8A • February 6, 2015 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com
JOSHUA BESSEX PHOTO
Hannah Garhofer walks in the evening wear competition for Miss contestants during the Miss Clatsop County Scholarship
pageant at the Seaside Convention Center Jan. 31.
JOSHUA BESSEX PHOTO
Alexis Mather is crowned Miss Clatsop County during the
Miss Clatsop County Scholarship pageant at the Seaside
Convention Center Jan. 31.
Top titles at Miss Clatsop County pageant
go to Alexis Mather and Hannah Garhofer
Scholarships awarded to
all contestants total $6,450
More than 500 people
watched as four local young
women took home pageant
titles at the Miss Clatsop
County Scholarship Program
Jan. 31 at the Seaside Civ-
ic and Convention Center,
advancing them to the state
competition in June.
Alexis Mather, 19, of As-
toria, swept the awards in
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evening wear on her way to
being named Miss Clatsop
County 2015, as well as re-
ceiving the Service Above
Self Award for Miss contes-
tants. She walked away with
$1,525 in scholarships. Her
platform was mentoring, and
she performed an operatic vo-
cal to “Nessun Dorma” from
Giacomo Puccini’s opera
“Turandot.” Mather is a grad-
uate of Astoria High School
and attends Clatsop Commu-
nity College. She was also
Miss Clatsop County in 2013.
Crowned Miss North
Coast 2015 was 18-year-old
Hannah Garhofer, of Sea-
side. Garhofer’s platform is
celiac disease awareness; she
performed an energetic tap
dance routine to “Blame it
on the Boogie” by Michael
Jackson. She also split the
Platform Presentation Speech
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Abi Anderson, 20, of Seaside,
who received $575 in schol-
arships.
Garhofer is a senior at
Seaside High School and re-
ceived $1,075 in scholarships.
She was Miss Clatsop Coun-
ty’s Outstanding Teen 2013.
Both Mather and Garhofer
can also take advantage of
Oregon Institute of Technol-
ogy’s offer of a $2,000 a year
scholarship for four years,
JOSHUA BESSEX PHOTO
JOSHUA BESSEX PHOTO
Hayliehe Bell, Seaside, reacts after being named Miss North
Coast’s Oustanding Teen.
Miss Oregon 2014 Rebecca Anderson sings “Let it Go” with
the prince and princesses during the Miss Clatsop County
Scholarship pageant.
JOSHUA BESSEX PHOTO
JOSHUA BESSEX PHOTO
Anna Kaim strikes a pose
following her tap dance
routine.
which was made possible by
the school in part to extend
STEM (science, technology,
engineering and mathemat-
ics) educational opportunities
to the women in the county.
Winning the Miss Clatsop
County’s Outstanding Teen
2015 title was 13-year-old
Libby Olsen, a seventh-grad-
er at Broadway Middle
School. Olsen will receive
JOSHUA BESSEX PHOTO
Abi Anderson sings “Good Girl” by Christina Aguilera during
the Miss Clatsop County Scholarship pageant.
$625 after winning the over-
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evening wear competitions.
Olsen did a jazz-acro dance
to “My Name in Lights.” Her
platform was supporting lo-
cal animal shelters. Olsen is
the youngest contestant to be
named Miss Clatsop Coun-
ty’s Outstanding Teen since
the pageant began in 2004.
Hayliehe Bell, 16, of Sea-
side, won the Teen Interview
Competition as well as being
named Miss North Coast’s
Outstanding Teen. She sang
Carrie Underwood’s country
hit “Jesus Take the Wheel”;
her platform is “Sing to
Feed.” Bell is a junior at Sea-
side High School. She also
won the Teen Community
Service Award, bringing her
scholarship total to $625.
The teen wins qualify both
girls to pursue the title of Miss
Sandy Newman, director
of the Miss Clatsop County
Scholarship program, takes
a moment by the curtains
during the Miss Clatsop
County Scholarship pageant.
After more than 15 years of
being involved in the pro-
gram, this was Newman’s last
Miss Clatsop County Scholar-
ship pageant.
Oregon’s Outstanding Teen,
as well as receiving $500
scholarship from the Oregon
Institute of Technology.
Runner-up in the teen di-
vision was 16-year-old Sea-
side High School junior Anna
Kaim, who will receive a
$275 scholarship.
Named Miss Congeni-
ality was Hannah Garhofer,
and Teen Congeniality was
Samantha Wozniak, of Gear-
hart.
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ceive $125 for their individu-
al scholarship funds, making
the total scholarships award-
ed Saturday night $6,450.
By random draw, 8-year-
old Halle Moore, of Warren-
ton, was selected Miss Clat-
sop County’s Princess, and
8-year-old Amara Ames, of
Warrenton, was named Miss
North Coast’s Princess. Each
will accompany their respec-
tive Miss titleholders on stage
at Miss Oregon and at several
events throughout the year.
Also on stage Jan. 31
were outgoing 2014 titlehold-
ers, Jessica Humble, Haylie
Moon and Olivia Colburn
and Miss Oregon 2014 Re-
becca Anderson. Co-emcees
for the evening were Miss
Oregon 2007 Kari Virding
Christianson and her hus-
band, Eric.
The Miss Clatsop Coun-
ty Scholarship Program is
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Miss Oregon and Miss Amer-
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corporation established to
provide contestants with the
opportunity to enhance their
professional and education
goals, and to achieve those
pursuits with the assistance of
monetary grants and awards,
according to a press release.
The Miss Clatsop County
Scholarship Program is sup-
ported in part by corporate
sponsors Seaside Kiwanis,
Seaside Factory Outlet Mall,
Lazerquick, Restaurant De-
velopment Company of
America, Columbia Bank
and Les Schwab Tires.
For more information, vis-
it www.missclatsopcounty.
org
FINAL AWARDS 2015
MISS Clatsop County ($1,025):
Alexis Mather, Astoria
MISS North Coast ($1,025): Hannah
Garhofer, Seaside
RUNNER-UP Miss Division ($525): Abi
Anderson, Seaside
MISS Clatsop County’s Outstand-
ing Teen ($525): Libby Olsen,
Warrenton
MISS North Coast’s Outstanding
Teen ($525): Hayliehe Bell, Seaside
RUNNER-UP Teen Division ($275):
Anna Kaim, Seaside
PLATFORM Presentation Award ($50
each - TIE): Hannah Garhofer, Sea-
side, and Abi Anderson, Seaside
SERVICE Above Self Award (Miss)
($200): Alexis Mather, Astoria
SERVICE Above Self Award (Teen)
($50): Hayliehe Bell, Seaside
OVERALL Miss Interview Award
($100): Alexis Mather, Astoria
OVERALL Teen Interview Award
($50): Hayliehe Bell, Seaside
OVERALL Miss Talent Award ($100):
Alexis Mather, Astoria
OVERALL Teen Talent Award ($50):
Libby Olsen, Warrenton
OVERALL Miss Evening Gown
Award ($50): Alexis Mather,
Astoria
OVERALL Teen Evening Gown
Award ($25 each): Libby Olsen,
Warrenton
OVERALL Miss Lifestyle & Fitness
($50): Alexis Mather, Astoria
OVERALL Teen Lifestyle & Fitness
($25): Libby Olsen, Warrenton
ALL Non-Finalists ($125
each): Moira Ferry, Astoria, Kayla
Worwood, Astoria, Stacey Aho,
Knappa, Jessica Knehr, Warrenton,
Tennaya Carr, Seaside, Lindsay
Grant, Astoria, Bailee Neahring,
Warrenton, Emma Graham,
Astoria, Taryn Miller, Scappoose,
Audrey Colburn, Gearhart, Saman-
tha Wozniak, Gearhart, Nikkole
Sasso, Astoria
MISS Clatsop County’s Princess:
Halle Moore, Warrenton
MISS North Coast’s Princess: Ama-
ra Ames, Warrenton
MISS Congeniality for Miss contes-
tants: Hannah Garhofer, Seaside
MISS Congeniality for Teen
contestants: Samantha Wozniak,
Gearhart
TOTAL: $6450
Radio station’s new owner hopes to return to his roots
Radio from Page 1A
out and ended up here.”
In January, after closing the
deal on 94.9FM, Evans and his
wife relocated to Seaside, plan-
ning to take a more hands-on
approach.
“We are going to turn it back
into a community station,” Ev-
ans said. “We want to provide
newscasts during the day. We
want to include the communi-
ty on the air. We want to bring
people in.”
He also hoped to return
closer to his radio roots — fo-
cusing on music instead of
handling a small segment of a
conglomerate.
“Clear Channel has become
such a huge corporate compa-
ny it was hard to get anything
done,” said Evans. “It’s was
suffocating.”
Running the newly dubbed
94.9 FM, KBGE, “The
Bridge,” presents a different
obstacle.
“The biggest challenge we
have is to have people want to
take part and advertise on the
station,” said Evans. “That’s
100 percent of the income of
the station, and it is sometimes
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in advertising on the radio.”
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and broadcast studio in down-
town Seaside. It will remain in
the same location in the Gilbert
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above Toro Sushi.
“It will basically be a rock
station,” Evans said. “There are
different connotations of the
rock format. This one happens
to be a AAA station, which
means new rock, new art-
ists and classic rock cuts, too,
mixed in with that.”
Evans stressed that KBGE
would feature more contempo-
rary than classic rock and that
blocks of Led Zepplin (known
as “getting the Led out,” a sta-
ple of classic rock radio) would
be in short supply.
“I’ve gotten the Led out so
many times I’m Led-less,” Ev-
ans, said, laughing.
“But there’s a lot of new
stuff out there that really sounds
good,” he added. “The Steal is
a new band; they sound really
good. You’ve got Foster the
People and a number of new
artists that have really ener-
gized the music scene.”
“Right now my favorite
up and coming artist is Milky
Chance,” said Evans. “Nobody
knows who Milky Chance is,
but the record has been playing
over and over and over for the
last several months. They’re
a band out of Germany and
they’re really making a lot of
noise right now. ‘Stolen Dance’
is the name of the song, and
that’s one of the tracks we’ll be
ANDREW R. TONRY PHOTO
Mark Evans and his wife want to include the community on
the air of Seaside’s radio station, now known as KBGE, “The
Bridge.”
playing.”
In both music, presence and
community engagement, Ev-
ans and 94.9 FM face an estab-
lished, well-loved and formida-
ble presence in KMUN Coast
Community Radio.
He’s also running in the face
of growing trends like online
streaming.
“The thing with Spotify,
Pandora and all of those, it’s a
jukebox” Evans said. “You put
your mouse up and click it and
you listen and that’s it. You’re
listening to the music, but
there’s no interaction.”
“And a lot of times peo-
ple want somebody there,” he
added. “Even if they’re just
naming the songs or giving you
the time of day or the weather
forecast, people sometimes just
want a person there. It’s like
riding in a car with someone.”
Evans allows that reinvent-
ing and establishing KBGE’s
place in the community won’t
happen overnight.
“That can take years,” he
said.
Nonetheless, Evans sees
potential in the station that was
nearly left for dead.
“It was neglected,” he said
of 94.9 FM. “And we saw an
opportunity to maybe turn it
around and turn it into a fun
station again.
“Which is what it was,” Ev-
ans added. “Once upon a time.”