With a busy schedule of new concerts this year such as the Hear Here Compilation shows and the new Fridays on the Lawn Series, WKNC was unsure that it’s now three year old shack would stand again in the Brickyard for Habitat for Humanity’s yearly Shack-a-thon. However, after combating a plethora of disgusting (and probably undiscovered) spiders who had taken up residence in the structure as it sat in DJ Mystery Roach’s backyard, WKNC’s leading team of engineers (consisting of three humanities majors and two actual engineers) managed to bring the beloved Shack back to N.C. State (in quite a few pieces).

Here are some of the pictures of the building process:

The actual brains behind the operation: John and Austin direct the reconstruction of the shack

Taking A Break Before The Actual Assembly

She lives!

The conception of the shack’s design and actual construction came from, NC State graduate student and WKNC engineer, John Jernigan. The shack itself is constructed to look like a giant boom box, complete with it’s own retractable cassesst door that opens automatically when you hit a built in eject button. One of the new and most popular features this year for the shack, however, was the addition of a roof. As I had experienced last year, Shack-a-thon always seems to conjure up the monsoon rain storms which can catch a very cold and tired deejay by surprise in the middle of the night. Needless to say, we were glad to have it when flash flood rains hit the Triangle late Tuesday night.

Although the shack building officially started for student organizations on Sunday, overnight participants weren’t required to spend the night in the shack until Monday. WKNC, however, was the exception. With a booming new set of trainees eager to jump into the fray, staff members manned the shack on Sunday night and have been alternating two hour shifts all week.

During the day, WKNC deejays asked (and sometimes begged) for donations to support the Habitat for Humanity cause. Donors received various KNC apparel like WKNC koozies, stickers, cds, and WKNC t-shirts. One of the new features this year was wireless live broadcasting from the Brickyard, which aired in the early hours of Wednesday morning.  Eye on the Triangle’s own Saja Hindi and myself walked the bricks to speak with the various organizations who were participating this year, including Men Against Rape, Caldwell Fellows, and Inter-residence Council.

Now with only two days left of Shack-a-thon, WKNC looks forward to the Shack-a-thon live music performance by local band, The Pneurotics. Show begins at 7 p.m. and is open to public. The Pneurotics will be performing right next to WKNC shack and will hopefully be giving a live wireless broadcast interview to yours truly, DJ Special K, before the show.

Click here to listen streaming live

As finals rapidly approach, and “Dead Week” proves to be much more lively with work, students are in need of some R&R before hitting the books. Luckily, Earth Day seems to offer some salvation. Starting at 6pm on this Friday (April 24th), Annuals, Lonnie Walker, and Cougar Magnum will be rocking Lee Field (located behind Sullivan and Lee residence halls) to raise awareness for Earth Day.

Annuals

Doors open at 5 p.m. and the show is scheduled to last until 11 p.m. This event is only open to N.C. State students and their guests (one guest per student and guests must have a valid student ID). While you wait for the show to start, be sure to check out the WKNC table which will be showcasing awesome merch such as Double Barrel Benefit 6 shirts, WKNC logoed shirts, koozies, and buttons.

For more information about Earth Day, check out the Web site. Also be sure to stop by the Energy Fair which will take place on NC State’s Brickyard- Wednesday April 22nd. More than 60 vendors will be taking part in NC State’s 2009 Earth Day which will feature the EcoCAR Challenge and the FREEDM Center’s hybrid car.