Jerad Walker

3 weeks ago | wunc.org | Anisa Khalifa |Charlie Shelton-Ormond |Jerad Walker

Marlin fishing helps fuel a billion dollar recreational saltwater fishing industry. Much of it is situated on the North Carolina coast, which also happens to be the site of one of the oldest and most celebrated fishing competitions in the world – the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament. It’s an event filled with high stakes drama, and it continues to grow. But are there enough blue marlin in the ocean for the good times to keep rolling on?

1 month ago | wunc.org | Anisa Khalifa |Charlie Shelton-Ormond |Jerad Walker

The Pokémon universe includes wildly popular anime shows, films, video games, and plushies. But Pokémon’s competitive trading card game has a culture all its own. The competition is global. The business associated with it is lucrative and secretive. And both run through an unexpected place: North Carolina.

1 month ago | wunc.org | Anisa Khalifa |Jerad Walker

For much of the past two years, the debate over campus free speech has been front and center in America. While protests and punishments at private universities have grabbed most of the headlines, public schools have been grappling with the issue as well. That includes the country’s oldest public university: the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. And unlike the Ivy League, what’s happening there could have much broader and lasting first amendment implications.

1 month ago | wunc.org | Anisa Khalifa |Jerad Walker

In the late 1800s, dozens of utopian communities with radical beliefs and unusual forms of self-government sprung up throughout the United States. And perhaps the most remarkable one of them all, a group of free Black people who were led by a king and a queen, was nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Featuring:Dolen Perkins-Valdez, author of Happy LandFitz Brundage, historian and author of A Socialist Utopia in the New SouthLinks:You can find a transcript of the episode here.

Mar 8, 2025 | wunc.org | Charlie Shelton-Ormond |Jerad Walker |Anisa Khalifa

The NHL conquered the South by building the next generation of hockey fans almost completely from scratch.