What’s in a name?
UNC-TV launched in 1955 as only the second non-commercial educational television station located south of Washington, D.C., predating PBS by some fifteen years. For more than half a century, North Carolina’s only statewide public media network has provided quality educational content and services of consequence while connecting North Carolinians with each other, the world, and endless possibility.
As of January 12, UNC-TV is now PBS North Carolina, part of a rebranding effort that better encompasses the networks’ digital offerings while still firmly rooting it within the UNC System and the Tar Heel State at large. The station delivers free educational programming to more than 12 million households and serves as the go-to source for emergency news and information, in partnership with NC’s Department of Public Safety.
Our favorite program has always been “NC Bookwatch,” a local, literary public television show that has been hosted by D.G. Martin since 1999. As part of PBS North Carolina’s expanded digital offerings, “NC Bookwatch” will offer recordings of past panels and conversations with literary lights around the state. You can catch these panels Sundays at 3:30 pm and Tuesdays at 5:00 pm, or you can watch them online now:
January 17 and 19: NC Bookwatch Special: Traveling NC
Authors Anne Fitten Glenn, Stephen Compton, Steve Miller, and Brent Martin talk NC history and culture from their specific focus, and share ideas of where people can go to best see and experience those diverse topics. Filmed on location at the Bookmarks Festival in Winston-Salem in 2019.
January 24 and 26: NC Bookwatch Special: The Literary Triad
Poet and professor Joseph Mills (UNCSA) has published his first short-story collection—Bleachers. Novelist, poet, and professor Valerie Nieman (NC A&T) has released a mystery called To the Bones. English professor Jacob Paul (HPU) is out with his new novel—The Last Tower to Heaven.
January 31 and February 2: NC Bookwatch Special: The Literary Landscape
We take a look at the growth and impact of the literary arts industry in NC in a discussion led by Ed Southern and featuring Dr. Margaret Bauer, Daniel Wallace, the late Randall Kenan.
February 7 and 9: NC Bookwatch Special: Appalachian Reckoning
Jeremy Jones, Ricardo Nazario y Colon, Kristin Squint, and Meredith McCarroll talk about the book Hillbilly Elegy. The four authors are just a few of the writers who came together to respond with a book of their own—“Appalachian Reckoningâ€â€”edited by Meredith McCaroll, who hosts this discussion.
For more about PBS North Carolina, and a full list of programming, click here.