Villanova’s radio station, WXVU (89.1 FM) The Roar, has taken home two trophies from the 2025 National Conference of the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System (IBS). It won in the categories of Best News Interview and Best Public Affairs Program.
This is the third consecutive year that Villanova’s radio station has been nationally recognized by an award at this conference. It is also WXVU’s third year attending.
This year, the IBS Conference took place from March 6 through March 8 at Sheraton Times Square in New York City.
Junior and WXVU Station Manager, M.K. Coolican, was recognized for Best News Interview. She received this award for her standout interview with Mick Coughlan, a former student of Tim Waltz.
In this interview, Coolican asked Coughlan to describe his perception of Tim Waltz as both a teacher and a person. It aired before the 2024 election.
The Best Public Affairs Program award was given to WXV&U Health for its podcast, The Senior Scaries: A Journey Through Senior Year, which launched in the spring of 2024.
WXV&U Health began in January in 2023 as a unique course through the M. Louise Fitzpatrick College of Nursing. It is a nurse-led radio program geared toward health promotion. Through this accelerated course, senior nursing students are given five weeks to create a podcast and a public service announcement on a health topic of their choosing.
WXV&U Health is the first health department station in college radio.
Dr. Carol Weingarten is an associate professor of nursing, and she is also the Inaugural Director of WXV&U Health.
Weingarten proudly accepted this award on behalf of the podcast’s hosts, Ryan Batkay, Lauren Boyko and Teagan Sullivan, all of whom graduated as members of the Class of 2024.
Weingarten said attending the Conference felt “incredible.”
“So much goes into being excellent and with health you have to be accurate and excellent,” Weingarten said. “Our students are starting with zero experience, but looking at outcomes for the audience, focusing on excellence, and then seeing it recognized at the national level, especially in an audience of people whose careers are in radio…meant a lot because we were the first nurses to represent.”
Each year, the IBS Conference serves as an opportunity for young radio broadcasting students across the country to attend specified talks, network with industry professionals and other students, and learn. There were about 100 schools in attendance.
“This is my first time that I went,” WXVU Sports Director, junior David Szczepanski, said. “I loved every second of it…This was just a really great moment to network with industry leaders, but also to talk with other students that are running radio stations around the country.”
To be considered for an award, college radio stations submit samples months before the Conference dates. The top three to five percent are named the finalists.
Assistant Director of Student Involvement for Student Media Programs, advisor to WXVU and advisor to The Villanovan, Catherine Coyle, shared her feelings regarding WXVU’s national recognition.
“I feel really proud of the station,” Coyle said. “This is my second year working with the radio station, and I’ve seen so much growth and momentum forward in this past year, that the management team of the station is very strong right now, and the students are really excited about what we’re doing there. So, I was just extra proud to be there with the students.”
Szczepanski hopes to keep this momentum going.
“I think, for WXVU, kinda the biggest thing for us is continuing to get a presence on campus, continuing to make ourselves known obviously to the country, in terms of college radio stations, but also university, continue to get our name out there, that we do a lot of work around campus in sports, in news, just a lot of different things” Szczepanski said.
Now, the members and advisors of WXVU will continue their broadcasting work.
“I think, hopefully, this is a motivator for students to be even more excited to produce great radio content over the next year and show up again in New York in 2026.” Szczepanski said.
