America 250: Orange County’s Changing Local Media Scene

Updated on February 17, 2026 with comments from WCHL’s Aaron Keck.

People are story-telling animals. We love to hear stories and we love to tell them, and the only thing better than a good story is a good story about someone you know, or about the place you live, or an experience that you’ve shared. It’s been this way since forever. Local stories are the best.

Long before social media feeds and push notifications, neighbors depended on familiar voices and trusted bylines to understand the world around them. Stories informed us, but they also connected us. They let residents know about a new business a neighbor was opening, who had won an election, which students made the honor roll, and how a community responds in moments of crisis. Local news was the thread stitching daily life together.

You might be forgiven for missing the sight of a newspaper at the end of the driveway. That simple ritual—walking outside to get the news—was a shared experience that generated a sense of communal belonging, that we were all part of the same thing—this town.

Chapel Hill News Leader

“When I came to The Chapel Hill News in 1993, the community was a heaven for journalists—and newspaper readers!” recalls Ted Vaden, former publisher of The Chapel Hill News. At the time, no fewer than seven newspapers covered news in Orange County. “This was an information feast for citizens, who had a smorgasbord of news with which to form opinions about elections, local government, their children’s schools, local sports, restaurants, churches and other essentials of community life.

News of Orange, 1964

Chapel Hill readers also relied on The Daily Tar Heel, founded in 1893, and the Chapel Hill Weekly, established in 1923. Hillsborough residents turned to the News of Orange, also dating to 1893. Later came the Chapel Hill Herald, and robust local coverage from multiple outlets.

Ron Stutts hosted the WCHL Morning Show for 35 years

Local radio provided a similar function. In 1976, mornings often began with a clock radio tuned to WCHL 1360 AM. The station, on the air since 1953, had become a trusted source of local news and, after 1968, Tar Heel sports and around-the-clock community coverage. It was more than programming; it was public service.

Few moments capture that spirit better than the 1968 mayoral election night, when Howard Lee won office in a historic victory. According to longtime broadcaster and later owner Jim Heavner, it was a defining night not only for Chapel Hill, but for local journalism itself.

The station deployed live reporters to the headquarters of both candidates. Staff members were stationed at each voting precinct, watching ballots counted and relaying tallies back to the studio.

Broadcasting in those days required ingenuity. When word spread around 7:30 p.m. that a rally would be held at a local church, a team from WCHL grabbed their equipment and rushed out. Reporters would unscrew the mouthpiece of a telephone and clip alligator clamps to its wiring to send audio back to the station over phone lines.

Arriving at the church, they discovered there was no phone; undeterred, they knocked on the door of a neighboring home and asked to borrow theirs. A wire was run through the neighbor’s window, stretched across the yard, and fed into the church. It was makeshift. It was imperfect. And it worked.

The rally itself, Heavner remembers, felt like “a true church revival.” Supporters sang “We Shall Overcome.” Speeches rang with conviction. And Howard Lee, drawing on his pastoral presence, addressed the crowd with both gravity and grace.

LAMBDA newsletter on UNC campus, 1979

Then came the internet. Newspapers and radio lost advertising; media outlets folded or merged. Social media replaced reporting. And just like that, the Triangle became “a news desert.” In a news desert citizens are deprived of the essential information they need to make decisions necessary to preserve democracy, and the soul and spirit of the place they call home.

Today, WCHL/Chapelboro has reinvented its format, delivering daily programming with diverse voices, in-depth interviews, and a strong local focus. The station has earned awards for its transformation, and morning news host Aaron Keck has been widely praised for growing the audience and expanding both the reach and range of local news coverage.

Aaron Keck with Chancellor Lee Roberts on WCHL Radio

Keck rejects the idea that Chapel Hill is a “news desert,” noting that WCHL produces six hours of hyperlocal news each weekday and continues to grow its audience, revenue, and digital presence. He adds that WCHL is part of a broader ecosystem of thriving local and regional outlets—print, radio, and television—that report on Chapel Hill, Orange County, and the Triangle every day

Technology has changed. Delivery systems have evolved. But the underlying need remains constant: communities require witnesses. In every era, local media has been both mirror and memory.

As Orange County marks America’s 250th anniversary, the question isn’t whether we need local journalism—it’s how we’ll sustain it. The news may not arrive moistened with the morning dew, or with the sudden clarity of a voice breaking through static. But as long as there are neighbors gathering in churches, businesses opening on main streets, students achieving milestones, and citizens casting ballots, there will be stories worth telling. And we must support them.

The challenge before us now is ensuring there are still journalists, in whatever form, committed to telling our stories well—and communities willing to support the essential work of bearing witness to our shared lives. Free press isn’t free. But we will become impoverished without it. 

America 250 Celebration

“A Gathering of Voices in Orange County,” a 48-page book made possible through the Visitors Bureau, will be released, free, on July 4, 2026 as part of Orange County’s America 250 Celebration in Hillsborough. Additional details about America 250 events will be announced in the coming month.

Author Valarie Schwartz, former writer of the beloved Neighbors column in the Chapel Hill News, spent decades documenting the people and stories that shaped Orange County.

For information: valariekays@mac.com