Chapman Radio earns national recognition with Best Live Music Broadcast award

Collage by Trinity Johnson, Photographer

Seventeen students traveled to New York City Feb. 18-22 with Chapman Radio for the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System (IBS) conference and awards ceremony, bringing home a coveted Best Live Music Broadcast win for the newly launched Chapman Radio Live Sessions. 

2026 is the fifth year in a row Chapman Radio has brought an award home from the conference, with the Best Live Music Broadcast representing the first win in its category.

Chapman Radio Live Sessions recently produced its 17th session, with the first 13 available on YouTube. The initiative can be almost entirely attributed to Chapman Radio’s events coordinator, senior creative producing major Smith Romney, who has championed the live broadcast aspect of the station since the beginning. 

The live sessions are a facet of Chapman Radio that Romney had been working on since last year with now-graduated former events manager Taylor Green. This year, the radio station saw that vision not only come into fruition, but go further than Romney could’ve ever anticipated by taking home the win at the national IBS awards.

“The sessions have been a big thing for me personally. I felt pretty on my own with these and put a lot of time, money and effort into making them happen,” said Romney. “I really didn't even know there was a category for live broadcast, so I never thought I would win an award for anything. It's just something I really wanted to do, and I finally got the opportunity.”

IBS awards, which have high school and collegiate categories, are application-based; eligible stations can submit their students and shows to any applicable category, making them highly competitive.

For Chapman Radio, every student radio show submits a soundbite to be considered for the sizzle reel, ultimately determined by the Chapman Radio program director — junior public relations, advertising and entertainment marketing major, Annika Lothian — as well as both Chapman Radio General Managers. Each year, the station submits a sizzle reel that contains “sweepers” — 30 seconds from each of the best shows — to be considered for the Best Station Under 10,000 Students award.

Everyone who is a part of the submission is invited to the IBS conference and ceremony, even if they’re not up for an award. Chapman Radio students had flights, accommodations and the conference attendance fee covered, in part by the station’s budget paired with support from the Student Government Association. 

Courtesy of Chapman Radio

Overall station awards, including Best Radio Station, are separated into under and over 10,000 students categories based on school size. Chapman Radio Live Sessions, however, was up against any school from across the country — regardless of size — who submitted to the Best Live Music Broadcast category.

Up for four total awards, the win was Chapman’s only nomination in an on-air category. Other nominations were in the promotions and marketing, web and digital and Best Station categories. Nominations included Best Live Music Broadcast, Best Community Outreach Event, Best Use of Video in the Radio Studio and Best Streaming Only Station (Under 10,000 Students).

On the air since 1967, Chapman Radio remains anything but stagnant.

“Each year, something new comes from the station,” said Romney. “Whether it's a station overhaul, new equipment, open mics or festival press, staff are always cooking up new ideas and pushing new initiatives forward.”

As for the future of the live sessions, Romney hopes to keep expanding, despite certain obstacles — most critically, funding.

Currently, Chapman Radio Live Sessions are funded almost entirely by Romney himself and produced with help from his friends. The only equipment provided by the school are the bare minimum required to pull a show together: microphones, stands and cables. 

“To expand this into a more concrete and repeatable thing, we would need to spend some serious money on permanent camera and lighting equipment, so hopefully next year's staff could make this happen,” said Romney. “For now it's limited to what favors I can ask for from friends and some money I have saved up.”

Leaning into the community-oriented nature of the station, Romney clarified that no great goal is ever truly achieved alone.

“There is an extremely long list of people who helped me film and light throughout this, and I wouldn't have been able to do this without any of them,” Romney said. “Special shoutout to Efrem Plawner and everyone who helped on the day of the session we actually submitted for the award: Trophy Eddy, Victorien Vergnaud and Leger Taylor.”

The significance of the win for the live sessions is not lost on the rest of the station. One of Chapman Radio’s two general managers, senior creative producing major Maika Suaya, said of the IBS conference:  

“It's really incredible to see that we can represent the Chapman community at such a big-scale conference. It’s gratifying that something new we introduced this year, under my supervision, was not only nominated, but won,” says Suaya. “We represent Chapman at an international competition with over 100 participating colleges and get the opportunity to speak with many different people and bring back new tools and ways to manage and improve our station. Every year, Chapman Radio continues to level up and the proof is in these awards.”