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Trailer: Tar Heel Tribune Podcast with Britt Whitmire and R.L. Bynum
Jul 1, 2026
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0:00
Hello, this is Ariel Binham. I'm the
0:01
publisher of Torill Tribune. It's a site
0:03
I launched six years ago. I grew up on a
0:06
house on Franklin Street. Went to games
0:08
with my dad at Cormack Auditorium and
0:10
met my wife. We were both living in the
0:12
same dorm at Carolina. I was at the
0:15
eight points in 17 seconds comeback in
0:17
against Duke in 1974, which tells you
0:19
how old I am. Well, the site's been
0:22
doing well, and the next good step I
0:24
thought would be to start a podcast. And
0:27
to who better to co-host than uh Britt
0:29
Whitmire, who entertained us for years
0:32
on the Brad and Brit show and the Brad
0:34
and Brit podcast. That podcast only
0:38
ended sadly because of the death of Brad
0:40
Cray, but uh listeners to the site know
0:43
that Brit is a longtime Carolina fan and
0:46
uh has a clear disdain for Duke. So,
0:50
welcome Brit.
0:52
>> That's really the only qualification you
0:53
need for this job is to like Carolina
0:54
and not like Duke. Hey, it's great. I'm
0:56
really excited about this. I'm excited
0:58
about the idea that you and I are going
1:00
to be coming together and and doing uh
1:02
some updates, a podcast, if you will,
1:04
some video stuff, and talking about
1:05
Carolina sports. RL has been a
1:07
journalist for a long, long time, and
1:09
he's been a great journalist for a long
1:10
time. I don't think anybody's ever made
1:12
the statement, you know, I think RL got
1:13
that story wrong. I don't think
1:15
anybody's ever said that about his
1:16
reporting. So, what we hope to
1:18
accomplish here is to get all the
1:20
information out about the Carolina
1:21
teams. I'm gonna sprinkle a little sugar
1:23
on the top of it and we're gonna give
1:25
you information hopefully that you won't
1:26
be able to find anywhere else. And I'm
1:28
very excited about this opportunity.
1:30
>> Yeah. Many times we'll have guests uh
1:33
there'll be podcasts where we'll just
1:35
offering insights on the topics and
1:38
throwing around throwing around a few
1:39
opinions, but uh it it should be lively
1:42
and I know Brit will keep it
1:44
entertaining.
1:45
>> That's what I'm going to try to do. I'm
1:47
going to try not to destroy your
1:48
credibility. That's that's my main thing
1:50
here is to make sure that people hear
1:52
that information. You've got some great
1:54
sources and we're going to cover stuff
1:56
not just men's basketball which of
1:57
course is huge at Carolina and not even
1:59
football which is also huge at Carolina
2:01
but all of the sports and RL's going to
2:03
be telling me stuff that I don't know
2:04
and I think it's going to be a lot of
2:06
fun. We're looking forward obviously RL
2:08
just got back from another College World
2:09
Series uh where the Tar Hills came up
2:11
short and we're getting ready for
2:13
football season. Obviously we have the
2:15
summer break right now. It's another
2:16
highly anticipated football season with
2:18
Bill Bichic at the head of the Tar Hills
2:21
going to see if they can turn the
2:22
program around. So, there's a lot of
2:23
great storylines and stuff that's coming
2:25
up. So, there should be plenty of
2:26
material for us to cover.
2:28
>> Sure. And then and I'll be in Dublin for
2:31
that game against TCU, which uh you
2:33
know, last year after the first drive,
2:36
you you were thinking, well, okay, the
2:38
big time football has finally come and
2:41
then the game proceeded and the season
2:43
proceeded. So, but uh yeah, I'm excited
2:46
to go to Dublin. I I covered two Final
2:49
Fours. One of those was before I started
2:51
this site. As Brit mentioned, I've
2:53
covered two College World Series. I
2:56
mean, I've covered games in more than a
2:58
dozen states, including Hawaii. I did
3:00
every men's basketball game last season,
3:02
most women's games, and the majority of
3:04
the baseball games. So, it it'll be
3:06
exciting. Uh maybe Brit maybe can you
3:10
tell tell the listeners who may not be
3:12
familiar more about your background
3:14
other than what I've already mentioned.
3:16
>> I uh grew up in the mountains of North
3:18
Carolina and Transennsylvania County
3:19
which is right on the South Carolina
3:20
border and I was a Carolina fan from the
3:23
very first time I knew there was a
3:24
University of North Carolina. Uh I
3:27
remember very clearly the 81
3:29
championship game where Carolina came up
3:31
well short. It was Isaiah Thomas's final
3:33
college basketball game where he just
3:35
torched the Tarheelss at that point. Al
3:37
Wood was my favorite player. And then I
3:39
remember the redemption obviously in
3:40
1982. As a matter of fact, it kind of
3:42
occurs to me right now Scott Forbes, the
3:44
manager of the Tarheel baseball team, is
3:47
kind of in the same position Dean Smith
3:48
was in 1981 or 1982. He makes it to the
3:51
big game, but he can't win the big game.
3:53
And that was the people can't believe
3:55
this now, but that was the the the the
3:58
slide against Dean Smith for all of
3:59
those years. He just can't win the big
4:01
one. Over time, of course, he was able
4:03
to overcome that. I did not attend the
4:05
University of North Carolina. I went to
4:07
UNCCG myself. I had friends who were
4:09
there. And my first basketball game was
4:11
in 1988. That would be Jim Valvano's NC
4:14
State Wolfpack visiting North Carolina
4:16
with J.R. Reed. That game went into
4:18
overtime because they had some really
4:20
good three-point shooters for the NC
4:22
State Wolfpack at that time, including
4:24
Chris Ciani, including Kelsey Williams,
4:26
and they went for a very long stretch in
4:28
the second half where they couldn't hit
4:29
a field goal, but then they started
4:31
bombing threes at the end, tied the game
4:32
up, and Carolina was able to prevail in
4:34
overtime. So, that's sort of my
4:37
experience with the University of North
4:38
Carolina over the years. And um I I I
4:42
really like the fact that you have
4:43
complete integrity in this. Nobody is
4:45
paying for this trip for RL to go to
4:47
Dublin. Nobody paid for his trip to go
4:49
to Omaha. Nobody said, "Hey, you can
4:52
stay over here with the team if you'll
4:54
just give us this story." He has
4:55
complete integrity to do what he wants
4:57
to. He's going to be completely fair and
4:59
he's going to be completely unbiased in
5:00
his coverage of the Tarheelss.
5:03
>> And what you mentioned about uh Dean
5:06
Smith in 82, similar deal for Roy
5:09
Williams after
5:10
>> Yeah.
5:11
lost to Villanova and then came back and
5:14
I was in Arizona when they won the title
5:16
the next year. So
5:21
>> I I was in Carolina. I was in Chapel
5:23
Hill the night of the the loss to
5:25
Villainova when that amazing shot at the
5:27
end was hit and uh I I went around
5:30
campus and it looked like an actual
5:31
terrorist attack had happened on campus
5:34
at UNCC. Kids were on the corners with
5:36
their heads in their hands and then I
5:37
was there a year later when they were
5:39
able to redeem themselves. So, I've I've
5:41
been through some of the bad times and
5:42
some of the good times with this
5:43
program, and I'm really looking forward
5:45
to seeing what this football season
5:47
holds. I have certain opinions about
5:49
Bill Bich as a Raiders fan, and I know
5:51
that he stole a victory from the Raiders
5:53
in one of the most famous games in
5:55
history. But I try to put those aside as
5:57
we see what he can do in the college
5:58
ranks. This is going to be a pivotal
6:00
season for the North Carolina Tar Hills
6:02
in college football, and there's going
6:04
to be a lot of scrutiny, and it's going
6:05
to be interesting to see how all of that
6:07
unfolds.
6:10
And you talked about uh 81. I was a
6:12
junior that year and uh everybody still
6:15
went on Franklin Street after the the
6:17
loss and that was really eerie. Uh
6:21
people were bummed out but uh it was
6:23
just kind of a a therapy session on
6:26
Franklin Street. And then of course the
6:28
next year 82 was a little bit more fun
6:31
for everybody. Uh so but uh and I'll
6:36
throw in one uh little brush with
6:40
greatness just to give you a flavor of
6:43
uh me and Carolina basketball.
6:46
Uh my family and Dean Smith
6:51
uh were uh both members of Binkley
6:54
Baptist Church in Chapel Hill and they
6:56
didn't have facilities for baptism. So
6:59
they went to downtown at the University
7:02
Baptist Church when they had several to
7:03
do and his son Scott was in that group.
7:07
So uh long story short, I can say that
7:10
Dean Smith attended my baptism which is
7:13
a kind of a mixture of religions there.
7:16
So yeah,
7:17
>> you have a little bit better brush with
7:20
greatness than I did. I was one of the
7:22
first jobs I ever had in radio was at a
7:24
radio station called WPNF, which is in
7:26
Bard. It's now known as WSQL. And I was
7:29
running the board for Carolina Blue
7:31
Line, which was the call-in show. And
7:32
Coach Smith had just finished up the
7:34
1988 season, which was a little
7:36
disappointing for the Tarheelss. And I
7:38
actually called into the show,
7:40
congratulated him on a great season, and
7:41
I asked him to pick a an Olympic
7:44
basketball team for us in 1988, to which
7:47
the coach demured. So that that's my you
7:51
had a little more contact. I've always
7:53
thought that RL one of the great untold
7:55
stories of Carolina basketball when it
7:57
comes to Dean Smith was that 1976
7:59
Olympic team. There must have been
8:01
immense pressure on coach Smith and that
8:03
staff after the robbery in 1972 at
8:05
Munich. And coach Smith, he hired John
8:08
Thompson. He had John Thompson on that
8:10
staff. First African-American assistant
8:12
coach in Olympic history. A lot of
8:14
Carolina guys on that team, including
8:16
Phil Ford, Mcadoo, I think Davis were
8:18
all on that 76 team and they did
8:20
eventually prevail.
8:22
Yeah, and they did eventually prevail,
8:24
but I've always thought that there must
8:25
have been just a tremendous amount of
8:27
pressure on coach Smith to bring home
8:29
the gold in 76 in Montreal.
8:32
>> Yeah, particularly with all the Carolina
8:33
guys. If if if he had failed, uh that
8:36
there would have been massive criticism
8:37
because of course at that point he had
8:40
not won a national title.
8:41
>> So, right,
8:42
>> people were saying what they were saying
8:44
about not being able to win the big one.
8:46
But uh yeah, but uh anyway, we we hope
8:51
you'll listen. We hope you'll watch.
8:53
It'll all the episodes will be on the
8:56
Torill Tribune uh YouTube page. And we
9:01
look forward to uh we'll have a guest
9:03
this week talking about Carolina
9:05
basketball and some of those uh
9:08
scrimmages at the uh camps that have
9:11
been going on in the last week. Maybe
9:12
get some insights on that. So, make sure
9:15
and listen in and we'll talk to you
9:17
soon.
9:19
Thanks.
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