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The Tar Heel Sports Network is a
radio network There are two types of radio network currently in use around the world: the one-to-many (simplex communication) broadcast network commonly used for public information and mass media, mass-media entertainment, and the two-way radio (Duplex (teleco ...
in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
dedicated to
broadcasting Broadcasting is the data distribution, distribution of sound, audio audiovisual content to dispersed audiences via a electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), ...
live
events Event may refer to: Gatherings of people * Ceremony, an event of ritual significance, performed on a special occasion * Convention (meeting), a gathering of individuals engaged in some common interest * Event management, the organization of eve ...
and programming relating to
North Carolina Tar Heels The North Carolina Tar Heels (also Carolina Tar Heels) are the college sports in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The name Tar Heel is a nickname used to refer to ...
athletics. It is operated by Tar Heel Sports Properties, a property of
LEARFIELD Learfield (often stylized as LEARFIELD) is a collegiate sports marketing company, representing more than 200 of the nation's top collegiate properties including the NCAA and its 89 championships, NCAA Football, leading conferences, and many of th ...
, which manages the
multimedia Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms, such as Text (literary theory), writing, Sound, audio, images, animations, or video, into a single presentation. T ...
rights for the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...
. The network's
flagship station In broadcasting, a flagship (also known as a flagship station or key station) is the broadcast station which originates a television network, or a particular radio or television program that plays a key role in the branding of and consumer loyal ...
is WPTF in
Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most populous city in the state (after Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte) ...
. The network consists mainly of local radio
affiliates In the broadcasting industry (particularly in North America, and even more in the United States), a network affiliate or affiliated station is a local broadcaster, owned by a company other than the owner of the network, which carries some or al ...
within
North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...
, southern
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
, and northern
South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...
, and also includes
Sirius XM Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting corporation headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. The company was formed by the 2008 merge ...
satellite radio, and streaming platforms including GoHeels.com, The Varsity Network and
TuneIn TuneIn is a global audio streaming service providing news, radio, sports, music, and podcasts to over 75 million monthly active users. TuneIn is operated by the privately held company TuneIn Inc. based in San Francisco, California. The comp ...
. The network began in the early 1960s when WSOC in Charlotte made the first attempt to create a radio network for Tar Heel
men's basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
outside the
Triangle A triangle is a polygon with three corners and three sides, one of the basic shapes in geometry. The corners, also called ''vertices'', are zero-dimensional points while the sides connecting them, also called ''edges'', are one-dimension ...
. In 1965, WSOC owner Cox Broadcasting sold the network to Village Broadcasting, owner of WCHL in
Chapel Hill, North Carolina Chapel Hill is a town in Orange County, North Carolina, Orange and Durham County, North Carolina, Durham counties, North Carolina, United States. Its population was 61,960 in the 2020 United States census, making Chapel Hill the List of municipa ...
. WCHL became the
flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of navy, naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically ...
station. Village Broadcasting gradually evolved into VilCom, and sold the network in the late 1990s. Bill Currie, known as "The Mouth of the South" was instrumental in developing the original statewide network in the 1960s and was the network's first
play-by-play In Broadcasting of sports events, sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as a sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real time (media), real-time live commentary of a game or event, traditionally delivered in the present t ...
announcer until departing to
KDKA-TV KDKA-TV (channel 2), branded CBS Pittsburgh, is a television station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It is owned and operated by the CBS television network through its CBS News and Stations division alongside WPKD-TV (channel 19), a ...
in 1971. The network's long-time "Voice of the Tar Heels" for
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
and men's basketball games was Woody Durham from 1971 until his retirement in 2011. Mick Mixon partnered with Durham as the
color analyst A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main (play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The person may also be referred to as a summariser (outside North America) ...
from 1989-2005 for both football and basketball before departing to take the job as the play-by-play announcer for the
Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The t ...
. Jones Angell succeeded Durham in the booth as "the Voice of the Tar Heels" for both football and basketball beginning with the 2011 football season after working with the network in various roles for the previous 11 years, including baseball play-by-play from 2004-2011.
Brian Simmons Brian Eugene Simmons (born June 21, 1975) is an American former professional American football, football player who was a linebacker for 10 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the University of North ...
performed football analyst duties through the 2023 season before joining the UNC football staff as a Senior Advisor to the Head Coach/Pro Liaison. Analyst duties during the 2024 season are shared between Bryn Renner and Joe Jauch, both former Tar Heel players. Lee Pace handles football sideline reporting. Eric Montross was the basketball analyst starting in 2005 through the 2022-23 season. Shortly after the season, it was announced that he had recently been diagnosed with cancer. After announcing that he would sit out the 2023-24 season to focus on his health, Montross died on December 17 at age 52. Game analysis duties during the 2023-24 season were handled by a rotation of former players including Pete Chilcutt, Marcus Ginyard,
Tyler Hansbrough Andrew Tyler Hansbrough (born November 3, 1985) is an American former professional basketball player. He played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for seven seasons, as well as internationally. In college, Hansbrough was a star with t ...
and Zeller. Adam Lucas contributes basketball pregame commentary and conducts postgame interviews. Dave Nathan anchors pregame, halftime and postgame coverage for football and basketball, and also handles the basketball play-by-play when late season football schedule conflicts prevent Angell from being available. Nathan also calls play-by-play for the Diamond Heels in baseball, sharing the booth with Kyle Straub. Matt Krause calls the action for
women's basketball Women's basketball is the team sport of basketball played by women. It was first played in 1892, one year after men's basketball, at Smith College in Massachusetts. It spread across the United States, in large parts via women's college compet ...
. Angell and Lucas also co-host a twice-weekly
podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...
, Carolina Insider, that is a production of the network and LEARFIELD. UNC head coaches
Mack Brown William Mack Brown (born August 27, 1951) is an American former college football coach. Brown most recently coached at the University of North Carolina, where he had two stints, first from 1988 until 1997, and again from 2019 until his firing ...
(football),
Hubert Davis Hubert Ira Davis Jr. (born May 17, 1970) is an American college basketball coach and former professional player who is the head coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball, North Carolina Tar Heels men's team. Before his coaching care ...
(men's basketball), Courtney Banghart (women's basketball) and
Scott Forbes Conrad Scott Forbes (11 September 1920 – 25 February 1997), popularly known as Scott Forbes, was a British film and television actor and screenwriter. In his later career as a screenwriter, he was credited as C. Scott Forbes. Early year ...
(baseball) host programs on the network during their respective team's season. Other notable on-air color analysts and contributors over the history of the network include Phil Ford, Stephen Gates,
Jerod Haase Jerod Albert Haase (born April 1, 1974) is an American college basketball coach. He was the head coach for Stanford Cardinal men's team of the Pac-12 Conference from 2016 to 2024. Haase played college basketball at the University of Californi ...
, Jim Heavner, Henry Hinton, Bob Holliday, Charlie "Choo Choo" Justice, Freddie Kiger, Lee Kinard, Ken Mack, Draggan Mihailovich, Bob Quincy and Rick Steinbacher. The state's most powerful AM station, WBT in Charlotte, has been an affiliate of the network since 1971, except for 1991 to 1995 and 2006 to 2012. WBT is a 50,000-watt
clear-channel station A clear-channel station is a North American AM radio station that has the highest level of protection from interference from other stations, particularly from nighttime skywave signals. This classification exists to ensure the viability of cross ...
that reaches parts of 22 states at night, bringing the Tar Heels' broadcasts to most of the eastern half of North America. According to longtime WBT station manager Cullie Tarleton, putting the Tar Heels on WBT was largely the idea of longtime coach
Dean Smith Dean Edwards Smith (February 28, 1931 – February 7, 2015) was an American men's college basketball Coach (basketball), head coach. Called a "coaching legend" by the Basketball Hall of Fame, he coached for 36 years at the University of North C ...
, who wanted to tell recruits from
New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...
that their parents would be able to listen to the games. Beginning in 2006, WFNZ served as the network's Charlotte outlet. However, its weaker nighttime signal forced the Tar Heels to contract first with WRFX (2006-2011) and WNOW-FM (2011-2012) to simulcast football games that kicked off after 5 p.m., as well as all basketball games. The Tar Heels returned to WBT beginning with the 2012 football season. North Carolina's second-most-powerful AM station, WPTF, joined the network in 2021. As part of the deal, WPTF became the network's new flagship, though WCHL remains as an affiliate station. WPTF had long been the flagship of rival NC State for more than 40 years until 2007.


List of affiliates


Current network stations


External links


List of affiliates from the Tar Heel TimesListen to Woody Durham's greatest calls
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References

{{University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill North Carolina Tar Heels Sports radio networks in the United States University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill media College basketball on the radio in the United States College football on the radio Learfield IMG College sports radio networks