On Monday night, three former WKNC DJs got together for an Afterhours reunion show lasting from 6PM until 1AM. Pictured above from left to right are Rob Rousseau, Ben Thomas, and Steve Brown. For the past ten years, Ben and Steve have got together shortly before the beginning of the new year for the show. Rob participated in the set for the first time this year, although he has made guest appearances on past shows.

Ben and Steve getting a good laugh in from one of the more humorous Public Service Announcements aired between sets.

The Roots of Electronic Music on WKNC

Afterhours officially got its start as a nightly format in early 1997. It was named for the initial time it started, 12AM. Not long after it began, the show as well as the electronic dance music scene in general started to gain in popularity. It then moved to the 8PM to midnight slot, where it has been ever since. Prior to the beginning of Afterhours, electronic music on the station consisted of a few scattered shows here and there, mostly without a slot title. Rob called in to one of these shows, hosted by Dave Brock, and began his stint shortly thereafter in 1996.
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The decoration of the Governor’s Executive Mansion is completed each year in time for the Holiday Open House Tours (Dec 11-14). Unfortunately for most North Carolina residents, the tours were limited to the daylight hours and getting a glimpse of the decorations at night once lit are are limited to peering through the brick walls and cast iron fencing that surround the grounds. For a 1967 view before the fence went up, check out The Blount Street Saga in the Reminiscences of a Raleigh Boy series.

Dolly Sickles of WRAL provides some interesting facts of the Executive Mansion decorations in her blog entry:

Musical groups from across the state will provide festive music during the public tours this week, when more than 12,000 people will tour the mansion. The trees and wreaths are from Barr Evergreens in Crumpler, Sturgill Tree Farms in West Jefferson, and Bluff Mountain Nursery in Hot Springs. The poinsettias are from Homewood Nursery in Raleigh. All other greenery is from the Executive Mansion grounds. Each year, it takes approximately 15 volunteers four days to decorate the Executive Mansion for Christmas.

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Photographing Raleigh’s Fayetteville St. Christmas Decorations

Holiday decorations on Fayetteville Street, Christmas 1965

A few nights ago John Morris and I visited Fayetteville St. and were bedazzled by the glittering Christmas lights lining the street.

I reminisced with John about the annual Raleigh Christmas parade which was held at night back in the 1960s (rather than on Saturday morning as it is now). My family would all head downtown for that event, and while Mom went shopping, Dad took my brothers and me to watch the parade.

We always staked out the corner at the Olivia Raney Library and Capitol Square. From that vantage point we could enjoy the parade as it made  its way up Hillsboro St., passed in front of the library before heading around the Square and then down Fayetteville St.

Afterwards, we would walk down Fayetteville St. to meet up with Mom. I remember being awestruck by the shimmering spectacle of the thousands of colored Christmas lights.

I related to John how I attempted back in 1965 to photograph the view down Fayetteville St. of the Christmas decorations at night. I found, however, that to my dismay, trying to capture all the colored lights on film was beyond the scope of my Kodak Instamatic camera.

Ultimately, the photograph ended up among the shuffle of the hundreds of photos I cranked out with my Instamatic back then. I only just recently ran across it again after all these years.

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