The Radio Television Digital News Association announced on Tuesday that KCBS Radio had won three regional Edward R. Murrow Awards.
The Bay Area's only all-news station earned the prizes in the categories for Overall Excellence, News Series for an investigation into the immigration crisis in 2018 and Best Newscast for the quality of the Nov. 8, 2018 broadcast — the day that the most devastating fire in California's history ignited in Butte County.
Reporter Matt Bigler's five-part "Caravan of Dreams" series was selected for a Regional Murrow after running in May and providing in-depth coverage about a group of 200 migrants who traveled across Central America and Mexico to apply for asylum in the United States. Bigler reported from both sides of the border for his special report
Coverage of the Camp Fire dominated KCBS Radio's broadcast on Nov. 8, 2018, as reporters and anchors provided updates about the rapidly spreading fire in Paradise. But the best newscast award was based on a comprehensive look at the variety of reports from that day, which included the memorial service for San Francisco Giants icon Willie McCovey, Gavin Newsom's visit to a Tenderloin soup kitchen, his first appearance as governor-elect, as well as the station's signature traffic and sports updates.
The Murrow Awards are among the most respected prizes in broadcast journalism and have been presented by the RTDNA since 1971. They are given to radio, television and digital journalists in 14 regions with the regional winners competing for the national awards. KCBS Radio won in the region for California, Nevada and Hawaii. National winners will be announced in June.
Since 1990, KCBS Radio has won 24 National Murrow Awards, including last year when the station received the honor for Excellence in Sound for Doug Sovern's reports on the Wine Country fires.