Jim Heavner began running Chapel Hill's WCHL radio in 1961 and became its majority owner in the 1970s. Through the Village Companies he made the station the flagship of a sports broadcasting network and added a cable TV company, an advertising circular and a university phone book publisher.
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Oral history interview with James Heavner, 2002 (Chapel Hill Historical Society cassette)
2002
Jim Heavner recounts growing up in Kings Mountain, North Carolina, his student days at UNC and how the Village Companies holding company grew in Chapel Hill. Interviewed by Doug Eyre in 2002; oral history cassette in the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Audiovisual Materials Collection, CHHS.012.
Sports broadcaster Woody Durham speaks at a roast in his honor on 25 January 1986, probably in Chapel Hill. Seated beside him is Jim Heavner, at the time head of The Village Company in Chapel Hill. Hugh Morton photograph.
WCHL declines to publicize the Walk Against Hunger during the Community Chest driveGeneral manager Jim Heavner, that year's chairman of the local Community Chest, said WCHL would not give public service time to the Walk Against Hunger because the station gave all its spots to the Community Chest during its campaign.Search the index · DigitalNC: The Daily Tar Heel, November 21, 1969, p. 1 (WCHL Won't Publicize Walk)
Jim Heavner urges limits on sales at the UNC Student StoresIn a Village Advocate column, Heavner, president of the Village Companies, asked the university to take a hard look at the Student Stores under the Umstead Act, calling them Orange County's largest retail store. Student body president Paul Parker and university officials defended the stores, which funded financial aid.Search the index · DigitalNC: The Daily Tar Heel, December 4, 1984, p. 1 (Heavner item on the Student Stores)
VilCom takes over WCHL's operations and brings the station back to Chapel HillCurtis Media kept ownership, but Heavner's VilCom took charge of the station's operations, planned a move to VilCom Circle in Chapel Hill by November 1 and an all-news and talk format, and aimed to make WCHL again the reference point for news of Chapel Hill and Carrboro.Search the index · DigitalNC: The Daily Tar Heel, September 10, 2002, p. 9 (WCHL to Reconnect With Chapel Hill)
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WCHL radio
Libraries, museums and media · Chapel Hill · 3 events here
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