With the most recent shooting at Fort Hood, Texas and the shooting in Orlando, Florida, this week’s Eye on the Triangle focused on emergency preparedness, with an online exclusive from one woman who was at Virginia Tech during the 2007 shootings. In Hear This, we reviewed some of the Troika Music Festival, and in Community Canvas, we brought you coverage from First Friday.  And we brought you our weekly Wolfpacker of the Week and Soundbytes segments.

NEWS:
As always, our news team duo brought you news from around the Triangle and the nation in our weekly news segment.

Information for the newscast was taken from the following articles:
Wake County temporarily closes H1N1 vaccine clinics
No rest for the weary as rest areas close
All Campus Card to receive update, consolidation
Dow hits 2009 high
Supreme Court won’t stop Muhammad execution
Iran accuses U.S. hikers of espionage
Berlin remembers fall of the wall
N.C. native credited with stopping Fort Hood shooter
Obama presses Senate to pass its health bill

To hear the full newscast:

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SPORTS:
Our weekly Wolfpack football update from our sports aficionados Derek Medline and Tyler Everett:

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VIP:
When the shootings at Viriginia Tech occurred, everyone was glued to their TV and computer screens, listening  for and reading updates on the statuses of the victims, on the shooter and his motives and on the university’s response. It was a shooting that took place only on that campus, but it hit close to home for many because it could happen to anybody. A similar phenomenon occurred with the most recent shootings at Fort Hood, Texas and Orland, Florida. Though they were not on the same scale, the situation in each incident was similar — something triggered one man to go off on a shooting spree, unexpectedly, injuring and killing numerous people. And though these tragic incidents cannot be predicted, at least on college campuses, set emergency plans and alert systems can save many lives. Eye on the Triangle’s VIP this week focused on emergency preparedness. Promotions Director Kieran Moreira sat down with Association Vice Chancellor for Environmental Health and Public Safety David Rainer to talk about N.C. State’s emergency alert systems, and we’re bringing you an online exclusive interview with Eileen Coombes who was at Viriginia Tech during the 2007 shootings.

For the full VIP segment:

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and our exclusive: 

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HEAR THIS:
In Hear This, Mike Alston gave you a look at the band, Lud, that played at the Troika Music Festival in Durham.

Listen to the full segment: 

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COMMUNITY CANVAS:
Mike also went to First Friday in downtown Raleigh and interviewed people at the art exhibits to see how they felt about the various art venues and more.  DJ Ones tells us this is our “most hilarious” Community Canvas segment yet.
Be sure to check it out:

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WOLFPACKER OF THE WEEK:
Jacob Downey sat down with our Wolfpacker of the Week this week, Mindy Sopher. Sopher, an academic adviser and lecturer in communication, who is a favorite among the student body:

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SOUNDBYTES:
Our Soundbytes question of the week was about the new law to take effect Dec. 1, banning texting while driving. Matt Moore went around campus and asked students if they do it and what they think of the law.

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E-mail us with thoughts, suggestions and complaints to publicaffairs@wknc.org!

The economic recession is definitely still on people’s minds, especially graduating students. But what about students who wanted to go into a sector that already had a reputation for not providing the best-paying job market out there — the nonprofit sector to be exact? We tried to answer some of those questions for you in our VIP segment. In Hear This, we brought you a special interview about a highly-anticipated music festival that will be host to so many bands, it’s literally impossible to go to hear all of them in the three days of performances. And in our Wolfpacker of the Week, we literally bring you “news from the Brickyard to your backyard,” where  a student explains his group’s attempt at raising money from all different kinds of avenues for a memorial of the beloved late women’s basketball coach Kay Yow.

NEWS:
This week, Evan and I gave listeners the weekly news update. Our news anchor Jack Boyer was out of town (and it was his birthday!) Monday, so he took the night off. But no worries, the news duo will be back in action together again next week.

Information for the newscast was taken from the following articles:
Obama warns Karzai to focus on tackling corruption
U.S. backs Israel on preconditions
The Hague judges adjourn Karadzic trial to review boycott
Majority in N.C. favors public option
N.C. State students engineer electric car to inspire, win

To hear the full newscast:

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SPORTS:
Our weekly Wolfpack football update from our sports afficionados Tyler Everrett and Sean Klemm:

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For more on stats referenced, check out this story.

VIP:
This week’s VIP focused on the nonprofit sector during an economic recession and what students looking to go into that sector after graduation should keep in mind. Jacob spoke to Kelly Beck from 1304 Bikes, a Raleigh-based 501(c)3 to talk about her organization’s activities since the Bike co-op was shut down in June.  And he also spoke to Woody Catoe from the University Career Center about counselors advice to students looking for jobs within nonprofit organizations.

You can find more information on the University’s Institute for Nonprofit Research, Education and Engagement Web site or on  the N.C. Center for Nonprofits Web site.

For the full VIP segment:

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HEAR THIS:
In honor of the Troika Music Festival Nov. 5 – 7, we produced an extended Hear This segment for you this week. Mike Alston sat down with Kyle Miller, co-owner of Churchkey Records in Durham, to discuss what attendees can expect this year. The music festival was first started in 2002 as a one-day Durham musicians’ festival, put on by the Durham Association for Downtown Arts, Inc, and has since expanded to a three-day music festival for all Triangle musicians. Make sure the check out the festival line up, featuring many different bands from Bowerbirds to Caltrop to the ExMonkeys and many more!

To hear Mike’s interview:

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WOLFPACKER OF THE WEEK:
And finally, I sat down with our Wolfpacker of the Week, Jeffrey Johnson. Johnson is Student Senate’s Athletics Commission Chair and talked to us about the fundraising campaign for the Coach Kay Yow Memorial.

Listen to the segment to find out more about it and how you can help:

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E-mail us with thoughts, suggestions and complaints to publicaffairs@wknc.org!

Student Media leaders are working on several projects that you don’t want to miss out on, so this week, the Eye on the Triangle team interviewed the leaders spearheading some of these projects to give you a look at what’s ahead.

NEWS:
Jack Boyer and Evan Garris gave listeners the week’s news:

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SPORTS:
Derek Medlin and John Cooper Elias talked briefly about the football team, the basketball team and more in Wolfpack sports:

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VIP:
In this week’s VIP, we talked to former Agromeck Editor John Cooper Elias (who also leads yearbook workshops) and current Agromeck Editor Bryant Robbins about why yearbook sales are facing a downward trend and what makes yearbooks still important in this information age. Two articles were cited in the interview about national yearbook trends, one from The Economist and one from The New York Times.

To bring the issue back to home, Matt Moore went around campus and asked students if they saw the important of the yearbook, which you can listen to in the segment.

We also discussed briefly the declining trend in all print media publications, the topic of Tuesday’s “Focused” section of Technician, titled “Is print dying?”

For more on the Agromeck, you can add Agromeck Man on Facebook.com or follow @Agromeck on Twitter.com, and you can also follow Technician @ncsutechnician.

For the full segment:

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COMMUNITY CANVAS:
This week’s Community Canvas was extended to give listeners a behind-the-scenes look of WKNC’s Halloween broadcast from 7 – 8 p.m., an adaptation of War of the Worlds. Damian Maddalena, who will join the rest of the newly formed radio acting troupe, The Two Cabbage Radio Players, for a performance of “War Of The Worlds.”

From Technician: “Based off of H.G. Wells’ novel, the radio play imagines an alien invasion taking over New York, interrupting a broadcast in the process. Damian Maddelena, graduate student in forestry and environmental resources, first had the idea to produce the show about a year ago. He saw a live broadcast that a Los Angeles traveling troupe performed on campus, and it triggered the idea.” Check out Thursday’s Arts & Entertainment section of Technician for the full story.

Listen to Mike’s interview with Maddelena to hear more:

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WOLFPACKER OF THE WEEK:
This week, I sat down with our student of the week, Andrew Tucker. Tucker, a senior in political science, talked about his new hobby, mixed martial arts and the training he now goes through daily for his fights. He also discussed his involvement with the re-established fraternity on campus, Kappa Alpha, after a five-year hiatus:

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SOUNDBYTES:
This week’s Soundbytes asked students what their favorite part of the N.C. State Fair 2009 was. As expected, most answers surrounded fried foods:

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Be sure to listen to next week’s show — VIP will focus on non-profit organizations, and we’ll also be giving you an update on former chancellor James Oblinger’s hiring situation.

Last week’s EOT covered a variety of topics, including the latest hazing incident, which has gotten the fraternity Zeta Psi suspended from N.C. State. If you missed last week’s episode, as always, the segment podcasts are available to listen below.

NEWS:
This week’s news segment covered a variety of topics from local and national news. However, during the show, we received confirmation on Chancellor James Woodward’s firing of the Alumni Association Director Lennie Barton. For more on that story, click here.

And, as promised, a list of student fees that the Fee Review Committee passed are listed here. EOT will be featuring an episode soon on the Rally 4 Talley campaign, so stay tuned.

For the full news segment:

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SPORTS:
As promised, EOT’s new sports segment is up and running. This past week, Technician senior staff writer Sean Klemm and Deputy Sports Editor Tyler Everett gave us analysis of the Duke game and what fans should expect for the rest of the season. For the full sports segment:

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VIP:
For VIP, I talked to Greek Life Director John Mountz and Inter-Fraternity Council President Benton Sawrey about the programs Greek Life has to offer, the benefits of the organization but also the consequences fraternities and sororities like Zeta Psi face when they break the rules and are reported for actions of misconduct, like hazing. Mountz discussed what types of signs students should look out for, and who generally reports the incidents. The alleged hazing incident Zeta Psi was accused of, included having pledges play paintball naked, and while one pledge was reported to have a seizure, it is rumored that he was hosed off before the ambulance arrived, so that no one would know what had happened. Some departments of Greek Life at other universities like that of UNC-Chapel Hill want to encourage reporting such behavior and have anonymous reporting methods, so students aren’t afraid of facing consequences from their peers. For the full VIP segment:

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HEAR THIS:
Kelly Reid gave us a preview of songs from the 2009 albums of of Greensboro-based band Bronzed Chorus and Durham-based band Luego. For the full Hear This segment: 

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WOLFPACKER OF THE WEEK:
Jacob Downey sat down with this week’s Wolfpacker of the Week, Matt Robbins, an alumnus who is determined to get real bells in the N.C. State Bell Tower. For the full WOW segment:

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Part two of EOT’s football series aired this past Monday, as we gave fans some more football-related content to listen to in VIP. But you don’t have to be a football enthusiast to enjoy any of the show’s segments this week.

VIP
After you got a brief rundown of the latest news from Eye on the Triangle, we kicked the show off with two great, short monologues. I sat down with two N.C. State fans — one is a student who doesn’t particularly enjoy football games but sometimes attends tailgates for the social atmosphere and one is an alumnus who is such a sports devotee, he now is interning at the Wolfpack Club. If you haven’t heard their anecdotes yet, you definitely should:

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The EOT team would also like to hear YOUR stories. Do you enjoy N.C. State football games and/or the atmosphere? Why or why not? Do you have a great story about how you became a fan, or maybe a story proving your loyalty to the team and the sport? Send it to us at publicaffairs@wknc.org and we may read it live on the next show!

The second part of our VIP segment last week included football analysis from Derek Medlin, an alumnus who works for Pack Pride Magazine, as well as interviews that both Derek and I conducted at a football practice last week. Derek will also be giving listeners a brief take on Wolfpack sports along with others from EOT’s sports experts panel every show. You can listen to this week’s analysis and interview clips here:

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HEAR THIS
This week’s Hear This consisted of the EOT team giving listeners a look into local history within WKNC’s own library. Mike Alston gave a brief history and clip from the Backsliders, which broke up in 1999; Jacob Downey — the Boy Wonder Jinx, which broke up in 1998; and Rachel Sloane — Ladderback, which broke up in 2002. For more, listen to the segment here:

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COMMUNITY CANVAS
Mike sat down with photojournalist Jason Arthurs who graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2003 with a degree in journalism to hear about his work. Arthurs now works as a freelancer and produces both print photography and video content. The video below for WKNC’s Hear Here Compilation is produced by Arthurs, as well as a photo gallery you can access here.

Listen to Mike’s full interview with Arthurs:

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WOLFPACKER OF THE WEEK
This week’s student of the week was Liz Walters, a senior in graphic design and representative of Campus Arts Council and Arts N.C. State. Listen to Walters talk about her experiences here:

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And as always, if you have show topic ideas, questions about anything, comments, suggestions or complaints, e-mail us at publicaffairs@wknc.org, and tune in next Monday from 7 – 8 p.m. You can also now subscribe to an entire podcast of the show if you don’t want to listen to each segment individually, so don’t forget to check that out.

I’m no football expert — far from it, actually — but even I recognize that the Wolfpack’s performance this season is something to watch for.

With football coach Tom O’Brien in his third year, expectations surrounding State football are high. With his own talented players coming into form, Wolfpack fans are expecting the continuation of a big season. And with O’Brien’s best start in his N.C. State tenure — 3-2 — things are looking up this season.

But there’s more to N.C. State football games than the actual games — any fan can tell you that. So, the Eye on the Triangle team decided to cover some of the different aspects of football games and changes surrounding games. We had to split this info up in two shows, so this week’s episode was the first in a two-part series.

VIP:
There’s a lot of planning that goes into football games — an event that attracts more than 60,000 people. Athletics works in collaboration with Campus Police, Raleigh Police, Raleigh EMS among other groups to make sure games go as planned. This planning, without a doubt, includes preparations for tailgating — the gameday experience before the game. I interviewed Campus Police Chief Tom Younce and Capt. Jon Barnwell about some of the preparations, which you can listen to here:

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Web Exclusive: Younce and Barnwell also spoke to us about some things fans can do to help Campus Police make sure the gameday atmosphere is safe for everyone. “What happens really reflects on North Carolina State University, so we spend a tremendous amount of time working and planning for football,” Younce said.

Some tips:
– Continue coming into the stands early (Younce: The stands are almost full by kickoff now, which has helped. Last year, the hope was that the stadium would be filled by the end of the first quarter).
– No on field celebrations (Barnwell: “We have zero tolerance with any celebration on the field and it’s important to reiterate the fact with that zero tolerance means physical arrest for those people trying or attempting to come on the field.”)
– Being respectful of each other (Barnwell: Understanding it is a family-oriented affair, families spend a lot of money to go to games)
– Drinking responsibly (Younce: “And you need to look out for each other.”)

Younce said responsible behavior from fans led to the University’s agreeing to extend tailgating hours from four to five — which brings us to the second half of this segment.

Restrictions to tailgating and hours have been a topic of much debate in recent history due to a shooting that occurred at a tailgate in a lot off Trinity Rd. in 2004. Alumni Tyler Dukes and Kenneth Ball talked to me for EOT’s VIP about how they tailgate and why it’s important to them. Both Dukes and Ball worked for Technician when the shootings happened and tailgating hours were restricted, which they talked about as well:

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COMMUNITY CANVAS:
Mike Alston let listeners revisit an interview with Ryan Cummings, artist of the Hear Here compilation CD cover, in anticipation of Saturday night’s Hear Here finale show at the Pour House: 

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HEAR THIS:
Kelly Reid gives listeners a review of Starmount’s debut album Tyranny of the Sphere, with an Oct. 27 CD release, as well as Birds of Avalon’s Uncanny Valley. She also gives listeners information about Dan Deacon’s show Oct. 1 at the Cat’s Cradle. Listen here:

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WOLFPACKER OF THE WEEK:
This week’s Wolfpacker of the Week, Katy “Red” Walls from the N.C. State Women’s Rugby team sat down with Jacob Downing to talk about her involvement with the team, obstacles she’s faced and what led her to join the team:

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Web Exclusive: Jacob Downey also sat down with Bobbie McQuown, the president of the Student Chapter of the American Animal Hospital Association, to discuss Saturday, October 3rd’s Dog Olympics. The N.C. State Vet School is giving you the chance to show your neighbors that your four-legged canine extraordinaire deserves to be counted amongst the best of the best by hosting the 18^th Annual Dog Olympics. The event at Raleigh’s Moore Square is open to all dogs of all shapes, size and pedigree to compete in a wider array of competitions from the classic doggie high jump and grueling doggie limbo to more modern events from the extreme circuit like the wiener toss and the best howl. Listen here:

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SOUNDBYTES:
Caitlin Cauley interviewed students around campus about the Rally 4 Talley Campaign, a campaign to increase awareness of the University’s intent to build a new student center and new atrium on campus and encourage students to vote in favor of a fee increase ($83 next year and $240 for the following 30 years) in the student fee referendums Monday, to support this project. Listen to what students had to say:

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Don’t forget to tune in next week for more on the football team and game day, as well as more on local arts, local music and N.C. State student highlights!

Sunday, October 4th kicks off the first day of the Future of Music Coalition Policy Summit in Washington, DC and WKNC will be there.  Mike Perros, better known as Mikey P,  and myself, Kelly Reid, known on air as Mz. Kelly, will be attending the Policy Summit, in search of the future.

Pun aside, there is relevance—the music industry has been going through a serious transformation as technology changes the way music is heard, enjoyed, received, bought, and participated in.  Right now there is a big gap between the fast paced advancement of technology and the transformation of the laws that direct the way the technology is used with respect to music and its listeners.  Technology advances with lightning speed but the law, and how it is interpreted in the courts, moves with a much, much slower pace.  There lies the need for The Future of Music Coalition, an organization that participates in the intersection of music and law, serving to inform and through information, provide a bridge to the gap of music and law.

Why does any of this matter?  Well because it affects music in so many ways:  the way musicians are represented, the way they are payed for their music, the way radio stations like WKNC operate, how music is heard in restaurants or at live shows, it even affects the ability to get a full list of search results when one uses Google.

For ones like Mikey P and myself, deeply in love with music and not quite sure of the future of the music industry, the 2009 Policy Summit is an opportunity to hear many important and experienced individuals give their take on what’s happening now and what the forecast for the future is.

Featured speakers include Democratic Senator of Minnesota, Al Franken, and FCC Chairman, Julius Genachowski. And of course, the Triangle is strongly represented featuring Jed Carlson, COO of ReverbNation, Mac McCaughan, co-founder of Merge Records and musician in Portastatic and Superchunk, as well as Fiona Morgan, journalist for the Independent.

To follow the trek to, through, and back from the Policy Summit you can follow Kellyisthere on Twitter.

Since President Barack Obama’s election into office, health care reform has been a topic of heated debate among Democrats and Republicans. So this week’s Eye on the Triangle focused on this issue in several of our segments, giving both the Democratic and Republican perspective, as well as opinions from around the University and opinions from locals. If you missed the show, you can listen to the clips below, and you can also get more information on our interviewees and topics here. And if you are tired of hearing about the health care debate (though our segments are unique and a must-hear!), be sure to at least check out our Wolfpacker of the Week segment.

VIP:
Thanks to some of our friends’ connections in the political scene, Eye on the Triangle’s Adam Compton and Saja Hindi spoke to U.S. Congressman David Price (D), serving N.C. district 4, and the spokesman for the North Carolina Republican Party Jordan Shaw by phone about each of the party’s stances on the proposed health care reforms.

N.C. GOP Chairman Tom Fetzer was scheduled to do an interview but canceled at the last minute due to a pending knee surgery.

You can watch a N.C. GOP video here on criticisms of the proposed reforms. You can also read a response from the N.C. Democratic Party on the president’s health insurance reform speech here.

Associate Professor of Public and International Affairs Steven Greene also gave his Eye on the Triangle his own analysis of the health care debate, a topic he has been discussing in his classes this semester. You can listen to the full segment from the show here:

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We also replayed Soundbytes from Sept. 7’s EOT about students’ opinions on health care reform, which you can access here.

COMMUNITY CANVAS
EOT’s Kelly Reid talked to local musician and licensed insurance holder Alex Maiolo about his role in leading HINT, Health Insurance Navigational Tool, which is part of the Future of Music Coalition, where according to Maiolo, “policy and law and music all sort of intersect — that’s where we are. Things that happen on Capitol Hill that affect musicians, that’s what we’re interested in.” Maiolo said his focus is on the health care crisis in the musicians’ community. To hear more about HINT, listen to what Maiolo told EOT:

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HEAR THIS
This segment was not free of a health care reform spin either. EOT’s Jacob Downey interviewed Mike McDonald, organizer of the Tom Cushman benefit concert scheduled for Sept. 27, from 3 p.m. to about 2 a.m. at White Collar Crime . Cushman, a local musician and veteran of the first Gulf War, was hospitalized for pneumonia a few months ago,  two weeks later hospitalized again due to lung failure and was admitted once again to the hospital last week. Eleven bands will be playing at the benefit concert to raise money for Cushman, who doesn’t have health insurance, to pay his bills. Read the Indy’s article for more.

The song clips played in between segments of the show all came from songs from bands playing at the concert.

You can listen to Jacob’s interview here:

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WOLFPACKER OF THE WEEK

Wolfpacker of the Week, 2005 alumnus in English Language, Writing and Rhetoric Ben McNeely talked to us by phone about his new project, Modern Film Fest taking place Sept. 25 to 27. You can follow @modernfilmfest on Twitter for more information. Attached are some photos of the venue (courtesy Creative Commons, Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic) as well as the co-directors.

You can listen to Ben’s segment from the show here:

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Check back for updates about next week’s show. Send your ideas, comments, questions, suggestions and complaints to publicaffairs@wknc.org.

Monday’s episode of Eye on the Triangle focused on the Raleigh-Durham divide and how various people view the two cities, in addition to a couple of segments on SPARKcon, and more.

VIP:
In this week’s VIP segment, Adam Compton interviewed Durham Mayor Bill Bell and Caitlin Cauley spoke to Triangle residents Josef Komenda and Rachel Nabors. I also spoke with our resident Triangle expert, who many of you may remember as WKNC’s general manager last year, Kyle Robb, about the history of the two cities and what he thought about Caitlin and Adam’s interviews. To hear the full segment, listen here:

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HEAR THIS:
In Hear This, Kelly Reid gave listeners a sneak preview into the SPARKcon music lineup, which you can listen to here:

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For the full lineup of MusicSpark events, click here. To also listen to an interview Kelly conducted with Telekensis, check out this blog post.

COMMUNITY CANVAS:
In Community Canvas, Mike Alston gave listeners a look into SPARKcon arts, and interviewed Sarah Powers, who works with Visual Art Exchange, to talk about the call for artists at ArtSpark For more on ArtSpark, click here. To listen to the full segment of Community Canvas, listen here:

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WOLFPACKER OF THE WEEK:
Jacob Downey sat down with the student of the week, Scott Richardson, former membership president of the N.C. State Chapter of Toastmasters. Richardson discussed his involvement with the organization and the leadership opportunities it provided him with. Listen to the full monologue here:

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SOUNDBYTES:
Caitlin Cauley went around campus asking students what they thought about the University’s athletic program. Listen to what they had to say here:

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Send all your comments, suggestions and nominations for Wolfpacker of the Week to publicaffairs@wknc.org, and check out tomorrow’s blog post about next Monday’s show at 7 p.m.

It’s hard to believe 2009 is half over.

There have been tons of albums out in months one through six that our DJs have released over the airwaves, some of which resulted in countless requests and songs that got stuck in our heads for days on end. It’s hard to narrow them down, but a few of the WKNC music directors have made their picks for the top five albums of the year so far in their respective formats.

Local Music Director Adam Kincaid selected…

Bombadil's Tarpits and Canyonlands

1. Bombadil: Tarpits & Canyonlands
2. Colossus: Drunk On Blood
3. The Love Language: The Love Language
4. Lonnie Walker: These Times Old Times
5. Embarrassing Fruits: Community/Exploitation

With honorable mentions for…

Americans in France: Pretzelvania
Hammer No More The Fingers: Looking For Bruce

Disagree with Adam’s picks? Send him an email and let him know which albums you would have chosen.

Daytime Music Director Jenna St. Pierre selected…

Cotton Jones' Paranoid Cocoon

1. Cotton Jones: Paranoid Cocoon
2. Dirty Projectors: Bitte Orca
3. Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavillion
4. Harlem Shakes: Technicolor Health
5. Screaming Females: Power Move

With honorable mentions for:

Akron/Family: Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free
Phoenix: Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

Are there albums you think should have been on the list? Email Jenna to discuss.

Underground Music Director Damion Sledge chose…

Saigon and Statik Selektah's All In a Day's Work

Saigon and Statik Selektah: All in a Day’s Work

If you have Underground albums to add to the list, email Damion.

Stay tuned for the next six months of albums on WKNC, and we’ll see which ones come out on top in December!

Go ahead, pull out the wooden ruler and lay down a good whack across the top of my hands.  I’ve been a bad WKNC blogger.  If I was being graded on timeliness, there would be a big red “F” at the top of this blog, but, thankfully, you as a blog-reader & lover of WKNC would never employ such emotional damage like that of my former college professors, right?

And although this does not relate to the interview, I wanted to post this pic.  Jake Seaton over at Music.MyNC deilvers a wonderful tweet, twitter.com/jseaton, and this picture was in his feed recently.  Jake, I won’t ask why you weren’t blasting WKNC 88.1fm.  I will assume that  you must have been driving your car, nearing the US-Canadian border, out of our 25,000 watt listening area.

The Love Language, as heard and pictured by Jake Seaton

The Love Language in-studio interview, 5/8/09

Air Break, and intro

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Live, in-studio song: Providence, complete with a newly introduced flute solo

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Air break, talk of SXSW

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Live, in-studio song: Night Dogs

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Air break,

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Live, in-studio song: Manteo, great harmonizing vocals

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Air break, closing and talk of how to mail Stu a check

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:hearts and guitars:

Mz. Kelly, twitter.com/kellyisthere

On this wonderful afternoon, a few short hours after Love Language does their thing with Mz Kelly, The Local Beat (as usual, the abbreviated summer version ) will commence.

This week, right at 5:00, we’re having the Battle Rockets come in to talk about their show tonight at Slim’s Downtown.  Shortly thereafter (~5:30), our good friends Gray Young will come hang out, because they’re playing Slim’s tonight too (along with the Proclivities).

Battle Rockets, Gray Young, Proclivities Show Flyer 5/8

As you may recall, Gray Young graced us with their presence back on March 20th.  It was then that they proliferated the rumour that they’ll be opening for U2 this fall, so we’ll be giving them the polygraph test this evening.

And we may just have a pair of tickets to give away for that show tonight…

The Wolfpack will then be taking on Carolina in baseball at 6:30, which means we’ll be getting the boot.

Ever wonder what were the hottest new tracks of college radio or what the DJs were spinning at WKNC? Wonder no more! Here are the latest, freshest, and most off-the-chain albums of the week.

Hey Kids, Play This New Music

Gray Matter, Assistant Daytime Music Director

Red Red Meat – Bunny Gets Paid
A re-release of a classic album. One of the best examples of experimental folk/blues ever.

Mirah – (a)spera
Mirah is a particularly weird singer/songwriter type. I like this album quite a lot.

Infantree – Tree-p
More experimental folk, this much more twangy. One of the singers sounds like a bluegrass singer which I would normally hate, but I kind of like this band.

Bonnie Prince Billy – Beware
Sounds like Bonnie Prince Billy, if you don’t know what Bonnie Prince Billy sounds like, listen to some Bonnie Prince Billy.

Mi Ami – Watersports
Good weird [expletive]. Extreme falsetto vocals with drum and bass rhythms.

Soft Tags – Winchester Mansion, and Projectors
Soft Tags sent us their two older albums, neither quite as good as their newest, but they have some worth hearing tracks.

New Music, Local Music, most importantly: Awesome Music

Mick, Local Music Director

There is so much good new local music I can barely contain myself. I’m not eloquent in describing this stuff, so the best way to do this is to listen the stuff yourself. You won’t regret a single second of it.

Red Collar – “Pilgrim”
I mean, what do you want me to say? It’s Red Collar’s album, at long last. If you don’t know, then put it in your CD player right now.

Benji Hughes - “A Love Extreme”
Not the traditional local; he’s from Charlotte. Some dancy, some poppy, eclectic as a whole. This is a double album, and it’s awesome and hilarious all at once. Lots of short, catchy tunes that you’ll be singing along with after one listen. I don’t really know how to describe it other than this so play the [expletive]!

Nathan Oliver – “Cloud Animals”
Some great new indie-pop from Nathan Oliver. Better than his last, a bit harder, and certainly more interesting  (this review brought to you by Gray Matter).

Embarrassing Fruits – “Community / Exploitation”
Hot damn, I really think this may be the best CD I’ve received as local music director. This album is like a reincarnation of Pavement, with the same slacker rock approach plus constant complaining about a girl. Every track is awesome. Really, really awesome.

Joe Romeo & The Orange County Volunteers – self-titled
Some combination of folk rock, surf rock, and Americana. Really great, twangy tunes that are heartfelt and simply beautiful. This guy knows how to write music. Play it!

Whew. As always, there is more on the horizon. For now, check these out and keep rockin the local stuff.

So after a short blogging hiatus, I have returned with my fourth installment to the Local Music Picture Blog. My hiatus does not mean that I didn’t attend any shows, I was just having an allergic reaction to my computer… or something like that…which seems to be carrying over to this post, as the posting of pictures just does not want to work for me . But don’t worry, you can see all my pictures clicking on my name and then clicking on Pics.

But anyways, last Thursday, I went to The Brewery to rock out with The Pneurotics, Pink Flag, River City Ransom, and The Dry Heathens, and rocking out is exactly what went down.

The Pneurotics are an alt rock based out of Chapel Hill. Their 2008 release, Forty, is relaxed alt. rock which features a few slight folk music nuances. Most of the show, however, was performances of material that will be released on the yet to be named album they intend to release in the fall of 2009. The new material is solid, driving, guitar heavy rock’n roll, and I for one can not wait til fall to get my hands on the cd. The Pneurotics next show is The Johnny Cash Bash at The Pinhook. They will be paying tribute to Johnny Cash with The Tender Fruit, Gambling The Muse, and Bull City.

Pink Flag… where to start? Pink Flag is a three piece, all girl, pop punk /grunge rock extravaganza that is based out of Durham. Now I have to be honest here, the first time I listened to  Introducing Pink Flag & The Homewrekers, I was ify about it. But having seen Pink Flag live, I do have a new appreciation for the album. And anyone that thinks they are the stereotypical, all girl bands are bad or ok at best, type of outfit; go see them live and they will destroy your brain with awesome. All the girls can play and sing great, as shown when they switched out their instruments and vocal roles. Their next show will be tonight at the Relay For Life Benefit at Local 506 with I Was Totally Destroying It and Lake Inferior. Pink Flag will also be featured at WKNC & Tir Na Nog’s Local Beer, Local Band night on March 26th with Whatever Brains.

River City Ransom, third to take the stage, is a five man, pop group based in Raleigh. RCR’s performance was perhaps the most laid back of the night. The group’s Myspace claims the groups is Punk, but I think they are straight Indie Rock. We’ll have to wait and see what direction they choose to go in as the group as just recently added a few members. River City Ransom’s next showing will be at the Reservoir on March 23rd with The Dry Heathens and Dark Knights of Camelot.

The Dry Heathens were last on the night, and the Durham based, indie punk,  group showed up to kick ass as usual. This makes the third time I’ve seen them and I am pretty sure they get better each time. If you can not make it to their show on March 23rd, I suggest you make it to the second night of Viking Storm (the Hammer No More The Finger’s CD release celebration weekend) when they play with The Beast, Deleted Scenes, The Future Kings of Nowhere, and Hammer No More The Fingers. The show will be  freaking awesome  and worth every penny. And if you can’t make either of those shows I encourage you to listen to The Dry Heathens first releases, First Contact With Ground, because it is a truely great album.

Hopefully next week I will have pictures  in the picture blog, but in the mean time, don’t forget to check out The Rock Report and catch a great local show!