WGIL-AM NAMED SMALL MARKET STATION OF THE YEAR

 AUSTIN – WGIL-AM Galesburg, IL was named Small Market Radio Station of the Year at the 2008 National Association of Broadcasters’ Marconi Radio Awards.  The awards were announced Thursday night at the annual NAB Marconi Awards Dinner & Show held at The NAB Radio Show in Austin.  The show was sponsored by Broadcast Interactive Media.

 The prestigious awards recognize radio’s outstanding personalities and stations in 21 categories.  Marconi finalists were selected by a task force of broadcasters, and the winners were voted on by the NAB Marconi Radio Awards Selection Academy.  The votes were tabulated by an independent firm.

 WGIL General Manager Roger Lundeen was on hand to accept the award on behalf of the station.  Lundeen said after the awards ceremony “I’ve known for years that our Galesburg radio staff is one of the finest in all of small market radio.  They do so many good things for our community, both on and off the air.  It was great to be honored by our industry and receive this highly prestigious award.  Anytime that we can give some national attention to Galesburg, I think it’s a good thing.”

 The NAB Marconi Radio Awards Dinner & Show was hosted by Billy Bush, host of the Westwood One Network’s “The Billy Bush Show” and co-anchor of the Access Hollywood television show.

 WGIL was one of five stations nationally that were selected by the NAB in July as finalists for the Marconi Award for Small Market Station of the Year.  The Small Market Station category is for stations outside the top 150 rated radio markets, made up of communities with a market population of about 297,000 people or less.  The other four finalists were stations from Kansas, Minnesota and Oklahoma.

This is WGIL’s second Marconi Award.  WGIL’s Terry Cavanaugh was honored with the Marconi Award for Small Market Personality of the Year in 2004.

WGIL is locally owned by John Pritchard’s Galesburg Broadcasting Company, which also operates local stations FM 95 - WAAG, 92.7 FM The Laser, and 105.3 KFM.  Pritchard also operates six stations in the Burlington, Iowa area.