Benefit concert held to raise awareness, funds for WDCE

In a benefit concert held Saturday night at The Pier, the university's radio station, WDCE 90.1 FM, sought not only to raise money, but also to raise campus awareness of the station.

"Benefit the Beats" featured local artists from a range of genres and included a live DJ from 8 p.m. until 1 a.m.

The night began with the smooth sounds of William Rousseau's acoustic cover of "Sunday Morning" by Maroon 5, which attracted people to the scene.

Whitney Cavin, the station's program director, spent months preparing for the concert, doing everything from contacting the bands to rallying volunteers and scheduling the venue.

"It was a crazy amount of work," Cavin said. "But in the end, it was all worth it."

More than 100 people showed up to the event, meeting the goal that Cavin and the rest of the volunteers had set. Cavin said that she hoped that the concert would make more students aware of the on-campus radio station, even if they did not attend the event.

"We put up flyers and sent out a preview on Spiderbytes," Cavin said. "We just wanted to let people know about the station."

WDCE's presence on campus was the main focus of the concert, along with raising money for a new station transmitter, Cavin said. A new transmitter would expand the station's range from a nine-mile radius to a 25-mile radius, station genereal manager Andrew Brown said.

Will Johnson, a station DJ, said: "The fact that some students don't even know that we have a radio station says a lot. We really want to increase the 'listenership' of the station on campus."

Johnson said that most students were not made aware of the station's existence when they first arrive on campus, which is something that the WDCE staff hopes to change in the future.

"We are hoping to have another concert in the fall so that incoming freshmen can learn a little bit about us and hopefully tune in," Cavin said.

One of the possible reasons that some students are not listening to the station is that they don't know the schedule, said Amber Roudette, a junior who attended the event.

"I think most people know the station exists, but they don't listen, because they don't know what type of music is played when," Roudette said. "For me, I usually only listen when my roommate is on."

Cavin said that she hoped more people would make connections with the station, either by having friends who are involved with the station, or getting involved themselves.

"Anyone can be a part of the radio station," Cavin said. "It just takes a little effort."

Over the past year, WDCE has created a new website and a new logo in hopes of gaining more attention from the student body, Cavin said. The logo design was submitted during a contest held last year that was open to university students, she said.

Cavin said that the WDCE staff is hoping to have similar concerts in the future to continue to gain exposure. She said that they will also have a table in The Commons to sell the leftover merchandise from the concert.

"The takeaway from the benefit concert was very positive," Cavin said. "There was a lot of positive energy."

Contact reporter James Riddick at jr.riddick@richmond.edu.