For the second year in a row, Sacramento State’s student-run radio station, KSSU 1530 AM, has been nominated for a “College Radio Woodie Award,” which is handed out by MTV University. Last year, KSSU triumphed over all college radio stations west of the Mississippi River; this year, the station aims to take the whole nation.

The Radio Woodie honors college radio stations that are making an impact in new and emerging music and trends.

Mikey Bubonik, senior anthropology major and adviser of unsigned music at KSSU, said the station makes a conscious effort to discover new talent on a weekly basis. Bubonik said he attends underground shows practically every weekend in order to be up-to-date on emerging music and trends.

Suzie Kuo, adviser of KSSU, said that any college radio station can apply to be nominated for the Radio Woodie. From those entries, 200 stations are selected and placed on the Internet for open voting by students, faculty and community members. The list of nominees shrinks every week.

Bubonik said winning a Woodie would definitely benefit KSSU as a whole.

“It’s a good key point to pass onto the people upstairs. Like any program on campus, we’re fighting for funding and if we can approach authority and say mtvU is calling us the best in the nation, we can go a long way,” Bubonik said.

Kuo said she feels a great sense of accomplishment being placed in the top-25 for the second year in a row. She said that winning the Radio Woodie would add to the historical significance of the station.

“It really drives home the point that if you have a student program on campus and the students are involved and dedicated, then something good will definitely come of it,” Kuo said.

Eric Conte, executive producer of the mtvU Woodie Awards, said that emerging music is the heart of mtvU. Conte said that mtvU was established sometime after MTV acquired the College Television Network.

Conte said many people underestimate college radio stations and the influence they have on the modern day music scene.”College radio stations are important to the new music scene because they are the ones playing music the students love and exposing them to new artists before they achieve mainstream success,” Conte said.

Bubonik said there is a lot more opportunity to be exposed to new music on college radio because of the exclusivity often found in the music industry. He said college radio gives artists another route to popularity without having to “sell out.”

“College radio is making its resurgence which is largely due to our generation’s mind-set where the label may not mean everything,” Bubonik said. “MtvU is walking hand-in-hand with that.”

Conte said the awards were established by college students in 2004 in an attempt to propel some of their favorite acts into stardom. He said college radio stations have a legacy of tapping into artists before they hit mainstream channels.

Conte said that because the mtvU Woodie Awards focuses on college radio, many “unknown” artists who win a Woodie are recognized and eventually exposed nationwide.

Conte said winning the Radio Woodie would bring direct national exposure to KSSU.

“Since the first ‘mtvU Woodie Awards,’ artists such as Fallout Boy (Streaming Woodie ’04), the Killers (Breaking Woodie ’04), Death Cab for Cutie (Best Video Woodie ’05), Plain White T’s (Breaking Woodie ’06), Boys Like Girls (Breaking Woodie ’07) and Gym Class Heroes (Woodie of the Year ’07) catapulted to new heights after winning big at the Woodies,” Conte said.

Kuo said KSSU has higher hopes of making it further into the final rounds of the competition than in the past.

“We are considered very valuable in our campus community and in Sacramento because we are the only remaining alternative, student-produced radio station in the Sacramento area. We’ve always been alternative student programming and it’s really set us apart from other stations,” Kuo said.

Conte said each of the finalists are worthy of the Woodie Award, including KSSU.

“KSSU is a great student-run station that really seems to capture the voice of the students and play the music that they love,” Conte said. “(MtvU) absolutely think(s) KSSU is worthy of this award – all of the stations among the nominees are. These stations are the vanguards of new music with incredibly talented staff who are committed to making their stations the best.”

Voting for the Woodies can be found online at www.woodies.mtv.com and will be available now through Nov. 16. For Sac State students, faculty, or friends who wish to vote for KSSU as best in the nation can visit www.kssu.com where a link is available that directly connects students to the College Radio Woodie Award poll. Next Monday, the category will be narrowed down to a smaller list of finalists. Students can then vote on those finalists from Monday to Nov. 9.

The winner will be announced during the Woodie Awards on Nov. 18.

Katrina Tupper can be reached at [email protected]