Carolina Nursing through the decades: a historic timeline
An illustrated online timeline of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Nursing, issued by the school in 2025. One page with portraits.
Storyline
WUNC radio and television, 1951–1955
The university’s educational broadcasting: the FM station permitted in 1951 and on the air in 1952, the application and permit for Channel 4, and WUNC-TV’s first broadcasts in January 1955.
In briefThe university received a construction permit for an educational FM station in 1951, and WUNC, run by students, went on the air on November 3, 1952. In June 1953 the university applied to the Federal Communications Commission for television Channel 4 at Chapel Hill, and that September it received a construction permit. Robert F. Schenkkan directed the new station, Kay Kyser helped raise money for it, and WUNC-TV began broadcasting from Chapel Hill on January 8, 1955.
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No works in the index are currently linked directly to this storyline. The works below provide background on UNC & Campus Life.
In the chronology
Events in this storyline, in date order. See these 8 dated events in the chronology →
- UNC receives a construction permit for an educational FM station Approval of a construction permit for a 250-watt educational FM radio station at the University, to be run by its Department of Radio, was confirmed in Chapel Hill. Department head Earl Wynn said it would cover Chapel Hill and Durham, relay local programs to other stations and go on the air by mid-October.Search the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), August 2, 1951, p. 1
- WUNC, the University's student-run FM station, goes on the air WUNC, a noncommercial FM station run entirely by students for the University of North Carolina, began broadcasting on November 3, 1952, at 91.5 megacycles with 1,450 watts. It offered news, music and drama from 7 to 10 each evening, and Chancellor Robert B. House called it a big stride toward President Gray's goals for the University. People: R. B. House, Gordon GraySearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), November 13, 1952, p. 1
- Kay Kyser helps raise the money to put WUNC-TV on the air Kay Kyser toured the state with William C. Friday and Billy Carmichael Jr. to raise money for UNC's educational television station, which went on the air from Chapel Hill in January 1955. People: William C. Friday, William D. Carmichael Jr.Search the index · Our State: The 1950s: UNC On The Air
- Robert F. Schenkkan becomes director of the university's educational television venture After the FCC granted the Consolidated University of North Carolina an educational television license, Schenkkan became director of the new venture, which went on the air as WUNC-TV from the Communication Center in Chapel Hill on January 8, 1955.Search the index · UNC Libraries: Department of Radio, Television, and Motion Pictures of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Records, 1928-1980
- The Consolidated University applies for an educational television channel at Chapel Hill The university filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission for channel 4 at Chapel Hill, with studios planned at Chapel Hill, State College and Woman's College. University attorney Seymour Krieger said gifts and pledges would cover the estimated $1,100,000 to build the station and $240,000 for its first year. People: Gordon GraySearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), June 4, 1953, p. 1
- The FCC grants the University a permit to build an educational television station on Channel 4 University officials learned that the Federal Communications Commission had granted the Consolidated University a construction permit for a non-commercial educational station on Channel 4, which the News called the first educational television station in North Carolina. Slightly more than a million dollars in private funds had been raised for equipment, studios at Chapel Hill, State College and Woman's College, and two years of telecasting, and President Gordon Gray named Robert F. Schenkkan director of television and Alan MacIntyre chief engineer. People: Gordon GraySearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), October 1, 1953, p. 1
- WUNC-TV begins broadcasting WUNC-TV began broadcasting from Chapel Hill on January 8, 1955.Search the index · PBS North Carolina
- Robert F. Schenkkan resigns as head of UNC's educational television Robert F. Schenkkan, who had organized the university's new educational television station, resigned to take the same post at the University of Texas and planned to leave Chapel Hill in August. Station staff said the move was not tied to the legislature's halving of the television appropriation, though the paper reported disagreement higher up over whether the station should lean to education or entertainment.Search the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), June 9, 1955, p. 8
Places in this history
Buildings, schools, churches and other sites named in the dated events on this page, the most often named first.
- WUNC radio and television Libraries, museums and media · Chapel Hill · 4 events here
Background on UNC & Campus Life
Background reading on UNC & Campus Life. These works cover the broader subject and may not discuss this storyline. Follow a link to find a copy or view the material.
Widely held
North Carolina baseball: the blue thread and the rise of an ACC power
A 2025 history of University of North Carolina baseball from its nineteenth-century beginnings to the program's rise as an ACC power. Chapters cover the early years on campus, the building of Boshamer Stadium, and the Mike Fox era. Self-published by the author, 288 pages.
Tar Heel Bred
Scott Whisnant's memoir of a life measured out in North Carolina basketball seasons. A former sportswriter, Whisnant writes for readers raised in ACC country who learned the fight song early and treated the conference tournament in Greensboro as the high point of the year, recalling family, friends and the personal milestones that fell alongside Tar Heel games. Subjects include humor and anecdotes as well as the team's history. Published by Bearface Publishing in 2025, 318 pages with photographs.
Bright and tender dark: a novel
Joanna Pearson's novel of a cold case at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Karlie Richards was a nineteen-year-old student when she was murdered; decades later her onetime roommate, divorced and in middle age, finds herself drawn back to the crime as online conspiracy theories about it multiply. A psychological thriller with a Chapel Hill setting, published by Bloomsbury in 2024, 275 pages.
Chapel Hill Murder and Mayhem
Rick Jackson's true crime history of Chapel Hill, published by The History Press in 2023, in 28 short chapters. Cases include the Efland bank robbery, the execution of John Henry Breeze, the unsolved murder of Suellen Evans, the killing at the Internationalist Bookstore and the death of Eve Carson.
Lessons afield : adventures in nature with students and other living things
R. Haven Wiley's anecdotes of field work with students at Mason Farm, the university's biological reserve on the edge of Chapel Hill, and at other natural settings in North Carolina. It is natural history and nature anecdotes, personal pieces from a working naturalist. Published in Carrboro by Hickory Woods Press in 2023, 109 pages with illustrations.
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Putting Down Roots
William R. Burk's history of botany at the University of North Carolina, from its early natural scientists such as Denison Olmsted and Elisha Mitchell through later figures including George Francis Atkinson, Joseph Austin Holmes and Henry Van Peters Wilson, closing with a chapter on the Department of Botany itself. Published in Fort Worth in 2023.
Bloodmarked
Tracy Deonn's young adult fantasy novel set around the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Bree, an African American teenager with newly awakened powers she cannot yet control, learns that the leaders of the secret Order mean to hide the coming demon war, and she and her friends flee so that she can find her own training. Subjects include magic, secret societies, imaginary wars and psychic trauma. Published by Simon & Schuster in 2022, 561 pages.
Reviewed in Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books./Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (2022).
A Consequential Life: David Lowry Swain, Nineteenth-Century North Carolina, and Their University
Willis P. Whichard's biography of David Lowry Swain, governor of North Carolina from 1832 to 1835 and president of the University of North Carolina from 1835 until his death in 1868. The subtitle ties Swain, nineteenth-century North Carolina and the university together, and the book belongs with the lives of college presidents and governors. Published in 2022.
The dove in the belly
Jim Grimsley's coming-of-age novel about Ronny, who grew up in a trailer alongside his mother and a string of stepfathers, kept his head down, earned good grades and won a scholarship to UNC in Chapel Hill. On campus he finds his first love and begins to sort out who he is. Subjects include gay college students, first loves and mothers and sons. Published by Levine Querido in 2022, 322 pages.
Hooper finds the pitch
A picture book by Courtney Soling Smith about a Boston terrier named Hooper and a glee club at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Published in 2022 by the Orange County Historical Museum in Hillsborough, 35 unnumbered pages with illustrations, facsimiles and portraits.
Together: The Amazing Story of Carolina Basketball's 2021-2022 Season
Adam Lucas's account of the 2021-2022 Carolina men's basketball season, Hubert Davis's first as head coach. Davis, appointed in April 2021, was the first Black head coach in the program's history, and the season ended at the NCAA tournament in New Orleans. Published 2022 by the UNC Department of Athletics, 155 pages with color illustrations. Topics include the Tar Heels, Davis, and college basketball in Chapel Hill in the twenty-first century.
Research sources
Sources and research tools for this storyline. Research guide: Follow an event across several accounts.
Background
- The 1950s: UNC On The AirOur State Feature writing on North Carolina places and traditions
- History of PBS North Carolina (formerly UNC-TV)
Collections and databases
- University of North Carolina Television Network Records, 1949-1999UNC-Chapel Hill University histories, exhibits, and research guides
- NC LIVE: prepared search for WUNC radio and television, 1951–1955 Library card Search NC LIVE for this subject and Orange County. You can change the search terms. Sign in through your North Carolina library to access the materials.
Local help
- Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection, Orange County Public Library The county library’s local-history room at the Main Library in Hillsborough: books, journals, maps, and microfilm of county records from 1752
- Local History Help Hours and request formOCPL Local History Liaison Meet with the Local History Liaison at the Main Library, usually Mondays from noon to 3 p.m., or send a question using the online request form
More to discover
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