50 years of life changing television, UNC-TV

Tonight, someone in North Carolina will sit down in front of the television, pick up the remote, and with the press of a button be swept up into a fantastic world of knowledge, experience, and emotion that will change the way that person perceives the world. That person will be watching UNC-TV.

From arts and culture to history and science programming, along with a safe haven for children to learn and grow, UNC-TV brings the best that television has to offer into the homes of North Carolinians 24 hours a day, every day of the year. But it wasn’t always so. It all began with a vision campuses to examine the potential educational uses of television.

William C. 'Billy Carmichael, Jr.(L) and William Friday(R)

In May 1953, the University trustees approved the idea. Carmichael, Kyser and Friday toured the state and raised $1.8 million in cash and donated services from more than 20 companies, foundations and individuals. It was enough to build the station and provide some operating funds. The North Carolina General Assembly appropriated $217,000 for the new venture, beginning its long-term support of public television in North Carolina.

Initially, the station operated in three different locations, one on each campus. The Greensboro studio was a converted laundry facility. The studio at Chapel Hill was once a dining hall. Only the Raleigh studios were built to be a TV studio. All three locations fed programs to the station’s single transmitter and tower, which were located atop Terrell’s Mountain in Chatham Count. A donated Carolina Trailways bus was converted to serve as a remote unit, making it possible to cover events outside of the studios.

It is important to note here that the establishment of WUNC-TV would have been impossible without the generosity of Joseph Bryan, then President of Jefferson Standard Broadcasting. He planned to apply for the license for Channel 4 to extend Jefferson Standard’s presence into the Triangle. But when he learned the University was interested in acquiring Channel 4, he not only withdrew his request but turned all the paperwork connected with the application over to the University, saving thousands of dollars in research, engineering and legal fees.
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North Carolina People with William Friday

On May 8, 1957, William Friday, one of educational television’s biggest boosters, was inaugurated as President of the Consolidated University. His quiet efforts behind the scenes made a big difference for UNC-TV over the next 30 years and beyond . In fact, he continues to be an important presence at UNC-TV even now. His program, North Carolina People is still the longest running show on UNC-TV. (The network’s on-air identity as “UNC-TV” was not formally adopted until 1993, but to avoid confusion, we will refer to it by that name throughout this web site.)