PAUL
BATTAGLIA
 I
am proud to nominate Paul Battaglia as student leader of the year for
his role as general manager of WHRW.
This award is virtually a no-contest. Since Paul took over as GM in
September, the station has made leaps and bounds, and Paul is
responsible for it all.
A year ago, WHRW was a misunderstood station with little fanfare and
even less of a following. Often dismissed for its unique programming,
the station needed a boost.
In came Paul. Within his first two months, he had already arranged to
buy over $10,000 in new equipment for the station, including a brand
new mixing board and a brand new remote travel board. Along with that
came mikes, headphones, CD players, tape decks, the works.
Paul also set up plans with the athletic department to broadcast the
full season of Binghamton University women’s basketball, making WHRW
the ONLY radio station in the COUNTRY to broadcast a full season of
Division II women’s basketball. The athletic department even agreed
to subsidize radio station equipment and promotions.
But it didn’t stop there. In early February, Paul teamed with
station members Seth Mates and Jeremy Klaff to do the first-ever
24-hour WHRW radiothon to raise money and awareness for the station.
It worked. The station raised nearly $2,500, and interest in the
campus station had never been higher.
And boy, were those 24 hours packed. A basketball game. The last pub
show ever. Parades around campus. Visits to dining halls. And special
guests, such as BU President Lois B. DeFleur, City of Binghamton Mayor
Richard A. Bucci, SA President Benjamin Greenzweig, campus music acts
Lyrical Jester & Unda Kova and Del-40, and others. They even
brought down mascots from the Binghamton Mets and BC Icemen to
entertain at the basketball game, and resurrected former BU mascot
Colonial chicken for the evening.
And it didn’t even stop there. Over Easter break, Paul slaved into
Manhattan on a busy Monday afternoon to visit the offices of 96.3 FM,
a classical station which was willing to donate equipment to WHRW.
Paul made about four trips up and down stairs carrying tape decks,
cart machines, speakers -- whatever -- just for the good of WHRW.
Thanks to Paul’s efforts with the radiothon, the entire BU campus
was given an opportunity to enjoy a college experience together.
Thanks to the basketball coverage, town/gown relations improved, and
the much-deserving women’s basketball team got coverage. And thanks
to his amazing management skills, the oldest and biggest SA group on
campus got thousands of dollars in state-of-the-art equipment.
Last week, Paul was elected by a unanimous vote to once again be the
general manager of WHRW next year. It is definitely a deserved honor.
Paul Battaglia has done amazing things for this station, and there is
no doubt in my mind that he should be student leader of the year.
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