north carolina united states branding unc tv slogan life changing television for all of north carolina channels digital see table below affiliations pbs 1970 present owner university of north carolina first air date january 8 1955 ; 61 years ago 1955 01 08 call letters meaning university of north carolina fourth letter in callsign varies depending on the station former affiliations net 1955 1970 transmitter power see table below height see table below facility id see table below transmitter coordinates see table below licensing authority fcc public license information of north carolina television profile of north carolina television cdbs website www.unctv.org university of north carolina television branded on air as unc tv is a public television network serving the u.s. 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 channel 42 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 unc center for public television at research triangle park between raleigh and durham . contents 1 history 2 programming 3 stations 4 digital television 4.1 digital channels 4.2 analog to digital conversion 5 translators 6 cable and satellite carriage 7 see also 8 references 9 external links history edit 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 in september 1965 followed by the launches of wune tv in linville in september 1967 wunf tv in asheville in september 11 1967 wung tv in concord in september 11 1967 and wunj tv in wilmington in 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 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 identified in north carolina editions of tv guide as cpt an abbreviated form of university of north carolina center for 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 . programming edit 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 the woodwright s shop for national distribution . in addition to pbs and american public television programs and local productions the station also runs british comedies on saturday evenings and the bbc soap opera eastenders on sunday evenings . stations edit unc tv operates twelve stations that relay its programming across the entire state as well as into portions of virginia tennessee and south carolina . each station s callsign consists of un for university of north carolina followed by a letter assigned sequentially in the order in which it was activated except for the first station . station city of license other cities served channels tv rf first air date erp haat transmitter coordinates facility id public license information wunc tv chapel hill raleigh durham 4 psip 25 uhf january 8 1955 1000 kw 464 m 35 51 58.7 n 79 10 0.3 w 35.866306 n 79.166750 w 35.866306 ; 79.166750 wunc tv 69080 profile cdbs wund tv1 edenton2 elizabeth city 2 psip 20 uhf september 10 1965 543 kw 489 m 35 53 58.3 n 76 20 47.5 w 35.899528 n 76.346528 w 35.899528 ; 76.346528 wund tv 69292 profile cdbs wune tv linville boone hickory 17 psip 17 uhf september 11 1967 137 .8 kw 531 m 36 3 47.8 n 81 50 30.7 w 36.063278 n 81.841861 w 36.063278 ; 81.841861 wune tv 69114 profile cdbs wunf tv asheville 33 psip 25 uhf september 11 1967 185 kw 797 m 35 25 33.2 n 82 45 23.8 w 35.425889 n 82.756611 w 35.425889 ; 82.756611 wunf tv 69300 profile cdbs wung tv concord charlotte 58 psip 44 uhf september 11 1967 150 kw 404 m 35 21 30.8 n 80 36 36.5 w 35.358556 n 80.610139 w 35.358556 ; 80.610139 wung tv 69124 profile cdbs wunj tv3 wilmington 39 psip 29 uhf june 4 1971 700 kw 297 m 34 19 16.7 n 78 13 41.7 w 34.321306 n 78.228250 w 34.321306 ; 78.228250 wunj tv 69332 profile cdbs wunk tv greenville 25 psip 23 uhf may 7 1972 1000 kw 351 m 35 33 10.9 n 77 36 6.00 w 35.553028 n 77.6016667 w 35.553028 ; 77.6016667 wunk tv 69149 profile cdbs wunl tv winston salem greensboro high point 26 psip 32 uhf february 22 1973 197 .5 kw 479 m 36 22 32.6 n 80 22 17.2 w 36.375722 n 80.371444 w 36.375722 ; 80.371444 wunl tv 69360 profile cdbs wunm tv jacksonville new bern 19 psip 19 uhf november 16 1982 65 kw 561 m 35 6 15.6 n 77 20 11.4 w 35.104333 n 77.336500 w 35.104333 ; 77.336500 wunm tv 69444 profile cdbs wunp tv roanoke rapids 36 psip 36 uhf october 16 1986 125 kw 368 m 36 17 29.3 n 77 50 9.3 w 36.291472 n 77.835917 w 36.291472 ; 77.835917 wunp tv 69397 profile cdbs wunu lumberton fayetteville 31 psip 31 uhf september 23 1996 113 kw 294 m 34 47 51.1 n 79 2 41.4 w 34.797528 n 79.044833 w 34.797528 ; 79.044833 wunu 69416 profile cdbs wunw canton waynesville 27 psip 27 uhf july 21 2010 7 kw 474 m 35 34 6 n 82 54 25 w 35.56833 n 82.90694 w 35.56833 ; 82.90694 wunw 83822 profile cdbs notes 1 . wund tv formerly used the callsign wunb tv from its 1965 sign on to 1967 . 2 . wund tv was originally licensed to columbia ; the license was moved to edenton in 2005 effectively gaining must carry cable carriage in the norfolk newport news portsmouth television market which includes several northeastern north carolina counties . 1 3 . five stations in the wilmington media market began transmitting solely in digital on september 8 2008 . wunj tv opted to continue analog broadcasts until the national digital television transition on june 12 2009 . digital television edit digital channels edit unc tv 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 the main channel of each station which now carries high definition programming and the standard definition only services unc kd and unc ex the explorer channel . unc tv hd and unc ex are also available to directv customers with mpeg4 compatible receivers . proir to february 1 2016 time warner cable customers also received unc mx described as an eclectic mix of programming for adults in standard definition ; the north carolina channel has since replaced unc mx on time warner cable systems . 1 prior to november 1 2009 the third subchannel was named unc nc . 2 this configuration is used for wunc wund wunf wung wunj wunk wunl and wunu channel video aspect psip short name programming 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 xx .1 1080i 16 9 unc tv main unc tv programming pbs xx .2 480i rootle pbs kids xx .3 unc ex the explorer channel 11 xx .4 ncchl the north carolina channel 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 . 12 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 . 13 channel video aspect psip short name programming 14 xx .1 480i 16 9 unc ex the explorer channel xx .2 1080i unc tv main unc tv programming pbs xx .3 480i rootle pbs kids xx .4 ncchl the north carolina channel subscribers of time warner cable the major cable provider in the state can receive each of the unc tv digital subchannels ; time warner cable maintains a direct fiber optic connection to unc tv s studios in raleigh . cable providers with a direct fiber optic link to unc tv including time warner cable also carry unc mx formerly unc ed on their digital tiers . unc mx features a mix of how to and public affairs programs along with encore presentations of programs originally broadcast on the primary unc tv channel . cable providers which rely on off air reception for broadcast stations are limited to the three channel lineup . on february 1 2016 unc mx was renamed unc nc the north carolina channel and was added over the air on subchannel 4 on both channel configurations . 15 on july 2 2016 unc kd was renamed rootle offering 24 hour programming for children ages 3 8 . 16 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 which carried pbs and regional programming in high definition the third subchannel carried unc kd which carried children s programs the fourth subchannel carried unc ed an educational television service and the fifth subchannel carried unc nc centering on north carolina public affairs and original local productions . 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 digital link to unc tv facilities broadcast all five channels on a 24 hour schedule . analog to digital conversion edit unc tv s stations shut down their analog signals on june 12 2009 the official date in which full power television stations in the united states transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate . the station s digital channel allocations post transition are as follows 17 wunc tv shut down its analog signal over vhf channel 4 ; the station s digital signal relocated from its pre transition uhf channel 59 which was among the high band uhf channels 52 69 that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition to channel 25 . through the use of psip digital television receivers display the station s virtual channel as its former vhf analog channel 4 . wund tv shut down its analog signal over vhf channel 2 ; the station s digital signal remained on its pre transition uhf channel 20 . through the use of psip digital television receivers display the station s virtual channel