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This collection has access restrictions. For details, please see the restrictions.
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the FAQ section for more information.
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Collection Overview
| Size | 19200 items (24.0 linear feet of textual materials plus 641 films and 1003 videotapes) |
| Abstract | Noncommercial television began in North Carolina on 8 January 1955, when WUNC-TV, Channel 4 (Chapel Hill) went on the air. The station was licensed to the University of North Carolina system. Planning began in the early 1960s for a statewide network of educational television stations. From 1965 to 2010, twelve stations joined WUNC-TV to form the University of North Carolina Television Network. The University of North Carolina Center for Public Television was established in 1979 to centralize the operation and administration of the network. Records of the University of North Carolina Television Network, 1949-1998, consist of materials related to the operation, administration, and programs of the network and of WUNC-TV prior to the inception of the network. Included are files on the planning and development of the network and its stations; minutes of the meetings of the Board of Trustees of the University of North Carolina Center for Public Television; documents related to the network's applications to the Federal Communications Commission for periodic renewal of its broadcast license; and files on the development of programs. Also included are 641 films and 1003 videotapes of programs broadcast by WUNC-TV and the network, including "Dr. Boyd and the Bible," "Stateline," and "Crossroads on the Hill." Administrators who figure prominently in the records include John E. Young, director of WUNC-TV's Chapel Hill studio; John W. (Jake) Dunlop, director of the University of North Carolina Center for Public Television; Wyndham Robertson, vice president of communications of the University of North Carolina system; and Tom Howe, director and general manager of the University of North Carolina Television Network (UNC-TV). |
| Creator | University of North Carolina Television Network. |
| Language | English |
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Information For Users
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Subject Headings
The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.
Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.
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Historical Information
Noncommercial television began in North Carolina on 8 January 1955, when WUNC-TV, Channel 4 (Chapel Hill) went on the air. Officials of the consolidated University of North Carolina system had applied in 1953 for one of a limited number of channels reserved by the Federal Communications Conmmission for educational use. WUNC-TV was the tenth educational television station in the country, and the first south of Washington, D.C. It consisted of studios located on the university system's three campuses: the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, Woman's College in Greensboro, and North Carolina State College in Raleigh. These studios fed programs to a single transmitter in Chatham County. Each campus had a director of television and a television programming council, composed of faculty. In Chapel Hill, the first director of television was Earl Wynn, who had been director of the Communication Center there since 1946. WUNC-TV's Chapel Hill studio shared space with the Communication Center in Swain Hall. Earl Wynn was succeeded as director of television at Chapel Hill in 1959 by John E. Young. Young remained in the position until 1980.
In October 1962, a commission appointed by Governor Sanford recommended that the university's television program be expanded to a statewide network. In 1963, the General Assembly appropriated funds for the initial phase of network construction. The state funds were matched by grants from the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. In September 1965, WUNB-TV (Columbia) went on the air, becoming the statewide network's second station. The first phase of network construction concluded in September 1967, when new stations went on the air in Linville, Asheville, and Concord. The 1967 General Assembly authorized funding for a second phase, which resulted in new stations in Wilmington (1971), Greenville (1972), and Winston-Salem (1973). Funds for a third phase were appropriated in 1978, and stations in Jacksonville and Roanoke Rapids were completed in 1982 and 1986 respectively. In 1996, the network's eleventh station, in Lumberton, was dedicated; and in 2010 the twelfth, and final, station signed on in Canton/Waynesville.
Although administrative oversight of the television program was the responsibility of the General Administration of the University of North Carolina system, the three production studios and their directors operated semi-autonomously. Even as new stations joined the network, production remained in the original three studios. In 1969, the Office of Director of Educational Television was created within the university system to improve oversight of the expanding network. Dr. George Bair was appointed to this position and held it until January 1980. In 1979, the General Assembly authorized the creation of the University of North Carolina Center for Public Television. Operations and administraion of the network were then centralized in the new center. A 22-member advisory body, designated the Board of Trustees, was appointed; and John W. (Jake) Dunlop assumed the position of director of the center in February 1980. Dunlop closed the studios in Raleigh and Greensboro and centralized production at the Chapel Hill studio. In 1989, the Joseph and Kathleen Bryan Communications Center opened in the Research Triangle Park, providing new facilities for both production and administration of the network.
In 1986, President C. D. Spangler, Jr., newly appointed head of the university system, hired Wyndham Robertson as vice president of communications and gave her oversight of the University of North Carolina Center for Public Television. Robertson focused much of her attention on improving the center's programs. When Jake Dunlop retired in 1992, Robertson and Spangler agreed that programming, especially the production of original programs, should be the first priority of the new director. Later that year, they hired Tom Howe as director and general manager of the network. The network formally adopted UNC-TV as its on-air identity in 1993.
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Scope and Content
Records of the University of North Carolina Television Network, 1949-1998, consist of materials related to the operation, administration, and programs of the network and of WUNC-TV prior to the inception of the network. Included are files on the planning and development, beginning in the early 1960s, of the network and its stations; minutes of the meetings of the Board of Trustees of the University of North Carolina Center for Public Television, established in 1979; documents related to the network's applications to the Federal Communications Commission for periodic renewal of its broadcast license; and files on the development of programs. Also included are 641 films and 1003 videotapes of programs broadcast by WUNC-TV and the network, including "Dr. Boyd and the Bible," "Stateline," and "Crossroads on the Hill." Administrators who figure prominently in the records include John E. Young, director of WUNC-TV's Chapel Hill studio; John W. (Jake) Dunlop, director of the University of North Carolina Center for Public Television; Wyndham Robertson, vice president of communications of the University of North Carolina system; and Tom Howe, director and general manager of the University of North Carolina Television Network (UNC-TV).
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Series Quick Links
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Series 1. Board of Trustees Files, 1979-1998.
Arrangement: alphabetical by filename, then chronological.
This series consists of materials related to the University of North Carolina Television Network's Board of Trustees, established in 1979. The bulk of the materials relates to meetings of the board and its committees; included are minutes, notes, and in some cases transcriptions, along with copies of documents discussed at the meetings. Other materials include correspondence, bylaws, membership lists, and biographical information about members of the board.
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Series 2. Administrative Files, 1949-1998.
This series consists of files related to the general operation and administration of the University of North Carolina Television Network and of WUNC-TV prior to the inception of the network; files on some of the organizations and agencies outside the University of North Carolina system with which the television network had relationships; files related to the network's applications to the Federal Communications Commission for periodic renewal of its broadcast license; and files related to the planning and development, beginning in the early 1960s, of the University of North Carolina Television Network as the public television network for the state of North Carolina. Included are materials concerning the establishment of WUNC-TV, Channel 4, in 1955; correspondence between administrators of the University of North Carolina system and the directors of WUNC-TV and, later, the directors of the television network; correspondence with a number of North Carolina state agencies; and documents filed with the Federal Communications Commission and other federal agencies.
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Subseries 2.1. General Files, 1949-1998.
Arrangement: alphabetical by filename, then chronological.
Materials in this subseries relate to the general operation and administration of the University of North Carolina Television Network and of WUNC-TV prior to the inception of the network. Included are correspondence, reports, and files on budget matters, fundraising, human resources, and other issues. The bulk of the subseries consists of correspondence between administrators of the University of North Carolina system and the directors of the television network; much of it dates from the mid-1980s through 1992 and is between Wyndham Robertson, vice president for communications of the system, and John W. Dunlop, director of television for the network. There are also several files, dating from 1949 through the mid-1960s, related to the establishment and early years of WUNC-TV, Channel 4; one contains clippings about and photographs of a fire that took place in 1958 at the WUNC-TV studio in Chapel Hill. There is also some correspondence between John E. Young, the director of WUNC-TV's Chapel Hill studio, and administrators of the University of North Carolina system.
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Subseries 2.2. Outside Organizations, 1967-1997.
Arrangement: alphabetical by filename, then chronological.
This subseries consists of files on some of the organizations and agencies outside the University of North Carolina system with which the University of North Carolina Television Network had relationships, including national organizations with which the network was affiliated and a number of North Carolina state agencies. It does not include agencies to which the network applied for grants, nor does it include major federal government agencies. Files on those agencies will be found in Subseries 2.3. Federal Communications Commission; Subseries 2.4. Network Expansion; and Subseries 3.1. Programming: General files.
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Subseries 2.3. Federal Communications Commission, 1958-1994.
Arrangement: alphabetical by filename, then chronological.
This subseries consists mostly of materials related to the University of North Carolina Television Network's applications to the Federal Communications Commission for periodic renewal of its broadcast license. Of particular interest are documents filed in opposition to the network's 1978 application for license renewal by the Coalition for Responsible Media, which alleged that the network had not complied with the FCC's equal employment opportunity regulations. Also included in this subseries are general mailings from and correspondence with the legal firms that represented the University of North Carolina Television Network in matters requiring FCC approval.
Materials related to the network's applications to the FCC for construction permits will be found in Subseries 2.4. Network Expansion, below.
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Subseries 2.4. Network Expansion, 1957-1997.
Arrangement: alphabetical by filename, then chronological.
This subseries consists of materials related to the planning and development, beginning in the early 1960s, of the University of North Carolina Television Network as the public television network for the state of North Carolina. Included are files on the University of North Carolina system's applications to the Federal Communications Commission for permits to construct new transmitters and stations, and to the United States Department of Health, Education, and Wefare and the Public Telecommunications Facilities Program of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration for funding for the construction. There are also files on several state and national commissions involved in public television planning, including the Carnegie Commission on Educational Television, the Governor's Commission on Educational Television, and the Advisory Committee on Educational Television of the State Board of Education. The majority of the files in the subseries are those of John E. Young, director of television for WUNC-TV, Channel 4.
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Series 3. Programming Files, 1953-1993.
Arrangement: alphabetical by filename, then chronological.
This series consists of materials related to programs broadcast by the University of North Carolina Television Network and by WUNC-TV prior to the inception of the network. There are files documenting the development and distribution of various programs, including several grant proposals, and correspondence with viewers concerning programs. Of particular interest are the files on in-school television, public affairs programming, and the development of the program "Stateline." Other program-related materials can be found in the file entitled, "Meetings and Correspondence: Channel 4 Station Directors" in Subseries 2.1.
The bulk of this series consists of 641 films and 1003 videotapes of actual programs, many of which were locally produced by WUNC-TV or the University of North Carolina Television Network. The programs "Dr. Boyd and the Bible" and "Sunday School," both broadcast in the 1950s, are especially well-represented. The films and videotapes also include a number of in-school courses, particularly United States history, world history, and physical science; coverage of the Speaker Ban hearings of the 1960s; and programs related to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's bicentennial observance, including footage used in the film "Crossroads on the Hill." There is also considerable coverage of statewide news and events, including gubernatorial inaugurations and state of the state addresses, mostly from the 1980s; numerous episodes of "Stateline," 1981-1991; and programs related to North Carolina's 400th anniversary.
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Subseries 3.1. General files, 1953-1993.
Arrangement: alphabetical by filename, then chronological.
This subseries consists of paper-based files related to programs broadcast by the University of North Carolina Television Network and by WUNC-TV prior to the inception of the network. There are materials concerning overall programming, various types of programming, and specific programs. The file on the Television Programming Council (Chapel Hill campus) documents early program planning for WUNC-TV. Also included are files on public affairs programming and in-school television; correspondence with viewers concerning programming and other issues; and files related to grant proposals to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Ford Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts for the development of programs. Of particular interest are the files on the program "Stateline."
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Subseries 3.2. Films, 1956-1994.
This subseries consists of 641 films of programs broadcast by the University of North Carolina Television Network and miscellaneous paper documentation, mostly concerning technical aspects of production, that was removed from the film containers. Film titles and other content information were taken largely from the containers. Many of these programs were locally produced by WUNC-TV or the University of North Carolina Television Network. The programs "Dr. Boyd and the Bible" and "Sunday School," both broadcast in the 1950s, are especially well-represented. Also included are a number of in-school courses, particularly English grammar, United States history, world history, and physical science; and programs related to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's bicentennial observance, including footage used in the film "Crossroads on the Hill."
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Subseries 3.3. Videotapes and Audiotapes, 1964-1994.
This subseries consists of 1003 videotapes and 36 audiotapes of programs broadcast by the University of North Carolina Television Network and miscellaneous paper documentation, mostly concerning technical aspects of production, that was removed from the tape containers. Titles and other content information were taken largely from the containers. Many of these programs were locally produced by WUNC-TV or the University of North Carolina Television Network. There is considerable coverage of statewide news and events, including gubernatorial inaugurations and state of the state addresses, mostly from the 1980s; numerous episodes of "Stateline," 1981-1991; and programs related to North Carolina's 400th anniversary. There are also a few episodes of the programs "North Carolina Now" and "North Carolina People"; coverage of the Speaker Ban hearings of the 1960s; and programs related to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's bicentennial observance, including footage used in the film "Crossroads on the Hill."