KCLU-FM wins five national broadcast awards

KCLU, the National Public Radio Station for Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, brought home five National Broadcast Journalism Awards, including first place awards given to program director Jim Rondeau, and news director Lance Orozco, for "Best News Coverage" of the Topanga wildfire last year.

Rondeau, host of "Crosstalk," also won a first place award for the show that focused on the execution of the Crips gang co-founder Stanley "Tookie" Williams, and second place for a show that focused on parenting. Rondeau also won second place for his interview with Jean-Michel Cousteau. Orozco also received a first place award for his live coverage of the Ventura school fire.

"These awards mean so much to all of us at the station, because we are competing head to head with major Southern California radio stations," said KCLU General Manager Mary Olson.

The awards were announced at the banquet on July 22 at the Wilshire Grand Hotel in Los Angeles.

KCLU is a community service of California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks. The National Public Radio station broadcasts on 88.3 FM in Ventura County, 102.3 FM in Santa Barbara County and around the world online at www.kclu.org. For more information about KCLU-FM, call (805) 493-3900.