UW-Stevens Point prepares for Trivia Five-0, the 50th year of the world's largest trivia contest
3/13/2019

​Celebrate 50 years of Trivia through UW-Stevens 
Point's WWSP 90FM April 12-14.

Entering its 50th year, the world's largest trivia contest will once again have teams "surfing" the web, "boogieing" around town and going "coconuts" for the right answer.

On the weekend of April 12-14, "Trivia Five-0" will bring thousands of participants together from around the world for 54 hours of trivia questions and music on University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point's student-run radio station, WWSP 90FM.

The trivia contest is fun for the community and a learning experience for 90FM's student staff members who support the work of long-time coordinator, Jim "The Oz" Oliva, who creates questions with John Eckendorf.

"Trivia season is an exciting time around 90FM," said station manager Eli Plunkett, a senior biology major from Crystal Lake, Ill. Production director Stephen Calgaro, a senior choral music education and philosophy major from Waukesha, Wis., added that being a staff member helped him see the contest's importance to the community and the staff members' need to make it a success.

"The annual contest is about making and renewing friendships," said Oliva. "Go into the contest with attainable goals – mainly to have a good time." Both writing the contest and winning it take time for research and lots of notetaking over the year in preparation. "There are new movies, new television shows, new music and just more of everything every day. I spend a lot of time looking for the strange and not obvious," he said.

The contest kicks off at 4 p.m. Friday, April 12, with a parade around the campus. Questions begin at 6 p.m. and continue until midnight Sunday, April 14. The radio station broadcasts eight trivia questions per hour, and teams have the length of two songs to call in with the correct answer to be awarded points.

The contest also includes two running questions for which teams must go out in the community to find the answer, three music questions for which sound bites from eight songs are played and participants must decipher the name of the song, and three trivia stone, scavenger-hunt like questions. The top teams win trophies and bragging rights.

To join the fun, teams must register in person and in advance at the 90FM Studios from 3-7 p.m. Monday -Thursday, April 8-11, and noon to 6 p.m. Friday, April 12. Registration is $40 per team, with proceeds supporting the general maintenance of WWSP 90FM and scholarships for 90FM staff members. Merchandise may also be purchased on-site at registration.

To register an out-of-town team or pre-order merchandise, go to www.90fmtrivia.org.

In addition, the university's new 125th anniversary yearbook, "Then, Now, Forever," will be available for purchase during the first day of Trivia registration. The yearbook is full of UW-Stevens Point history, photos and facts that will serve as a resource for trivia players.

This year's Trivia movie screens at midnight Friday, April 5, and at 10 a.m. and midnight on Saturday, April 6. The movie is for all ages and costs $3 at the door.

Also celebrating its 50th year, the nonprofit WWSP 90FM at UW-Stevens Point is the largest student-led radio station in the Midwest. To learn more or schedule interviews with Trivia coordinators and players, contact University Communications and Marketing at 715-346-3572, 346-2490 or ucm@uwsp.edu.

 


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