WUTC wins prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award for feature reporting

WUTC is housed on the UTC campus.
WUTC is housed on the UTC campus.
photo WUTC is housed on the UTC campus.

Chattanooga's National Public Radio affiliate was honored with a 2017 Edward R. Murrow Award for feature reporting.

WUTC's winning entry, produced by News Director Michael Edward Miller, was "#NoogaStrong: New 'Chattanooga Rain' Song Honors Staff Sgt. Wyatt, Who Was One of the Fallen Five."

The feature tells the story of a song Lorrie Wyatt wrote for her husband, Staff Sgt. David Waytt, a U.S. Marine who was killed in the attack on a military installation in Chattanooga on July 16, 2015.

Wyatt wrote the song with the help of Operation Song, a Nashville-based nonprofit established that uses songwriting as therapy for veterans, military members and their families. In 2016, the music therapy outreach program began working with veterans in the studios of WUTC.

Miller said WUTC is honored to receive the Murrow award for the "Chattanooga Rain" feature story.

"That piece and the others in the Operation Song radio documentary that WUTC produced represent the true spirit of community radio: that radio has the power to draw us together and share a common experience," he said in a prepared statement.

The Murrow awards are issued by the Radio Television Digital News Association for journalism produced by radio, television and digital news organizations.

WUTC's entry was in the in the Region 8 Small Market Radio category, which includes radio stations in Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina.

The award marks the second time that WUTC has been honored by the prestigious journalism association. WUTC previously received an Edward R. Murrow Award in 2013 in the audio news documentary category for "Just Plumb Gone: A Year After the Tornado in Apison, Tenn."

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