January 21, 2015
Contact: Jo McMullen-Boyer or Jim Gray
Office: 320-308-3053
Email: jlmcmullen@stcloudstate.edu
jwgray@stcloudstate.edu

KVSC’s 50-Hour Trivia Weekend Delves Into Fantasy and Folklore

ST. CLOUD, Minn. – The 36th annual Trivia Weekend presented by KVSC 88.1FM at St. Cloud State University will take over the airwaves Feb. 13-15. Each year, a different theme is selected to pay homage to popular cultural phenomena. Game of Trivia: Quest for Futile Facts will chronicle the worlds of fantasy literature and folklore, as conveyed through legends, tales and myths. The contest will test the literature, television and film knowledge of more than 2,000 competitors.

The campus radio station at St. Cloud State hosts the annual 50-hour marathon featuring more than 450 trivia questions asked to teams listening on the radio and Internet. Aside from a wealth of theme-based questions, there is a broad range of additional questions on pop culture, science, sports, visual trivia, history and more.

“The theme for this year’s contest is not only perfectly suited to people who enjoy the hunt for information, but it connects to the recent growth of support for fantasy-based films, television shows and books.” said Jo McMullen-Boyer, KVSC Station Manager. “Aside from the immense popularity of shows such as Game of Thrones and the release of movies such as The Hobbit Trilogies, which are both fantasy literature based, books by authors such as J.K. Rowling also represent great sources for Trivia Weekend questions.”

The history of KVSC’s Trivia Weekend began in 1980 as an event organized by KVSC and the SCSU Residence Hall Association as a way to alleviate Minnesota’s cabin fever. That year, a staff of 14 answered calls on four phone lines from 25 teams.

In recent years, KVSC needs hundreds of volunteers to staff the 32 trivia hotlines and nearly 60 teams played in the three-day contest in 2014. With the growth of Trivia Weekend, volunteers have become very important in making the event possible. Approximately 40-45 volunteers are needed each hour to operate the contest—for 50 consecutive hours. Volunteers work on the phone hotlines where teams call in their guesses, co-host the radio shows, work in scoring and point dispute roles, produce audio and UTVS productions, run for food for volunteers and many other jobs.

“The contest has grown in a many different ways. The number of volunteers has more than doubled, allowing KVSC to present a very responsive contest for our competitors with increased interaction with the phone hotline volunteers. The scoring program was digitized in 2009 with a custom developed software program,” McMullen-Boyer said.

Trivia rules require teams to register by 4:30 p.m. Feb. 13, the Friday of Trivia Weekend. The contest begins at 5:00 p.m. on Feb. 13 and will conclude at 7:00 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 15. Teams create a name and operate from a team headquarters as they put their heads together in a quest to be called the most knowledgeable team.

“I always enjoy the trivia teams that are modify their team names to fit KVSC’s theme,” McMullen-Boyer said. “Some of this year’s registered teams include Meyer Meyer Clan on Fire, Song of Fire and Ice Cold Brewskies, a team simply called Hodor, Frodo Spankins and Stefan’s Dream XVI: Stefan, Warrior Princess (last year’s champions).

Wrapping up the 50-hour contest is an awards ceremony in Ritsche Auditorium at SCSU beginning at 8:00 p.m. on Feb. 15. The winning team receives the coveted Minnesota Masters of Trivia Traveling Trophy. The golden urn (trophy) shows the names of the winning teams over the past 35 years.

Following the awards ceremony, exhausted players and volunteers head to the Red Carpet Nightclub in downtown St. Cloud to celebrate surviving another Trivia Weekend. The Shake A Hamster Band takes the stage and performs their new theme-based numbers as well as some of the favorites from previous years.

KVSC encourages trivia enthusiasts from all over to pull together friends and family members to create a team or to consider becoming a phone bank volunteer for the weekend. The entire contest is also streamed live online. For information on registration and volunteering, visit http://www.kvsc.org/listen_live.php.

KVSC 88.1FM, the Voice of St. Cloud since 1967, offers listeners an alternative format without commercials. KVSC features a diverse variety of music as well as news coverage and community events. The staff of KVSC 88.1FM is comprised of students and community volunteers.