Published: June 28, 2008 09:28 pm         

Valley Idol voting wraps up Monday

Some contestants using networking Web sites to get votes

TERRE HAUTE — Tanner Laughlin plans to audition for American Idol, but how he does that is up to Wabash Valley residents.

Laughlin, 19, of Paris, Ill., is one of the 35 contestants vying to be named the first Wabash Valley Idol. B102.7 FM will give the Wabash Valley Idol $500 and an expense-spaid trip to the Louisville American Idol audition site.

“Singing is just where my heart is,” Laughlin said. “And before making the big move to Nashville and trying to make it down there, I thought I would give the American Idol run first, and this is kind of a way to get my feet wet.”

Online voting for Wabash Valley Idol ends Monday at midnight. B102.7 morning and afternoon show hosts Adam Michaels and Julie Henricks will contact the 10 contestant with the most votes live on the air starting at 9 a.m. Tuesday.

Those contestants will go on to perform at the 79th Annual Vigo County Fair at 7 p.m. July 9. Tickets are $5 and go on sale two hours before the show.

After performing one song each, three judges will narrow the field again to three contestants. The three remaining contestants will perform again and the audience will select the winner with a ScanTron vote.

Though Laughlin sang “Three Wooden Crosses” by Randy Travis for his audition, he said he’s not sure what he’ll sing if he makes it to the fair. He knows it will be a country song.

“I’m starting to get there a little bit, not too bad though,” Laughlin said about his nerves as this round winds down.

Laughlin has turned to a popular social-networking Web site facebook.com to better his chances. He is one of six other contestants who has a group page devoted to gaining votes for the contest.

Having the page helps the friends he hasn’t been in contact with since college know what he’s doing, he said. “It’s a way to get the younger crowd’s vote, I guess,” Laughlin said.

Still, he can only hope the more than 160 group members have cast their votes and told others to do the same. He said he also sent e-mails out to his co-workers and family members.

“The Internet’s been a big help,” Laughlin said about getting the word out. “You don’t want to just call everybody, it’s a good way to reach a whole mass of people with just one shot.”

He and the other contestants must be reaching someone because at least 20,000 votes have been cast, according to Doug Edge, general manager of B102.7 FM’s parent company Crossroad Communications.

“It’s pretty amazing,” he said. “We were just totally not prepared for as many votes as we were getting.”

Edge said their Web site, www.b1027fm.com, received as much traffic in the first four days of the videos’ postings as it does in a month. While they thought traffic would slow down eventually, he said it’s remained consistent with hundreds of votes coming each day.

He’s not sure what to expect in the last few days, but said the station has been trying to prepare.

“We’ve tried to open up as much bandwidth as we can to take as many votes as we can in the last couple of days,” Edge said, “and we’ll be able to handle it all, so every vote’s going to count.”



Crystal Garcia can be reached at (812) 231-4271 or crystal.garcia@tribstar.com.