This year, the CitrusTV Awards Banquet (coordinated by Leah Gebler ’12, Director of Alumni Relations/Events) was held on April 18, 2009 at the Drumlins Country Club right here in Syracuse! After a brief cocktail hour with cash bar, the 75+ station members in attendance sat down to a dinner catered by Drumlins.
CitrusTV's Executive Staff. Back row L-R: Bill Sharp '12, Wes Purvis '10, Jaime Sasso '10, Jon Erwin '10, David Resnick '10, Jaclyn Schillinger '11. Front row L-R: Sheetal Kotha '10, Spencer Raymond '10, Leah Gebler '12
After all had ate, drunk, and been marry, keynote speaker Dave Ryan ’89 (CitrusTV Alum and veteran ESPN announcer) began his address to the station. He touched on the many things that could go wrong on one’s first day at a new station, rambunctiously relating his first day the audience. Ryan emphasized both networking and high grades as the key to job success out of college. As an adjunct professor at the Newhouse School, teaching a sports reporting class, Ryan professed his belief in grades over experience, regardless of industry. A student with a 3.5, he said, would nearly always receive a job offer over a student with a 3.0 and mile-long resume.
At the conclusion of Ryan’s speech, General Manager Jaime Sasso ’10 took the podium to give a very complementary “Year-In-Review” to the station, highlighting achievements in programming and modernization of technology used to produce different shows.
Following Sasso’s speech, Spencer Raymond ’10 (News Director and emcee for the night’s awards) initiated the awards ceremony. A total of 21 awards were given out between four departments: Promotions, News, Sports, and Entertainment. The final award, presented by Sasso, was the “Lifetime Achievement Award”, which was given to Gordon Brookes ’09 (a 3-year member of CitrusTV Executive Staff and various station departments). The station screened a video tribute (see below) to Brookes, in which station members close to the winner reflected on his strengths, talents, and favorite flavor of cookie. Brookes made a short acceptance speech which concluded the event, and enticed all to continue to contribute as much of their time and energy that they could to CitrusTV.
2009 Lifetime Achievement Video: The Commissioner
Station members collected their commemorative “CitrusTV” shotglasses, much to Ryan’s chagrin, and continued to mingle over drinks before heading back to campus. This year’s Awards Banquet was certainly a success!
