News
9/28/2009
OTEC Honored for Communication Efforts
Baker City, OR – September 28, 2009 - Oregon Trail Electric Consumers Cooperative (OTEC) was honored by the Northwest Public Power Association (NWPPA) for “Excellence in Communication” during the 2009 Northwest Innovations Conference in Redmond, Oregon.
OTEC was honored with a First Place award for its YouTube video productions and a Second Place award for its monthly radio program on KBKR / KLBM’s “Your Voice” Radio program. Both awards were in the Wild Card category.
“It truly is an honor to be recognized by NWPPA. There were a number of worthy entries and for OTEC to receive these honors is quite humbling,” said Michael Howe, OTEC Communications Specialist. “There are many talented communication professionals in the cooperative world, so this is very much an honor to be proud of.”
OTEC utilizes YouTube videos to communicate information about conservation, safety, and other important messages. The videos can be seen on OTEC’s web site, or on OTEC’s YouTube site at www.youtube.com/otecc. “OTEC-TV, as we affectionately call it, has been a great deal of fun to develop and we look forward to producing more videos in the near future,” suggests Howe.
The radio program can be heard the third Thursday of each month on KLBM 1450 / KBKR 1490 in La Grande and Baker City. Cliff Turner, News Director for KBKR/KLBM, and Michael Howe host the show each month and feature a different OTEC related guest and topic each month.
“We are very grateful that Cliff and SuperTalk Radio have chosen to include OTEC in their Your Voice programming. Cliff does an exceptional job of making certain the listeners get the information everyone wants to hear, and the guests have been entertaining and informative,” says Howe. Each edition of OTEC-Radio has also been archived on the OTEC web site – just click the OTEC-Radio icon.
“These are just two of the tools OTEC uses to communicate to its members. The Board, management, and employees of OTEC have encouraged and supported a spirit of open communication. These honors are a direct result of this spirit,” explains Howe.
This marks the 16th year NWPPA has issued awards for “Excellence in Communication.” NWPPA is an international association representing and serving customer-owned, locally controlled utilities in the Western U.S. and Canada. The Association also serves more than 250 associate members across the U.S. and Canada who are allied with the electric utility industry. Visit the NWPPA web site at www.nwppa.org for more information.
