Thirteen student staff of the Mercer Island High School radio station KMIH 889 The Bridge received honors at the 78th annual Intercollegiate Broadcasting System Golden Microphone Awards in New York City. The awards recognized excellence in both high school and college broadcasting.

Junior Emily Reyes was named the nation’s top high school radio air personality for her work hosting the popular “Everybody Loves Emily” show and also received a finalist award for Best Program Director.

Junior Max Tanzer repeated as the top high school sports interviewer for a segment he did with Mariners broadcaster Aaron Goldsmith and also shared finalist honors with Seniors Garrett Poore and Anthony Reyes for the work they did broadcasting Islanders football games.

Best play-by-play basketball finalist awards went to seniors Jaeden Pritchard, Cole Hibbert and Andrew Hanson, and a sports talk show finalist award was won by senior Truman Keith for his hockey talk show “The Hat Trick.” Also receiving a sports finalist award was junior Ryan Friedman for his Sports Updates.

Junior Luka Marceta received best news broadcast finalist honors. KMIH Student Operations Manager Emily Raissis was recognized as a finalist in the category of best underwriting, and freshman Celia Kornblum won as a radio drama finalist for her “KMIH Ghost Story.”

In addition to the radio students, senior Zoe Sheill won a Golden Microphone for the KMIH App she designed in Coding Club that enables Mercer Island students to be heard worldwide on any phone.

889 The Bridge was also a finalist for the best station logo and for broadcast media instructor Joe Bryant’s training method.

“When we launched the concept of ‘Music and Conversation that Spans Generations’ last year some of my colleagues in commercial broadcasting were skeptical because to many, radio is all about the ‘target demo’ and formats,” Bryant said. “But I strongly felt that a multi-generational platform was the best way to mentor my students to teach them the art of entertaining, informing, giving them confidence and communication skills and preparing them for the college and career paths that lay ahead. It’s very fulfilling to have those same people now congratulating my student staff on the amazing radio station they have built.”

Mercer Island residents can tune into KMIH at 88.9 FM anytime and also listen or download the KMIH App at 889thebridge.org. You can also hear Bryant teach “Joe’s Class” live on the air weekdays at noon.