News Release

North Carolina’s WUNC-FM
a public radio leader

CHAPEL HILL – A new service from North Carolina Public Radio station WUNC (91.5 FM) lets listeners catch their favorite programs wherever and whenever they want.

The station launched a podcasting service Tuesday, allowing listeners with an MP3 player to hear North Carolina Public Radio programs – and many other public radio programs produced around the country – on demand. A hybrid of "iPod" and "broadcast," podcasting is the popular term for downloadable audio.

"Not everyone can listen to their radio when our programs originally air, so we see this as an opportunity to serve our listeners by making our programming accessible in a way that fits their schedules," said general manager Joan Siefert Rose. "Our goal is to provide one-stop shopping for our listeners who are interested in downloadable audio, so they can access the broader world of public radio through our site."

Locally produced news, special reports and the station’s signature show, "The State of Things," are among some of the downloadable programs featured on the station’s Web site, www.wunc.org. The site also will host a growing menu of other content from public radio stations across the country.

Listeners can visit the site and use software such as iTunes, iPodder or Pubcatcher, a free application, to download podcasts. They also can browse and click on programs with an XML icon to download. Once the podcasts are set up, audio files are automatically downloaded onto the user’s computer to listen to any time and can be loaded onto an MP3 player for portability.

North Carolina Public Radio-WUNC is one of the first public radio stations to license Pubcatcher, a tool developed by Public Radio Exchange in Cambridge, Mass., that allows public radio listeners to subscribe to podcast feeds of their favorite programs.

"Many listeners have asked us to take the step into podcasting, so we are excited to be among the leaders nationally in taking public radio into the realm of on-demand media," Rose said. "This is a new way of listening to public radio, and we encourage listeners to let us know what they think about the service."

North Carolina Public Radio-WUNC is a service of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, broadcasting at 91.5 FM in the Triangle and Triad, at 90.9 FM in Rocky Mount/Wilson, and at 88.9 FM on the Outer Banks.

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WUNC Contact: Joan Siefert Rose, (919) 966-5454 or jsrose@wunc.org.

News Services contacts: Print, Lisa Katz, (919) 962-2093, lisa_katz@unc.edu; broadcast, Karen Moon, (919) 962-9585