The newsroom of public radio station KAZU-FM 90.3 was recently recognized with a 2024 national Edward R. Murrow Award for its coverage of flooding that devastated Santa Cruz County last year.
At a recent ceremony in New York City, the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) honored KAZU for “The Pajaro Flood: A Preventable Disaster,” a series that examined the impact of flooding that displaced 3,000 people “left some 3,000 people homeless “and spotlighted inequities in flood protection between rich and poor communities.” KAZU’s reporting won top honors for continuing coverage for small-market radio stations.
“While I wasn’t at KAZU when these stories were reported,” said KAZU General Manager Helen Barrington, “I’m proud of what the station’s small newsroom did under extreme conditions to serve the region’s communities. This is a tribute to their skill, care and perseverance.”
This is KAZU’s second National Edward R. Murrow award in two years. The station won the Excellence in Writing award in 2023 for former KAZU news director Jerimiah Oetting’s feature on the so-called “corpse flower” at the UC Santa Cruz arboretum.
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