Raymond Baccari
Editor-in-Chief
90.7 WXIN’s annual Rock Hunt is set to take place throughout the month of April. WXIN holds its annual Rock Hunt event yearly, a tradition at Rhode Island College that dates back to the 1980s.
Rock Hunt is essentially a “battle of the bands” competition organized by WXIN. A total of 12 bands are hosted for this event and are split up over multiple nights of Rock Hunt.
“We host 12 bands, split up over the course of two preliminary nights of Rockhunt,” Bennett Whitcomb, general manager of WXIN, told The Anchor. “At the end of each night, the six bands that perform will be finalized to three from nights one and two. The third night is finals, where the final six will compete, with the night ending with the final three being crowned first, second and third place respectively.”
This year’s dates are scheduled to be Thursday, April 6, Thursday, April 13 and Thursday, April 20. All three nights of Rock Hunt will begin at 7 p.m. and take place in the Beestro on campus.
Students who wish to attend all three nights are encouraged to and can get in for free by showing their RIC ID upon arrival. Rock Hunt is also open to non-students, however, they will need to pay $5 upon entry.
A majority of the bands are local, with some being from Rhode Island and others coming from neighboring state Massachusetts.
These are the bands set to perform on night one of Rock Hunt:
Namè.
Hysteria.
And Rowing Club.
These are the bands set to perform for night two of Rock Hunt:
Plastic Peaches.
Sigmont.
And Electric Paisan.
The three winning bands also receive a cash prize. The band that places first will win $1,000, second place wins $700 and third place wins $300.
This year’s Rock Hunt will look a bit different for Whitcomb, who was in a different role at WXIN last year.
“This year does look and feel a bit different, mainly because I am now the President of WXIN,” Whitcomb said. “Last year, I was one of the five music directors for the R&B station; with my role being less in [the] form of leadership and more that of listening to my predecessors and executive board members of last year.”
The event’s planning and organizing is under the supervision of WXIN’s Vice President, Hannah Loiselle, and a Rock Hunt Committee.
WXIN are excited heading into this year’s Rock Hunt, with Whitcomb telling The Anchor, “A great amount of time and commitment have been put into the planning of this year's Rockhunt and I am so excited to see our local music scene attend and enjoy themselves! We have a great lineup this year and I look forward to working with these bands!”