April Allen | Arts & Life Co-Editor

KBVU’s EDGEFest concert usually occurs every spring semester with the purpose of donating the funds to targeted charities, but this year, the event is unable to run. Funds for EDGEFest went towards an update for the radio station.

The radio system required a much needed and expensive update this past fall that cost more than expected.

“We can’t afford to do EDGEfest this year, which sucks, but we have to keep the radio station alive,” Miranda Klingenberg, a senior Media Studies major and station manager of KBVU, said. “It’s a concert in late May where we actually are able to put a face to the people who call in. We bring bigger bands in than we have for EDGEdOUT, and we are able to donate the money raised to local charities and non-for-profits.”

EDGEFest isn’t to be confused with EDGEdOUT, which is a “battle of the bands” style show held in the fall of every academic year. Traditionally, the winner of the fall EDGEdOUT plays at the spring EDGEFest. This would have been the eighth consecutive year for the EDGEFest concert, and the student station leaders are disappointed to not be having the annual show.

Scotti Locati, a sophmore Digital Media major, says he is bummed that concert is canceled.

“It still is hitting me that we aren’t having one. I looked forward to another EDGEFest as soon as it was over last year, especially being able to talk with the bands,” he said.

Locati described the day of “amazing” and the planning as exciting for the student station leaders.

“The day of the event we set up during the day or the night before depending on the weather. Bands start to show up at three or four o’clock in the afternoon. They get everything unloaded, and they do a sound check. Doors open, and the event starts. Bands play their heart out, and that is kind of how it goes,” he said.

While the KBVU team is sad they can’t put together another year of EDGEFest, they are using the time to improve and grow the radio station.

“With this semester, we may try to take the station in a new direction. Not necessarily a complete overhaul; we are still going to play alternative, but we might go about the concerts a different way,” Klingenberg said. “This is like the chance to evaluate how we have done things in the past and maybe make some improvements.”

EDGEFest is time-consuming, and Klingenberg really believes with not having to plan for the concert there will be time to improve programming. This includes adding more radio shows to the lineup as well as trying to reach out to the community, BVU, and Storm Lake.

The station reevaluation will also include evaluating what the listeners want to hear. Alternative will still be the main genre, but the idea of what is considered alternative will be broadened in order to gain more listeners.

Logo courtesy of KBVU
Video slideshow courtesy of Clair Lynn