Indiana Public Radio received the Small Market Radio Outstanding News Operation Award and 11 individual awards at the Indiana Associated Press Broadcasters Association banquet April 12 in Indianapolis.
Awards were given in two size categories, metro and small stations.
Metro stations are those in Indianapolis, Evansville and other larger cities, and local are all the other stations, Beaver Beaver, senior correspondent, said.
The SMRONO award is for overall excellence and IPR's ability to cover a wide variety of stories, Beaver said.
IPR still tries to cover the majority of their stories instead of relying on other news sources, he said.
"Many small radio stations don't get their own news," Beaver said. "We do it the old fashioned way.
"We've become like the dinosaur; we're the exception, not the rule."
He said because of the costs of hiring a news staff and the equipment needed to gather stories, most small radio stations opt to get their news from other news outlets.
"It's become common to rely on online newspapers," Beaver said. "In essence, they're getting news from those who have already gathered it."
He said that IPR, located in the Ball Building, doesn't have to worry about that because they receive funding from two annual fund drives and from the university.
"The university is pretty good about giving us the tools we need," Beaver said.
The award is a good way to show the university the money isn't being wasted, he said.
Beaver said that even with the funding, it's still hard to cover as much news as they would like to because of lack of manpower and geography.
Though WIBC, an Indianapolis station that won the Outstanding News Operation Award for the metro market, has a staff of 20 people, Beaver is the only full-time IPR employee, he said.
The radio station can reach 22 counties on a good day, but it's hard to cover stories in Wabash, New Castle and other cities that are far away, he said.
"We're trying to do a lot with a little," Beaver said.
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