KCLU receives 5 Golden Mikes for news

(UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. – Jan. 29, 2015) National Public Radio station KCLU won five Golden Mikes for excellence in broadcast news coverage.

KCLU was once again the dominant winner among small radio stations at the Radio & Television News Association of Southern California’s 65th annual awards ceremony Saturday at the Universal Hilton. The station received half of all the awards in the division for those with five or fewer news staff members, with the rest of the awards spread among five other stations. Broadcast newsrooms in a region stretching from San Luis Obispo and Bakersfield to the Mexican border competed.

Jim Rondeau, KCLU’s former director of operations and programming, who is now the director of college broadcast services at Saddleback College, was honored for Best Newscast Under 15 Minutes.

News Director Lance Orozco received the Best News Reporting award for a story about concern over oil and gas pipelines on a Ventura County school campus. He was honored for Best Entertainment Reporting for “The Fifth Beatle,” a story on Sir George Martin that marked the 50th anniversary of the Beatles’ first visit to Southern California, and Best Sports Reporting for coverage of the joint practice between the Dallas Cowboys and Oakland Raiders in Ventura County. Orozco also received the Best Use Of Sound award for “Musical Visionary,” a story about a Ventura County woman who hasn’t let her lack of sight impede her musical creativity.

KCLU has won more than 80 Golden Mikes since 2001.

KCLU provides NPR and local news programming in Ventura County at 88.3 FM, in southern Santa Barbara County at 102.3 FM and 1340 AM, on the Central Coast at 89.7 FM, in San Luis Obispo at 92.1 FM, and online at kclu.org. The station is a community service of California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks.