The Writers Guild Awards this year honored NYC’s WNET and WCBS 880.
Image from bellenews.com
The Writers Guild of America, West/East (WGAW/WGAE) is a labor union that is comprised of thousands of professional writers in the United States. They represent writers in rights negotiations, ensuring that a writer is protected and credited for their work. Every year, WGA collects millions of dollars worth of residual (reuse) payments and distributes them to the credited writers.
The Writers Guild of America West and East also recognize “outstanding achievement in writing for screen, television, radio, news, promotional, videogame, and new media writing” each year. This year’s event was particularly special for WNET and WCBS News Radio 880, both of which were recognized.
PBS’s Channel 13/WNET was honored in the Daytime Drama category of “News—Analysis,
Bill Moyers co-wrote and presented “The Ghost of John McCarthy.” Michael Winship co-wrote the segment with him.
Image from PBS
Feature, or Commentary.” Writers Bill Moyers and Michael Winship were recognized for their work on “The Ghost of Joe McCarthy.” WNET is the “premier public media provider of the New York City metropolitan area,” and is governed by a small board of trustees, which includes Chairman James S. Tisch, musician John Levin, businessman Thomas Uger, director Barry Shapiro and many more.
WCBS News Radio 880 was honored at the WGA awards in the Radio category of “News—Analysis, Feature, or Commentary” for its tech segment, Dishin Digital, which is written by Robert Hawley and hosted by Paul Murnane. Dishin Digital is part of CBS New York, and provides listeners with all the latest news on technology.
Dishin Digital won recognition for its segment on CBS New York.
Image from newyork.cbslocal.com
Since there are two separate WGA groups (WGAW and WGAE), the awards were hosted simultaneously from both New York and Los Angeles. Award winning actor Nathan Fillion (Castle, Firefly) hosted the West Coast Writers Guild awards, which featured presenters like Jessica Chastain, Jane Lynch, Steven Spielberg, Tobey Maguire, Kate Walsh, and Amy Poehler. The East Coast WGA awards were hosted by actor Richard Kind and included presenters Bobby Cannavale, Scott Frank, Sonia Manzano, and Mike Reiss.
Check out our full profile on WNET’s Thomas Uger here.