Walter Sturdivant

Walter Sturdivant, who began his broadcast career at WCHL, has returned as the President and General Manager of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro radio station.

After receiving his BA degree in Broadcast Journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill in 1981, Sturdivant joined WCHL and Tar Heel Sports Network as a reporter before accepting a job as news director for Curtis Media stations in Laurinburg.

Sturdivant now comes back to Chapel Hill from Beasley Broadcast Group where he was Vice President, General Manager for three of their radio stations and later VP/Director of Sales for their six-station group in the Fayettville area.

A native of Hamlet in Richmond County, North Carolina, Walter and his wife Derrell are the parents of two children, Jonathan and Mallory.

Zina Almers

Zina Almers has lived in Orange County for 24 years. After graduating from UNC in 1987, Zina found it very difficult to leave this great community. Zina brings 15 years of sales and marketing experience to WCHL. Prior to WCHL, Zina worked for The Herald-Sun Newspapers as The General Manager of The Chapel Hill Herald. She currently serves on the board of The Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce. She is the former chairwoman of Orange County’s United Way campaign and has served as a board member of The Hillsborough Chamber of Commerce, Orange County Communities in Schools and The Chapel Hill/Carrboro YMCA. Zina lives in Hillsborough with her daughter, who attends Orange County Schools.

Christy Dixon

Christy Dixon has been WCHL’s Station Manager since the radio station came back to Chapel Hill in 2002. Like many, Christy found her way to Chapel Hill to attend UNC and loved it here so much that she never left. As Station Manager her duties are manifold and her job description is lengthy! It is Christy’s job to listen to the community and work to put that feedback into action. Please let her know if there is anything you need, anything you want to know, or any praise or complaint you want to voice about WCHL. Outside of the radio station, Christy is a nature lover and enjoys hiking in the woods with her dogs and cuddling up to her feline roommates. All of them are Tar Heel fans through and through. Go Heels!

 Ron Stutts

To scores of Chapel Hillians, Ron Stutts is as essential to their morning routines as a cup of coffee. For a quarter century, Ron has awakened our community with interesting conversations, fascinating guests and a familiar voice. On Ron's show there's always sophisticated local humor and an occasional - but affectionate - jab at a public official.

He's sometimes irreverant, but never goes too far. If you want to know what's happening in our community, Ron's your guy!

Aubrey Fox

Aubrey Fox has been a part of the WCHL sales team since 2003. Originally from Washington DC, Aubrey prefers the slower pace and friendly atmosphere of her home in Carrboro. "I feel very lucky to have a job that allows me to interact with the business owners of Chapel Hill and Carrboro. What a wonderful place to live and work!"

An English major, Aubrey received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Washington College in Maryland. When she isn’t selling advertising Chapel Hill-Carrboro’s News Talk and Tar Heels station, she enjoys spending time with her friends and family, telling jokes and being funny, hiking in the woods with her dog and her weekly Pilates classes.

Jeff Hamlin

The Sports Director/Assistant News Director/Host of Live at 5/Webmaster/
part-time engineer/
part-time production lacky for 5 years, Jeff has a long history with WCHL. A full-time member of the station since it was (somehow) located at Durham Bulls Athletic Park, Jeff does play-by-play for high school football. He also hosts his own talk show, Cover 2 Sports, nightly, plus hosts Countdown to Tipoff, Off the Top Sports, and anchors WCHL's marathon football coverage on UNC Game Days.

A longtime observer of ACC sports, Jeff's favorite team will always be his beloved Appalachian State Mountaineers, who he did play-by-play for as a student in Boone. He's also a writer for the Chapel Hill News and MMAMadness.com. In his spare time, Jeff constantly fails at dating and keeps wondering whether Guns N' Roses will release Chinese Democracy before Duke makes a bowl game.

He lives in Durham.

Johnny Jones

Johnny’s official title is marketing manager, but the guy does so much more for WCHL.

Considered a “jack of all trades”, Johnny occupies his time implementing marketing and promotional campaigns; producing various commercials, on-air features, and specialty shows; engineering the radio station’s live remote broadcasts; serving as a liaison to local organizations; and mentoring college students in WCHL’s internship program.

A Howard University graduate (’03), Johnny lives by the motto that says, “…when you learn, you teach; when you get, you give”.

He is a Blue Ribbon Mentor-Advocate in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School System, a board member for the Orange County Rape Crisis Center, and a volunteer coach in Chapel Hill’s Rainbow Soccer league.

Johnny spends his free time with his wife, Angie, and enjoys traveling to different places when possible.

Joe Schwartz

Joe Schwartz just can't seem to leave Chapel Hill. In his latest attempt, he traveled to Beijing, China to work for the Olympic News Service but soon found the Southern Part of Heaven and a job leading the area's best community news forum beckoning. A few months and a few Southeast Asian countries later, he was back on a plane to help reassert WCHL's local presence.

WCHL marks the fifth local news organization Joe has worked for having already served as sports editor of Chapel Hill High School's The Proconian, an intern at The Chapel Hill News and editor in chief of The Daily Tar Heel, when he also hosted a news talk show on WXYC.

He's lived in Chapel Hill since 1996 when he moved all the way from Durham.

Jessica Simmons

Jessica Simmons, born and raised in Durham, is a 2007 graduate from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, with her Bachelors of Science degree in Public Relations.

After spending time in Winston-Salem at R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company in their Public Relations department she definitely has what it takes to help everyone get the job done and on time!! After working three and a half years as an office assistant at a personal injury law firm and being a full time student at the same time, Jessica is the definition of a hard worker.

In her free time she loves going to the beach, shopping, spending time with family and friends, and going out to dinner.

John Stillman

Upon realizing the error of his ways, Stillman is back at WCHL after a ten-month hiatus.

After spending several months as a news/sports reporter, he moved to Fayetteville where he spent almost a year with ESPN Radio 1450 as a producer and sales associate. Having endured being away from Chapel Hill for as long as is humanly possible, he returns to WCHL as an account executive.

As WCHL’s token Republican, Stillman enjoys Carolina football, the Atlanta Braves, Toby Keith, Brad Paisley, and the philosophy of the Old West. His dislikes include Coach K and hippies.

He graduated from Carolina in May ’06 and lives in Chapel Hill.

Walter Storholt

Walter Storholt is in his third year with WCHL. He joined the station in August 2005 as a student intern in the news and sports department. He has served as Jeff Hamlin's color commentator for high school football for three years and play-by-play for high school basketball for two years. Walter can be found reporting for 'CHL at most Tar Heel football and basketball games.

Walter is also known around the station as 'W2' or 'The Deuce.' He and Johnny Jones ('The Slash') blog for WCHL's website during Tar Heel basketball games and both are regular guests on Jeff Hamlin's show, Cover 2 Sports.

In his junior year at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Walter is majoring in electronic journalism with a primary focus on broadcasting. As a student, and with WCHL, Walter has received numerous national awards for sports and news radio broadcasting. Last summer he finished in the top five in the Hearst Foundation's National Radio News Competition in San Francisco, CA. Most recently, Walter was awarded four regional radio awards in the National Broadcasting Society’s student competition for best radio sports segment, program, play-by-play, and best news segment.

Born in Greensboro, NC, Walter lived there until his sophomore year of high school when he and his parents moved to the beach in the small town of Pine Knoll Shores. He cut his teeth in Morehead City's radio station, WTKF, as the play-by-play voice of high school football, board operator, and host of a teen-talk show called Youthpoints. Walter received invaluable experience under the tutelage of radio-great Ben Ball and editing extraordinaire Shane Willis. The two, along with the station's owner, Lockwood Phillips, helped pave the route for Walter to join the WCHL team.

Walter is absolutely in love with radio broadcasting, but he received his first opportunity in television as a member of a three man broadcast team for Carolina's men's basketball game against UNC-Asheville on national television on ESPNU on January 9. Walter is looking forward to working in both mediums as 2008 progresses, and is extremely excited about the upcoming summer. In July, Walter will travel, with several other UNC journalism students, to Beijing, China, to be a part of the 2008 Olympics.

Walter was thrilled with what 2007 brought him and the radio station, but he is excited to see what 2008 has to offer. He continues to live out his life motto, make each year even better than the last!