an interview with musician Rob Zombie.
In previous years, he has co-hosted a late afternoon show “TnT,” as well as a call-in show called “Culture Shock.” This show, focusing on the bizarre, unusual and strange, drew such a following that Webb and his co-host started a blog that was named one of the “50 Best Communications Student Blogs.”
Webb will complete his RSU career this spring by serving an internship with The Syndicate, an independent marketing and consulting agency in the New York City metro area. He will be working to help promote consumer products, music artists, comedians, movies, television, live events and lifestyle trends. Following that, he is eyeing an internship opportunity with XM/Sirius Radio that will further help propel him along his dream of a radio career.
Coomer said, “I am so thrilled for Gary and for all his accomplishments he has fulfilled while attending college. This award just reinforces what we already knew and what future employers will learn about Gary’s ambitions, his talent and career goals.”
The College Music Journal is an integrated marketing agency specializing in providing its clients access to the college and young adult demographic in the music world. CMJ also connects music fans with the industry with the best in new music through interactive media, live events and print. RSU Radio 91.3 reports to the CMJ weekly with information on what the station is playing and is requested in the genres of alternative music, electronic dance, metal and world.
Held each fall, the CMJ Music Marathon and College Day awards is the world’s most important platform for the discovery of new music with more than 1,300 artist performances filling more than 80 of the city’s venues, nightclubs and theaters. Attendees have access to 1,500+ showcases, plus hundreds of panels, seminars, Q&As, meet and greets, mixers and special events. More than 120,000 fans, entertainment industry professionals, college radio tastemakers, bloggers, press and musicians come from around the world to take part in the industry event.
Webb and Garrett Powders, a senior communications major from Tulsa, attended the awards ceremony and industry conference. Powders was a nominee in the Best Newcomer category alongside others from Loyola University in Chicago; the University of Minnesota, Duluth; University of Minnesota Twin Cities; and commercial station KWTS in Bend, Ore. The station itself was nominated in the “Most Improved” category. Nominations were submitted by the stations and industry that make up the CMJ radio community.
RSU Radio is a primarily student-run radio station on the RSU campus in Claremore. The station went on the air in 1980 and continues to operate year-round, 24 hours a day. The station is licensed as KRSC and can be found at 91.3 FM. For more information on RSU Radio, visit www.rsuradio.com.