WKNC’s 13th annual Double Barrel Benefit fundraising event began its two-night concert with a sold-out show Saturday night at Kings Barcade in Raleigh.
The event is the main fundraiser for WKNC, which is largely self-funded. The university contributes funding to cover licensing fees, but the station is left to bridge the remaining, and pricey, gap. As an original alternative to extensive radiothons, the event’s profits cover over 14 percent of the station’s annual income, an important fraction of the upkeep cost.
“When you’re talking percents, [14 percent] doesn’t sound huge, but when you think about what good $6,000 or $7,000 does it’s pretty significant,” said Matt Brown, general manager and a senior studying electrical engineering. “Without that money, we would not be able to do what we do at the capacity we do… Double Barrel helps keep student fees lower and just helps the station stay strong.”
Though the event is a culmination of local artists, distinctive venues and a vibrant audience, Double Barrel’s success is largely determined by those behind the set. Plans begin rolling as early as the summer prior, ensuring that by February, everything falls into place.
Promotions are first in line, dictating the fundraiser’s composition based on expected budget outcomes. With a nonexistent event budget, WKNC heavily relies on funding from local patrons.
“It’s reaching out to potential sponsors, sending lots of emails, meeting people, shaking hands … trying to find who can support WKNC,” said Julie Smitka, promotions director and a junior studying physics, mathematics and philosophy. “Promotions is in charge of getting most, if not all, of the funding to make the event happen.”
After a clearer outlook on budget is identified, the staff begins pulling together the rest. Around October, the search for bands begins and decisions regarding venues have to be made.
“We look for the headliners first, because they’re going to be the hardest to find,” said Yvonne Chazal, program director and a senior studying mathematics. “From there you fill in. We try to stay with local bands; most of them know about WKNC. [The station] is a very important part of the local music scene.”
Another key factor in the success of Double Barrel is that the artists are open to play for a very low cost, according to Brown.
“The artists are just so awesome,” Brown said. “They are either performing at a super discounted rate, or for free in some cases, to help out the station, and we’re super thankful about all of that.”
Brown said only a few Board of Directors at WKNC know which artists are considered for Double Barrel during the planning process. Brown said this year, they mostly knew which artists would be performing by mid-November, and Dec. 16 they officially made the announcement. Brown explained that once they formed the lineup, they wanted to announce it before winter break.
“Knowing the bands stays under pretty close wraps,” Brown said “The announcement is pretty much an announcement for most folks, including people at the station.”
Reserving venues is a simultaneous process, dependent on the establishments’ availability and space constraints, as well the artists’ limitations.
“It’s kind of a weird balancing act because you have to keep in contact with both the venue and the bands,” Chazal said. “You can’t put a solid hold on the venue until you have a band, but you also can’t pull in a band if you don’t have a place for them to play.”
The past few years have been somewhat of an experiment concerning venues. The Pour House, Lincoln Theater and Kings Barcade have all been locations in the past, and they are some of Raleigh’s best-known music hotspots for local bands. Two years ago marked the first time the event moved out of Raleigh, featuring one night at Cat’s Cradle in Carrboro. Though WKNC was apprehensive about listeners’ reactions, it proved to be a good move.
“It ended up working out,” Chazal said. “Moving to a larger venue expanded Double Barrel’s horizons, and we’ve been trying to match that every year since then.”
Cat’s Cradle will again be hosting the final night, this year with a combination of hip-hop and electronic acts, headlined by Deniro Farrar, Professor Toon, SkyBlew and Earthly.
This is the first time the event has singled out a night reserved for a genre dissimilar from its typical indie rock lineup. Though the station’s primary focus is on indie rock, they are by no means strangers to other genres. The new night was a welcome change, opening the event to a broader audience.
“The main idea was just giving more representation to the other types of music we play,” Smitka said. “We knew from the get-go that we wanted to do at least one night of Double Barrel not indie rock … our staff, for the most part, was most excited about doing a hip-hop night.”
The Double Barrel Benefit is still evolving, and changes and experimentation with the fundraiser are only to be expected. Guided by the efforts of those at WKNC as well as by an appreciation and passion for local music, the fundraiser’s future looks all the more promising.
“It’s all worth it,” Smitka said.
Brown said he is excited for what’s in store at Cat’s Cradle for the second night of Double Barrel, especially after selling out at the first night.
“Selling out was absolutely awesome, we made our goal for night one, which is fantastic,” Brown said. “Now we just got to come back and get night two.”
Aimée Argote, lead vocalist for Des Ark, sings during the Double Barrel Benefit for WKNC. The event, which raised money for the college radio station, was hosted at Kings Barcade in downtown Raleigh last Saturday.
