On Friday night, the UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication honored the owner and CEO of Vilcom Inc., the parent company of WCHL.
At the Sheraton Chapel Hill, the school inducted Jim Heavner into the North Carolina Halls of Fame in Journalism, Advertising and Public Relations.
Heavner was one of eight inductees in the ceremony. Heavner’s lighthearted speech got the audience laughing.
“If you live in Chapel Hill and you’re committed to the truth then the first thing that we have to report is that no matter how many people you’re honoring, the most important outcome of all of these functions is that the university wind up making money on the occasion,” said Heavner.
Heavner joked that the group who picked inductees suggested other people, but it would have been too costly to fly stars in and pay for their hotels. Heavner imagined the journalism school’s dean, Susan King, suggesting a cost-cutting measure.
“They had one more choice to make, and Dean King said, ‘know anybody local?’ . . . ‘Well there’s always Heavner. If the dinner’s free, he’ll be here,’” Heavner said.
Heavner started working at WCHL in 1961 and moved the music station to the news/talk format.
Other Friday inductees included UNC Professor Emeritus Harry Amana, the first black journalism professor in the university; and Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC’s “Hardball.”
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