Outstanding service recognized by WIDR-FM
Dec. 6, 2001
KALAMAZOO -- WIDR-FM, Western Michigan University's student-run campus radio station, recently announced the first recipient of the Jules Rossman Scholarship, a new award designed to recognize outstanding student staff members.
WMU senior Brook Pridemore received the award during the annual WIDR fall gathering of current and past radio station workers and supporters.
The Rossman Scholarship, a $500 award, was created to recognize WIDR student workers who exhibit outstanding service and dedication to the campus radio station. Recipients must currently work at WIDR and have been a worker at the station for at least two semesters.
The award is named for Dr. Jules Rossman, associate professor emeritus of communication, who retired in 1993 after 27 years as a WMU faculty member. During his tenure at the University, Rossman was one of WIDR's advisors and, according to Jason Hall, president of the WIDR Alumni Society, "an inspiration to hundreds of broadcasting students and WIDR workers."
Pridemore, of Waterford, Mich., started at WIDR as a newscaster in 1997 and now is the host of a weekly show called "What the World Needs Now," which features underground and classic country music.
"The day I moved in, I applied to work at WIDR," says Pridemore. "I have spent countless hours over the past five years volunteering personal time and even sacrificing class work to help the station grow."
In addition to his WIDR work, Pridemore works two other jobs that also fall into a musical vein--writing reviews of musical acts and CDs for WMU's student newspaper, the Western Herald, and recruiting and writing reviews about upcoming live performers for Kraftbrau Brewery in downtown Kalamazoo. He also performs in the band, "Brook Pridemore and the Shoplifters," which plays a kind of music he refers to as "polk," a mixture of punk and folk.
After he graduates in April 2002 with a bachelor's degree in creative writing, Pridemore plans to move to New York to write reviews for underground publications and continue to perform.
"I want to create for life," says Pridemore.
Media contact: Scott K. Crary, 269 387-8400