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KETR's Blacklands Café Earns Recognition from BEA

The Broadcast Education Association has named KETR's Blacklands Café among the top faculty-produced long-from radio programs in this year's Festival of Media Arts competition.

Students and faculty at BEA institutions compete each year for top honors at the festival, including the Best Of Festival recognition. The contest included over 1500 entries from students and faculty throughout BEA's membership.

Blacklands Café is written, hosted, and produced by Radio and Television professor Dr. John Mark Dempsey. Raised in Greenville, Dempsey's life and career have centered around North and Northeast Texas, which makes him uniquely qualified to create this program which aims to shine a light on the people of this region and the topics important to them.

One contest judge, in reference to hearing this program entry, provided comments. "Just when I thought local radio is dying, [KETR] provides hope and ideas. Good work, and your community should appreciate the effort that seemed to go into this work."

Blacklands Café is "a virtual coffee shop of the airwaves," heard on KETR, 88.9 FM, at 6:33 and 8:33 a.m. Monday-Friday as part of NPR's "Morning Edition." Each edition of "Blacklands Cafe" includes items from its Facebook page; a calendar of historical and cultural events, including brief audio clips; announcements of community events; and a conversation with a well-known local person who's involved in some aspect of community life or has some interesting perspective on a subject of general interest. This particular contest entry featured a chat with veterinarian Karri McCreary on the subject of pets living longer for many of the same reasons that people are living longer.

Jerrod Knight oversees station programming, news and sports operations, individual and corporate development efforts, business and budget planning and execution, and technical operations.