Connie Walker

WUNC President and General Manager Connie Walker died on May 19, 2021 in Durham, North Carolina. Her obituary can be found here.

Connie Walker has been the President and General Manager of North Carolina Public Radio – WUNC since 2009. Prior to being appointed manager, she worked for more than 25 years in various roles including Program Director, News Director and Reporter at WUNC, Wisconsin Public Radio and at commercial radio stations in the Midwest. She is a leader in the public radio system, having joined the Board of Directors for NPR six years ago, as well as serving six years on the board of Greater Public, a training and fundraising organization, and three years on the board of directors for Station Resource Group. She is currently also serving on the boards of Eastern Regional Public Media, and The University Station Alliance. She also served two terms as president of Public Radio News Directors Incorporated from 2001 to 2005.

Connie is responsible for the management, growth and sustainability of WUNC, the public radio broadcast service of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. WUNC serves 375,000 weekly listeners across analog, HD and online platforms. In North Carolina, WUNC reaches nearly half of the state, from Greensboro to the Outer Banks and also serves the Fayetteville region to the south. North Carolina Public Radio is headquartered on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus, and also has a large production facility at the American Tobacco Historic District in Durham. North Carolina Public Radio has reporters at bureaus located in Greensboro at the Triad Stage, a Raleigh studio at the Museum of Natural Sciences and at the state legislative building. In addition to WUNC-Chapel Hill, North Carolina Public Radio broadcasts on signals in Rocky Mount, Fayetteville, Manteo, Buxton and Welcome.

Under Connie’s direction, North Carolina Public Radio is a system leader in audience, fundraising and program production. WUNC is often number one in morning drive in the Raleigh market and consistently out performs its market size nationally in nearly every audience measurement category. In addition, WUNC’s programming teams have won some of the most prestigious awards in broadcast journalism.

Locally, Connie’s activities include past membership on the Board of Directors for the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill Association of University Women Professionals, membership in the Triangle Leadership Group of Fifty and past participation in the American Heart Association’s “Circle of Red”. She has also been a Big Sister mentor to a teenage girl through Big Brothers and Sisters of the Triangle.

Connie has a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Journalism and English from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. She was a recipient of the university’s Outstanding Young Alumni Award in 1993.