Cassie Forsyth | Assistant Copy Editor
Buena Vista University’s (BVU) student run radio station, KBVU, held the eighth annual EDGEdOUT concert on Nov. 9, 2012. The radio executive board chose six local bands to play at the KC Hall in Storm Lake for the event. Many BVU students were responsible for putting together this event.
The radio executive board consists of 16 members: three seniors, one junior, 10 sophomores, and two freshmen. The board has grown an enormous amount in the last two years, and they have all done their part in planning this year’s EDGEdOUT from the beginning of the school year.
Digital Media Professor and Adviser of KBVU Bruce Ellingson is happy the executive board has grown so much in the past two years.
“Last year we recruited a huge crowd and kept them all,” Ellingson said.
Each member has been working diligently from the beginning in order to create a great show.
“The first year or two, the thing I worried most about was just having people to do it, but it’s really not a problem with this experienced team,” Ellingson said.
The executive board is responsible for planning the event.
“They sell the sponsorships, they recruit the bands, they stage the event, they man all the various tasks, they sell t-shirts, they interview bands. They do it all,” Ellingson said.
From the beginning of the school year, the KBVU team has been working to sell sponsorships to businesses in the town of Storm Lake in order to raise money to put on the event. Later on, the music team discovers and recruits the bands, then it is up to the executive board to convince the audience to attend the event.
KBVU used to request that bands around the city send in a demo for the crew to listen to and critique, but in recent years, they have decided to do things differently. The music directors of KBVU now listen to suggested bands and vote on their top choices. This year, they decided on six different bands, including The Evil That Men Do, Even Diamonds are Deceiving, Colossus, 3 Hours, At War with Giants, and Tracings.
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The event was promoted through PR releases to area newspapers and radio stations, posters around campus and across town, two months of sponsorship promotions on KBVU’s radio station, and the d-jays discussing possible bands and sponsors on air. The promotion team of KBVU also promoted the event on the organization’s Facebook and Twitter as often as possible. Not only did they promote the event, but they also promoted the bands that attended the concert in hopes for the audience to get excited about the music they would hear at the concert.
Senior media studies major Miranda Klingenberg has been a member of KBVU for four years and has been the station manager for the past two years.
“My favorite part of EDGEdOUT is getting to see everybody’s hard work coming together to create a really awesome battle of the bands,” Klingenberg said.
Ellingson says his favorite part of EDGEdOUT is the performances.
“We’ve had some events that have really wide ranging stuff, like punk and power pop. It’s fun once you get that type of diversity,” Ellingson said.
The executive board decided to bring two past KBVU members and a high school DJ to judge the battle of the bands. The three judges deliberated and chose Colossus as the winner.
“We really had nothing negative to say about this band,” Evy Tijerina, one of the judges, explained to the crowd about their choice.
The total income for the night was $430, and the money will be spent on the planning for KBVU’s next concert, EDGEFest, which will be held in May. EDGEdOUT winner, Colossus, will also join in the performances of EDGEFest.
Photos by David Ekstrom
Video by Tyler McDanel
