Student Television (STV) is the local student access channel for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The Student television station was started in the early 1980s and aired its first show in 1983. The station, incorporated as a non-profit organization, is entirely student-run, and all programming is student-produced.
The tongue-in-cheek soap opera General College premiered in spring of 1987. A year later, it was licensed for syndication to college campuses all over the country on the cable TV station National College Television (NCTV). The cast included Billy Crudup and Dan Cortese, who would later become notable professional actors in television and film. The show ran for two years on NCTV, until the network's demise in 1990.
Programs
General College - soap opera.
Off the Cuff - sketch comedy show, the station's longest running program.
Bluelite District - sketch comedy and reality show.
Highphenated - minority-oriented soap opera.
Common Men - sitcom about several college students living with an adult roommate.
STV Late Night - late night talk show featuring live guests, music and more.
Music Seen - music and local bands.
Sanitation Grade B - weekly talk show.
Carolina Style - STV's first fashion-based magazine program.
Notable alumni
Television writer Tracey Ann Kelly ("The Bold and the Beautiful")
Feature director Peyton Reed (Bring It On, Down With Love, The Break-Up).
Feature director John Schultz (Like Mike).
Television writer/producers John Altschuler and Dave Krinsky (Executive producers of King of the Hill).
Actor Dan Cortese (as General College's cocky-until-he-was-paralyzed soccer jock Kyle Donovan).
Actor Billy Crudup (as General College's bisexual hero Jason Matthews).
Documentarian Tessa Blake (as General College villainess Zoe Anderson).
Reality TV star Shane Landrum (MTV's "Road Rules").
Television writer Bryan Tucker (as Off the Cuff sketch comedy actor) (Writer for Chappelle Show, Saturday Night Live).