KCLU AM/FM, the National Public Radio station for Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, won four 2010 Mark Twain Awards for broadcast excellence in the Western United States from the Associated Press Television and Radio Association on Saturday.

KCLU’s Jim Rondeau, John Palminteri and Lance Orozco were honored for Best Live Coverage of a News Event for their reporting on Santa Barbara County’s Jesusita Brushfire in May 2009.

Orozco won a Twain Award for Best Spot News Story for his live, on-scene coverage of Ventura County’s 2009 Guiberson Fire. He also won for Best Sports Reporting for “The Oldest Dodger,” a story about a Ventura County man who’s the oldest living member of the Major League Baseball team.

John North, who produces special projects for KCLU, tied with KSAK in Walnut, Calif., for Best Special Program “Not In My Backyard,” an hour-long documentary about the problems California is facing in monitoring paroled sexual offenders.

KCLU competed against small stations in California, Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Washington and Wyoming for the awards. The station also received nominations in three other categories.

The awards were presented at APTRA’s 63rd annual gala at Disneyland Resort in Anaheim.

KCLU has won more awards for broadcast excellence than any other station in Southern California in 2010.

Construction of a new KCLU Broadcast Center is slated to begin this summer on the California Lutheran University campus in Thousand Oaks. The $2.9 million building will replace the tiny studio in CLU’s Mountclef Residence Hall that KCLU has used since it signed on in 1994.

KCLU, a community service of CLU, broadcasts in Ventura County on 88.3 FM and in Santa Barbara County at 1340 AM and 102.3 FM. Live streaming and archives are available at http://www.kclu.org.