Media Award - WTCR Radio

One of the top-rated and most listened to country music stations in eastern Kentucky and the tri-state area (Kentucky, West Virginia and Ohio) for the past 50 years, WTCR radio has served its community with extraordinary generosity. Station manager Judy Jennings makes it clear that the arts are one of her passions. The station provides ongoing corporate sponsorship for the Paramount Arts Center (PAC) Subscription Series events and is a main sponsor for the Kentucky Music Trail. Judy Jennings and Ritch Collins founded the WTCR Highway 23 Jamboree designed to showcase local and regional talent on stage at the PAC. She is the creator of three radio shows, Homegrown Country, Loud and Local, and Mountain Praise, which showcase local country, rock, and Christian performers. Other PAC-related contributions include underwriting a monthly performance at the Center and helping the Center expand its agenda to include the Broadway Series, Entertainment Series, Discovery Series and a Family/Special Events Series. On air promotions and ticket giveaways provided by the station are standard fare for Center events.

The Paramount Arts Center is not the only arts institution that is supported by WTCR. The station commits management and staff time, effort and real dollars to a wide variety of community events. Many of the festivals that are held in Boyd and Greenup counties are sponsored by WTCR; it is one of the largest contributors to Summer Motion, a five-day festival that provides free high-quality entertainment to the community in an alcohol-free and safe environment. WTCR is also a major contributor in time, labor and funds for the free three-day Poage's Landing Days Festival. The station assists individual musicians in career development and supports other organizations in the state like WoodSongs Old-Time Radio Hour.

Judy Jennings has also been instrumental in creating a public-private collaboration for a working artisan center in Ashland. She helped develop the Ashland area's first Music Industry Conference in conjunction with the North Eastern Arts Council. She has also served as an industry panelist for a music conference at the Mountain Arts Center in Prestonsburg, Kentucky, that was also promoted regionally on WTCR. WTCR and Judy Jennings raised money and donated time to Skyward an arts program for disadvantaged youth in conjunction with the Ashland Art Gallery.

Although owned by Clear Channel, a worldwide media giant, WTCR and station manager Judy Jennings prove that a nationally owned but locally-operated business can be a mainstay of a community's culture and an integral part of its thriving arts environment.

Previous recipients: Barry Bernson, Cass Irvin, William Mootz, Jane S. Blake, WYMT-TV (Hazard), WKMS Radio (Murray), WEKU/WEKH Radio (Richmond), Lexington Herald-Leader, Kentucky Educational Television, Public Radio Service of Western Kentucky University, WHAS-TV (Louisville), Byron Crawford, Nick Lawrence, Arts Across Kentucky, The Lane Report, Business First of Louisville