Beginning in October, each of the state's 58 community colleges will be profiled in a series of weekly reports on UNC-TV's nightly public affairs program, "North Carolina Now."

The series is being made possible through a production partnership between UNC-TV and the North Carolina Community Colleges Foundation.

The reports will kick off with a profile of Wake Tech on the October 10th broadcast of "North Carolina Now," which airs Monday through Friday at 7:30 p.m.  Most subsequent profiles will air on Thursday night broadcasts. Each profile will focus on a different campus, covering its history and role in meeting the community's various needs.

UNC-TV says independent producer Rick Sullivan will oversee the series.

North Carolina's community college system celebrates its 50th anniversary in October.

This week, we get the Democratic National Conventional, which starts on Tuesday in Charlotte.

Unlike the Republican convention, which was scheduled to run Monday through Thursday last week, the DNC only runs three days, Tuesday through Thursday. Broadcast networks will mostly handle the Democratic convetion the same way they handled the RNC: Coverage on morning news shows and on their nightly news programs, but just one hour of primetime coverage each night starting at 10 p.m. (only NBC deviates from this standard -- see below).

PBS (UNC-TV locally) will devote three hours of primetime to the convention each night, but no daytime hours. Cable news shows will be almost around-the-clock for the Charlotte action.  

As with the Republican show in Tampa last week, much of the TV coverage will start ahead of time on Sunday's political discussion shows.  



Here's a brief breakdown of what everyone will offer:

North Carolina banking legend John Medlin will be the subject of a three-part biographical series airing on UNC-TV.

The first installment of "Biographical Conversations with John Medlin" will air Thursday night at 10, with the next two episodes airing over the next two Thursdays.

Medlin, who passed away suddenly on June 7 at the age of 78, worked for Wachovia Corporation for more than 30 years and was the company's CEO from 1977 to 1993. Medlin retired from Wachovia in 1993 but remained on the bank's board as chairman until 1998.

In the interviews with UNC-TV's Shannon Vickery, which took place in October 2011, Medlin discusses growing up on his family's Depression-era farm near Benson, attending business school at UNC-Chapel Hill, his family life, his service in a submarine squadron with the U.S. Navy, and of course, his time at Wachovia.

"Biographical Conversations With ..." is an ongoing original production of UNC-TV funded by a grant from the A.J. Fletcher Foundation. Earlier this year, the program featured a three-part series on NASCAR pioneer Junior Johnson.

The 15th season of "North Carolina Bookwatch" will premiere on July 6 with an interview Western Carolina University professor and New York Times bestselling author Ron Rash.

Rash's latest book, "The Cove," is set in North Carolina during the last days of World War I.

Some of the other big names of Southern writing sitting down with host D.G. Martin this season are Ann Ross, author of the "Miss Julia" novel series, mystery writer Margaret Maron, and acclaimed writer Ben Fountain, a Chapel Hill native currently living in Texas.

The full schedule for the upcoming season is below. "North Carolina Bookwatch" airs on Fridays at 9:30 p.m. with repeats on Sundays at 5 p.m.

Bill Friday interviews Raleigh fixture Richard “Gus” Gusler on the “North Carolina People with William Friday” program tonight on UNC-TV.

In the interview, taped earlier this spring, Gusler talks to Friday about his time at N.C. State University in the 1960s, where he served as student body president and demonstrated for civil rights and against the Vietnam War.

Gusler also talks about his career as a sports and entertainment lawyer, and about working with his most famous client, the South Carolina band Hootie and the Blowfish.

UNC-EX will run a marathon of the entire second season of the Masterpiece Theatre hit series "Downton Abbey" starting Saturday (May 19) at 1 p.m. The marathon concludes with the wonderful season finale Christmas episode at 9:15 p.m.

If you haven't seen this yet, I encourage you to make some time for it.

UNC-EX is available over-the-air on channel 4.3 and on channel 173 if you have Time Warner Cable. If you have satellite, check your local channel guide.

UNC-TV will profile NASCAR legend Junior Johnson in a series of "Biographical Conversations" episodes that begin airing tonight.

Johnson, a Wilkesboro native with a larger-than-life history, is interviewed for the show by Shannon Vickery. Whether you're a fan of NASCAR or not, Johnson's personal story -- from moonshine runner to NASCAR mogul and back to the moonshine biz -- is pretty incredible. 

The first episode featuring Johnson airs tonight at 10 p.m. on UNC-TV. The next two episodes air on consecutive Thursdays at 10 p.m.: May 24 and May 31. In tonight's episode, Johnson talks about his childhood in Wilkes County, his moonshining career, and the beginning of his NASCAR driving career.

On May 24, Johnson talks about his time as a race car driver and being a team owner. The May 31 episode covers his success as a team owner, leaving NASCAR, his current family life and new business pursuits.

Photo by John D. Simmons of The Charlotte Observer

An 8-year-old from Moore County will appear on Monday's installment of "Biz Kid$," a public television series about financial literacy.

Maggie Batson of Whispering Pines is featured in the episode titled "Businesses that Give Back," because she sells necklaces made with recycled materials and donates profits to the Humane Society in Carthage.

Maggie isn't the only North Carolina kid to make the show. Some students from Smith Elementary School in Burlington appeared in an April 19 episode about understanding media manipulation and commercial messages, and an episode airing May 2 will have three siblings who opened their own business (FlipOutz bracelets) in Davidson.

"Biz Kid$" airs on UNC-KD, a UNC-TV channel devoted to programming for young people, at 5:30 p.m. It will repeat at 1:30 a.m. and again at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday.

The Democratic candidates for Governor will have three hour-long debates this week, each airing live on local television stations.

As someone who inexplicably holds on to a no-longer used "Dancing Elmo," I get that the character has an irresistible charm. The same is true of "Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey" (UNC-TV, 10 tonight), a lovely documentary about Kevin Clash, the man behind Elmo.

It's the story of a young, shy African-American boy from Baltimore who becomes mesmerized by puppets and puppetry, and as it turns out, that's his calling. Clash, we're told, made his first puppet out of the lining of his father's trench coat. Instead of getting in trouble, his parents astonished by his skill, told him to ask next time he felt the urge to restyle clothing.