JMAS students win, meet governor at OAB conference

By Jacob Factor, News Editor

For journalism students, college years are spent perfecting portfolios and learning on the job. For many, part of that learning and portfolio building comes from the on-campus broadcast network, The Okay Show.

Students who work for the show won several awards April 4 at the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters 2019 conference.

The winners are:

• Olivianna Calmes, Winner of the Mark Rawlings Scholarship

• Charles Downum, first in Radio Narrative

• Jacob Jolly, Loren Rhoades, Olivianna Calmes, second in TV Narrative

• Zach Bush, second in TV Music Video

• Wyatt Winters and Sheridan Wiles, third in Screenwriting

• Tamlyn Price, third in Radio Narrative

Professor Stephen Draper organized the event for the OBU students and said he was proud of the individuals who won.

“We’re competing against literally the best and brightest in the entire state, OU and OSU and others, and so you might think we’re just a small school, but we have consecutively won every year,” Draper said. “It just continues to show how strong a school program it is.”

The Okay Show used to be called OBU TV-News, and it was solely a news broadcast.

With the new branding of the Okay Show, Draper said there is more opportunity for students to participate in ways that fit their goals.

“Not everybody wants to learn broadcast journalism or print journalism; not everyone wants narrative or marketing or any of these things,” he said.“ Students are getting to do what interests them. That’s where learning really takes place when you can take what is your field and then you can actually make it interesting and joyful.”

Olivianna Calmes, lead anchor for the Okay Show said she shared the same sentiment.

“It allows you to really be yourself and create what you want, with people helping you along the way,” she said. “The Okay Show is a variety show with different segments. The different segments are done by different students and are showcased separately on the Okay show’s playlists. There is probably a segment you will like from it, whether it’s our movie reviews (ER), paranormal norm, the funny banter between the anchors, the witty sports anchor or the great weather guy.”

Calmes said the show is integral to the learning experience of journalism students, and is where the most valuable part of their education comes from.

“It is important for our campus because it gives media students, and really anyone, the opportunity to gain experience working with professional equipment and channel their creativity,” she said.

Draper said he is excited to see the future of the show.

“My greatest joy right now is kind of getting to see that it really presents a solid future for programming for the years to come.”

The Okay Show director, Braden Wade, said he has hopes for the show as well.

“I hope people can find something in the show they enjoy doing,” Wade said. “And people in my class will get the same joy and passions.”

He said he also hopes the show will eventually learn how to function like the real world because he wants his peers to be prepared to thrive. The Okay Show posts on Youtube Fridays at 5 p.m.