A chaotic mix of laughter and phone calls ensue in the KCPR radio station as DJs surround the microphones describing items being auctioned.
Cal Poly’s radio station will hold its 37th annual Fall Auction from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day this week, auctioning off locally donated items.
One of the packages auctioned off Monday was a bike package that included a black cruiser, helmet, lights and a master lock. Another package included $325 of merchandise, containing a floral gift certificate, one “hawt” halter top, two bowling passes to Pismo Bowl and tattoo gift certificates.
Graham Culbertson, a journalism senior and KCPR DJ, volunteered himself on-air as part of a hot date package. Another item being auctioned is a high-fidelity radio donated by Audio Ecstasy along with a bean bag chair and a Joy Division CD.
The money raised from the all-week auction will go to the station.
“This auction is really for upkeep and maintenance of the station; we have a lot of electronics. We also need to pay for small stuff like the nitrogen that helps run our transmitter and food for all the volunteers that run this station,” KCPR business director Jesse Bo Widmark said.
Program director Elijah Santoyo says that they received more than 20 callers bidding on items by 3 p.m. Monday.
KCPR puts on many different shows such as the popular nationwide show “Democracy Now” that airs weekdays from 9 to
10 a.m. along with local shows such as Burnt Dog Blues on Thursdays from 6 to 8 p.m.; Rasta Revolution (reggae) Wednesdays from
6 to 8 p.m., and Bandwagon from
5 to 6 p.m.
KCPR will be hosting two half-day auctions and one full day auction every day this week. More top items being auctioned off this week include a food package of a whole quarter’s worth of organic food from Cal Poly’s Organic Farm, 51 pounds from a local orchard. Also auctioned this week will be a guitar donated from Blue Note, along with guitar-related items, tattoo-and-piercing gift certificates and CDs. There will also be a body care package with gift certificates for a one-hour massage, one year of yoga, and four personal training sessions along with lotions and KCPR T-shirts.
“We hope to make a few thousand dollars by the end of the week,” Widmark said. “We are an all-independent and all-volunteer station. Private donations keep us going.”