Rowan Radio 89.7 WGLS-FM earned two Gracie Awards from the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation on Wednesday for news and public affairs programming.
Katie Francis won a Gracie Award in the Host/Personality division thanks to her work on The Rowan Report. Formerly Rowan Radio News Director, Francis anchored and produced the award-winning 30-minute news program since April 2020.
During Francis’s stint as News Director, The Rowan Report also received accolades from the Hermes Creative Awards, College Broadcasters Incorporated, Broadcast Education Association, and Society of Professional Journalists.
The Social Media Effect netted a Gracie Award in the Public Affairs category. Co-producers Alexandra Cann and Rylee Meyer interviewed health professionals and students for the award-winning piece about social media’s impact on society.
Cann and Meyer created the documentary in a radio production course instructed by WGLS-FM Assistant Station Manager Leo Kirschner. The Social Media Effect also collected a Hermes Creative Award in May.
These are the 9th and 10th Gracie Award wins for Rowan Radio. The 2021 victories mark the first time in station history that Rowan Radio will collect two Gracies in the same competition. Kaitlin Kline was the station’s last Gracie Award recipient in 2019.
This year marks the 46th anniversary of the Gracie Awards, which recognize individual achievement and exemplary programming created by, for and about women in all facets of media and entertainment.
Rowan Radio 89.7 WGLS-FM has won 340 regional and national awards since 1993.
Rowan Radio 89.7 WGLS-FM 