PBS North Carolina is the statewide public television network of the University of North Carolina System, broadcasting four channels over twelve stations to all 100 counties from its headquarters in Research Triangle Park.
PBS North Carolina, formally the University of North Carolina Center for Public Media and known as UNC-TV until its January 2021 rebrand, is the statewide PBS member network for North Carolina. It is operated by the University of North Carolina System, which holds the licenses for its twelve television stations, and is based at the Joseph and Kathleen Bryan Communications Center in Research Triangle Park, between Raleigh and Durham. Its flagship station, WUNC-TV in Chapel Hill, signed on in January 1955.
The network's signals cover all 100 North Carolina counties and reach parts of Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. It broadcasts four channels: PBS NC, the North Carolina Channel, Rootle (a 24/7 PBS KIDS channel) and the Explorer Channel. PBS North Carolina reports about one million viewers each week and more than 165,000 people at its events each year, in what it describes as the third largest public media market in the country, and it serves as the backbone for the state's emergency communications.
Alongside national PBS programming, the network produces original series and documentaries on public affairs, science, travel, culture, nature and the arts, including Sci NC and the multiyear Homegrown History public history initiative. It also runs education services, teacher training and community engagement events across the state.
PBS North Carolina staff are employees of the UNC System Office. The network hires for content and original productions, education and community engagement, development and corporate engagement, member and viewer services, marketing and creative services, engineering and business operations, and runs an internship program for students at UNC System institutions. Staff openings are posted on the UNC System careers site, and freelance and contract roles on pbsnc.org.
