POINT LOOKOUT, MO —The College of the Ozarks radio station, KCOZ, was awarded first place for Small Market Radio in the category of Social Media Star on June 6 at the 2026 Missouri Broadcasters Association awards ceremony.

The Social Media Star award is given to a radio station based on their social media presence. They are judged on listener and viewer engagement, creativity, and station branding.

KCOZ is the official broadcasting station for College of the Ozarks, playing the best in indie and alternative Christian music around the clock. The station is run and DJ’d by students as a campus workstation. Public relations 2026 graduates Chloe Main and Jazmine Green, along with junior public relations major Emma Leigh Morris, oversaw KCOZ’s social media.

Main, Morris, and Green focused on showing the real and authentic side of office life at the radio station. Funny pictures of students and radio staff in the office, mixed with “get-to-know-the-staff” posts, made viewers feel like they were a part of the day-to-day life at the radio station.

“One of the wonderful things about attending the MBA Awards each year is that our students get to experience their hard work being recognized, not by their student peers, but by industry professionals from across the state of Missouri,” said Drew Russell, general manager and workstation supervisor of KCOZ. “It’s a great opportunity for them to be acknowledged for all their hard work. Our students do a tremendous job creating a radio station that our entire campus and surrounding community can be proud of.”

The Missouri Broadcasters Association’s mission is to promote the success and prosperity of Missouri’s broadcasters and the survival of the broadcasting industry by representing members’ points of view in legislative and regulatory processes, serving as a source of training, and encouraging the highest standards in broadcasting by recognizing and sharing examples of excellence and achievement.

KCOZ’s first place award in the Social Media Star category follows their second-place award last year in the same category.