ASG funds podcasting conference at WSU

By Patrick Farricker.
At last Tuesday’s Associated Student Government (ASG) board meeting, the ASG voted 5-1-0 to give The Edge of Sound (BCC’s podcasting club) $2003.52 in order to attend a broadcasting conference at Washington State University.
The motion, previously tabled a week earlier, first voted (6-0-0) to reduce the amount of the podcasting club’s request from the initial $3,693.52 to the previously requested amount of $2,003.52.
Burke Colquhoun, Emerging Technology and Entrepreneurial Representative, indicated he felt the club’s request was too much, certainly for such an endeavor that does not directly benefit BCC, or its students. Although WSU’s broadcasting conference would educate and help network the club’s members with other schools, Colquhoun said, “[W]e have 20 students that can network with other schools…which is good; but it’s not enough to justify [spending] nearly half the money that we have left for the end of this quarter and next quarter.”
Amanda Alva, ASG President, had a much different view concerning the conference, feeling that the conference could help aggrandize a club with lots of promise.
“The podcasting club has a lot of potential to really expand, not only their presence here on campus, but to what other clubs as well?” Alva asked the board.
Alva added, “I would love to see more interaction between clubs and the podcasting, and clubs using the podcasting for exposing what they do, showing the campus that you may be able to get audio of your guest speaker [or] of your panel discussion.”
Now financed by the ASG, the podcasting club’s 22 members will have the opportunity to travel to WSU in Pullman, WA to attend the conference while also receiving the amenities of a guided tour, hosted by one of WSU’s students, and the chance to see the school’s radio and television stations as well as the school newspaper. Additionally, The Edge of Sound will have the chance to see all of the schools’ state-of-the-art equipment first hand as well as seeing their fellow broadcasters, journalists, and writers doing what they do best.
While the club does experience some minor set backs in having their initial funding plan reduced by $1,690, members said they were happy just to have the opportunity to attend the event.
“I’m very happy that ASG agreed to fund us at all,” said Nick Meyers, vice president of The Edge of Sound. “In terms of bringing something from the event, we hope to take back any experience that could be applied to the club, as well as a general sense of what it is to be a truly great broadcaster.”
The conference, The Edward R. Murrow Symposium, will be held on April 7th at WSU’s Beasley Performing Arts Coliseum.