Students From 'The Biff' Take Several Top Awards

A dozen Bloomfield Hills Schools students in the radio broadcasting program brought home nine awards from the Michigan Association of Broadcasters Foundation (MABF) at their annual conference last week in Lansing.

Students from WBFH-88.1 FM, "The Biff' received nine of the 25 awards distributed in the high school division, including multiple first-place finishes for talk shows and public service announcements. Andover High School senior Cameron Billes won three awards: First Place (tie), MHSAA Sports PSA (with Bryan Furlong); Second Place, Public Service Announcement (with Sean Shepard); Third Place, Talk Show (with Bryan Furlong).

Operations Manager and previous Patch Whiz Kid Paul Stewart won two awards: First Place, Talk Show; and third Place, Station Activities Report (with Justin Lopas).

Both Billes and Stewart were among the handful of BHS students . Stewart and fellow senior Zac Barnett were recognized in the Best PSA category. Billes and Andover junior Eric Bloom were finalists for Best PSA as well.

Students also took two second place awards and three third place awards during the Great Lakes Broadcasting Conference at the Lansing Center on March 14. A full list is available on the station's website.

“I’m so proud of all the Biff students who won awards, especially those who won for the first time” said Station Manager Pete Bowers in a news release.

Stewart was also one of only three high school students to receive a MAB Foundation scholarship, which offers $750 to students committed to pursuing a career in a broadcast-related field.

He thanked Bowers and Assistant Manager/Technical Director Randy Carr for mentoring him on both the technical and business side of the radio broadcasting industry. He used the experience to earn the Distinguished Albion Scholars Program (DASP) scholarship at Albion College, where he pitched a capital improvement plan for WLBN, the campus radio station.

"I hope to fulfill my promise to the college and install the studios myself this summer," he said. "I have Mr. Carr to thank for teaching me how he wired the WBFH studios so I am now able to wire the studios at WLBN.”