PBS North Carolina


The University of North Carolina Center for Public Media, branded PBS North Carolina or commonly PBS NC, is a public television network serving the state of North Carolina. It is operated by the University of North Carolina system, which holds the licenses for all but one of the thirteen PBS member television stations licensed in the state—WTVI in Charlotte is owned by Central Piedmont Community College. The broadcast signals of the twelve television stations cover almost all of the state, as well as parts of Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. The network's operations are located at the Joseph and Kathleen Bryan Communications Center at Research Triangle Park between Raleigh and Durham.

History

WUNC-TV in Chapel Hill, the state network's flagship station, first signed on the air on January 8, 1955, as the second non-commercial educational television station located south of Washington, D.C.—one day after Cheaha, Alabama–licensed WCIQ-TV. Over the next twelve years, four more satellite stations signed on. WUND-TV in Edenton was the first of these satellites to debut on September 10, 1965, followed by the launches of WUNE-TV in Linville, WUNF-TV in Asheville, and WUNG-TV in Concord—all on September 11, 1967, and WUNJ-TV in Wilmington on June 4, 1971. This was supplemented with a network of translator stations in the Appalachian Mountains that also allowed the network's programming to reach across the entire state.
Five additional satellites debuted afterward: WUNK-TV in Greenville in May 1972, WUNL-TV in Winston-Salem in February 1973, WUNM-TV in Jacksonville in November 1982, WUNP-TV in Roanoke Rapids in October 1986, and WUNU-TV in Lumberton in September 1996. The state network's youngest station, WUNW in Canton, signed on in July 2010 to replace a translator that had served the area since the 1980s. The state network was branded on-air as North Carolina Public Television from 1979 to the mid-1990s, when it rebranded itself as University of North Carolina Television. It simplified the brand name to UNC-TV later in the 1990s; it had previously used that brand for most of the 1970s. On January 12, 2021, in recognition of PBS' growing online content delivery, the state network rebranded itself as "PBS North Carolina," while continuing to acknowledge its ties to the university system as being "Powered by the UNC System".

Programming

The state network produces many programs of local interest, including the weeknightly public affairs program North Carolina Now, Our State, Carolina Outdoor Journal, Exploring North Carolina, North Carolina Bookwatch with D. G. Martin, and special programs about the state's history and culture. It also produces Growing a Greener World, The Zula Patrol, and Song of the Mountains for national distribution. In addition to PBS and American Public Television programs and local productions, the station also runs programming from the United Kingdom, including "Britcoms" on Saturday evenings and the soap opera EastEnders on Sunday evenings. In the 1990s, UNC-TV introduced "Read-A-Roo," a kangaroo used as the mascot for the network's children's programming. PBS North Carolina airs its own public affairs programming on Sunday mornings.

Stations

PBS NC operates twelve stations that relay its programming across the entire state as well as into portions of Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, and South Carolina.
Each station's callsign consists of "UN" for the University of North Carolina, followed by a letter assigned sequentially in the order in which it was activated, except for the first station.
StationCity of licenseFacility IDERPHAATTransmitter coordinatesFirst air datePublic license information
WUNC-TVChapel Hill4 690801,000 kW
WUND-TVEdenton2 69292657 kW
WUNE-TVLinville17 691141,000 kW
WUNF-TVAsheville33 69300125 kW
WUNF-TVAsheville33 693001,000 kW
WUNF-TVAsheville33 693001.73 kW
WUNG-TVConcord58 69124260 kW
WUNJ-TVWilmington39 693321,000 kW
WUNK-TVGreenville25 691491,000 kW
WUNL-TV26 693601,000 kW
WUNM-TVJacksonville19 69444700 kW
WUNP-TVRoanoke Rapids36 69397248 kW
WUNULumberton31 69416329 kW
WUNWCanton27 83822115 kW
WUNWCanton27 838220.9 kW
WUNWCanton27 838220.94 kW
WUNWCanton27 838220.88 kW
WUNWCanton27 838220.94 kW
WUNWCanton27 838220.94 kW

Digital television

Subchannels

PBS NC's current over-the-air digital configuration, which is multiplexed among three subchannels, was introduced on September 25, 2008. On that date, UNC-TV revised its subchannel lineup on its stations, reducing the number of channels to three: UNC-TV, and the standard definition-only services UNC-KD and UNC-EX. UNC-TV HD and UNC-EX are also available to DirecTV customers with MPEG4-compatible receivers. Prior to February 1, 2016, Time Warner Cable customers also received UNC-MX in standard definition; the North Carolina Channel has since replaced UNC-MX on Time Warner Cable systems. Prior to November 1, 2009, the third subchannel was named UNC-NC.
This configuration is used for WUND, WUNF, WUNG, WUNJ, WUNK, and WUNU:
ChannelRes.AspectShort nameProgramming
xx.11080i16:9PBS NCPBS
xx.2480i16:9ROOTLEPBS Kids Channel
xx.3480i16:9UNC-EXThe Explorer Channel
xx.4480i16:9NCCHLThe North Carolina Channel

This configuration is used for WUNC and WUNL:

LicenseChannelRes.AspectShort nameProgramming
WUNC-TV/WUNL-TV4.1/26.11080i16:9PBS NCPBS
WUNC-TV/WUNL-TV4.2/26.2480i16:9ROOTLEPBS Kids Channel
WUNC-TV/WUNL-TV4.3/26.3480i16:9UNC-EXThe Explorer Channel
WUNC-TV/WUNL-TV4.4/26.4480i16:9NCCHLThe North Carolina Channel
WRAY-TV/WLXI30.1/43.11080i16:9WRAY/WLXITCT


An alternate configuration is used for WUNE, WUNM, WUNP, and WUNW. The original purpose for this was to obtain must-carry status for UNC-KD since those are secondary stations in their respective markets. On June 15, 2010, UNC-KD switched subchannels with UNC-EX on the four stations previously mentioned, which transferred UNC-KD's must-carry status to UNC-EX.
ChannelRes.AspectShort nameProgramming
xx.1480i16:9UNC-EXThe Explorer Channel
xx.21080i16:9PBS NCPBS
xx.3480i16:9ROOTLEPBS Kids Channel
xx.4480i16:9NCCHLThe North Carolina Channel

Subscribers of Charter Spectrum, the major cable provider in the state, have direct-fiber optic versions of each of PBS North Carolina's networks rather than an antenna feed of their local station, as Spectrum forerunner company Time Warner Cable built out a direct connection to PBS NC's studios at the RTP, a connection inherited by Spectrum parent Charter Communications when it merged with Time Warner Cable in 2016.
Cable providers with a direct fiber optic link to UNC-TV formerly had exclusivity in carrying UNC-MX on their digital tiers. UNC-MX featured a mix of how-to and public affairs programs, along with encore presentations of programs originally broadcast on main UNC-TV service. On February 1, 2016, UNC-MX was renamed UNC-NC "The North Carolina Channel" and was added over-the-air on DT-4, allowing full access to the service by over-the-air and non-Spectrum viewers. On July 2, 2016, UNC-KD was rebranded as ROOTLE.
Prior to September 25, 2008, UNC-TV formerly operated four digital channels: in addition to the main signal on the primary channel, the second digital subchannel of each station carried UNC-HD, the third subchannel carried UNC-KD, the fourth subchannel carried UNC-ED and the fifth subchannel carried UNC-NC. Due to bandwidth limitations at the time, the over-the-air feed of UNC-HD was only available between 8-11 p.m., during which UNC-ED and UNC-NC ceased transmission in the interim. Cable systems with a direct fiber link to UNC-TV facilities aired all five channels on a 24-hour schedule.
On April 16, 2018, WRAY-TV and WLXI were merged onto WUNC's spectrum, after parent company Tri-State Christian Television sold the stations' individual bandwidth in the 2016 FCC incentive auction. WUNC is the only station in the 12-station network that has a channel sharing agreement.