KVSC 88.1 FM I 720 Fourth Avenue South I St. Cloud, MN 56301 I Tel. 320.308.3066 I kvsc.org
Hello KVSC Members, March 29, 2019
We’re heading into an exciting finish to the academic year at Your Sound Alternative. We have two big events for you to experience in May, and we’re beginning our summer event planning. You may be doing similar things… tuning up bikes, pulling out the long board and planning the garden. Our garden just happens to grow great music, news, sports and community events—thanks to you! If it’s been a while since you’ve received KVSC newsletter I hope you find this communication informative and helpful as a listener member in previous years.
KVSC’s Minnesota music concert, A Night Out With Tina and Farewell Milwaukee is Thursday, May 9 at the Pioneer Place Theatre. It’s been far too long since Tina Schlieske (of Tina and the B-Sides) has performed in St. Cloud! Tina spent her formative years in pursuing every avenue she came across from the glam rock of Bowie and T Rex, the showmanship of Elvis, the soul music of Aretha to the singer-songwriters of Joni Mitchell. She’s bringing her band mates and will rock your soul. Farewell Milwaukee has never played to a St. Cloud audience, you’re in for a treat! Their sound is Americana, roots rock. They’ve been mainstays of the Minneapolis scene for a decade. Come—enjoy the best in Minnesota music in a historic, intimate venue. Tickets are on sale at ppfive.com.
Granite City Radio Theatre’s 7th season finale is approaching. The show is at the Pioneer Place on Wednesday, May 15, and live on the air at 7:30 p.m. The witty, charming, lyrically dynamic and talented singer Jeremy Messersmith will close out the season as our musical guest with the world’s best house band, Collective Unconscious. This show is such a treasure—it’s replete with comedy sketches that poke fun at Central Minnesota, features the Shades Brigade drama and Dan Barth’s trivia challenge. Tickets are available at ppfive.com. By the way, a grant from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, business sponsors and listener members combine to support the A Night Out with Tina and Farewell Milwaukee concert and Granite City Radio Theatre.
In other station news, we recently took our website, KVSC.org, from 2009 to 2019—it’s a beautiful redesign and update! Throughout the last six months we redeveloped the website to have more functionality for visitors; it is modern, uses responsive design (will re-size to device size of user) and has much better search engine optimization. I was very proud to work with Meta 13, a local web development team, to re-deploy KVSC.org. Four of their 10 employees are St. Cloud State alumni—I believe in keeping our investments local and with SCSU alumni/friends.
“Are you out there, can you hear me?” These are the lyrics to a Dar Williams song on her “End of Summer” album. While we know you can hear us—our goal is to keep that signal strong. Last year KVSC’s Director of Operations Director Jim Gray used a drone to inspect our broadcast antenna mounted at 450 feet at our radio tower. After that inspection we realized the antenna is seriously degraded. It was installed 27 years ago during the power increase of 1992 that has KVSC at 16,500 fantastic watts! The antenna is failing, as well as the transmission line feed line from the transmitter up the tower to the antenna.
Due to this major technology upgrade need, we are beginning our first-ever capital campaign to raise $55,000 dollars to replace the failing equipment. The Antenna “Drive to 55” is a way you can designate funds to support this project. In fact, if you donate $165, or a penny per watt, you’ll receive a special thank you—a high quality blue tooth enabled wireless custom speaker. You can then enjoy KVSC wherever you may be—in a boat, relaxing in a hammock by the lake or while cleaning out the garage this spring!
As an added bonus for every listener—replacing the antenna and transmission line will result in a stronger signal, better fidelity and reception because we will also upgrade to circular power transmission on our HD transmitter.
KVSC’s spring membership drive is April 20-28. There are a lot of reasons for you to renew your membership during the drive including drawings for concert tickets and other donated items—aside from the year-round programming you enjoy. We have some new pledge premiums this spring. They include a new logo coffee mug, a new T-shirt, and the return of the baseball hat and Henley style shirt. Also, if you pledge at to support the Antenna “Drive to 55” we’ll set aside a Bluetooth enabled portable speaker for you. We will have images of these items posted soon on KVSC.org’s membership perks page. If you pledged during the Fall 2018 drive and would like a new membership discount card mailed to you (the current card expires April 30) please contact me and I will gladly send a new card to you in early May. You will also receive a membership discount card by renewing your pledge this spring.
As a reminder, we feature several methods to renew your membership. Simply click on the Donate link at KVSC.org to view the options. They include the online credit card single payment option, a monthly payment that can be deducted from a savings or checking account or return the renewal slip enclosed with this letter.
All pledge payments to KVSC are deposited into the radio station’s account at the SCSU Foundation. If you would prefer to not receive any mailings or calls from the university, please note that on your enclosed pledge form, or email me at jlmcmullen@stcloudstate.edu and I will request do not call or mail on your behalf.
Your feedback and support of Your Sound Alternative is truly appreciated. If you have ever considered flexing your musical knowledge or passion for diverse musical ideas please consider entering the free, go-at-your own-pace KVSC training program. We offer free training to all ages, but I suggest 14-years and older.
You can email info@kvsc.org to share your interest in training, and we’ll take it from there.
Best–Jo McMullen
Station Manager
P.S. Don’t forget to renew your membership; a form is enclosed if you’re due. Thank you kindly!
St. Cloud State University values diversity of all kinds, including but not limited to race, religion and ethnicity (full statement at bulletin.stcloudstate.edu/ugb/generalinfo/nondiscrimination.asp). TTY: 1-800-627-3529 SCSU is an affirmative action/equal opportunity educator and employer. This material can be made available in an alternative format. Contact the department/agency listed above. A member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system
