New Hanover County is made up of nearly 30 departments, each responsible for services that people rely on every day – parks, libraries, permitting, public health, waste collection, and much more. 

Connecting residents to those services is one part of our job. Just as important is making sure the public can follow and engage with the decisions guiding our work and the actions of our Board of Commissioners. That’s where communications matter – and for more than two decades, Eric Peterson has helped lead that charge.

As a Media Production Specialist in our Office of Communications, Eric has played a steady role in how we share information. He’s produced original video, covered major events, curated our 24-hour cable channel, and helped broadcast nearly 500 Board of Commissioners meetings. That’s a remarkable contribution – quiet, consistent, and deeply valuable.

This month, I sat down with Eric to talk about how the job has changed and what it’s meant to be part of so many moments in our organization’s life. Here’s part of that conversation:

Eric, I’ve been with New Hanover County for a long time and certainly seen a lot of changes – but your service to our community even predates me. What ultimately led you to working for the county and what’s been the biggest change you’ve seen during your time?

Prior to New Hanover County, I worked at television stations in Wyoming and Illinois, then WECT and WSFX doing news and commercial production. In 2001, I was watching television one evening and I came across the county’s cable channel, which I think just went on the air, and there were job listings for the county – and one of them was for a video production specialist. I had been working my last job for about five years and kind of had an itch to try something new. The video production specialist role interested me, so I applied and ultimately got the job. Things have definitely changed over the years, mainly going from analog tape to digital recording, but also the convergence of video production technologies, and IT based technologies has made quite the difference in my job on the technological side.

I know you used to record our Board of Commissioner meetings on VHS tapes, which is probably a foreign concept to some of our younger residents. How has the shift from analog to digital and streaming changed your role over the years?

Yes, it used to be a VHS copy that we would make for distribution at the library so people could check it out to view the meeting, but also, we had a Panasonic DVCPro tape recording that would be then used to play back on the cable channel until the next meeting. My main role over the past 24 years and almost 500 Board of Commissioner meetings has always been to make sure that the equipment was working right so we would be able to get the meetings out over cable, so that hasn’t really changed. The transition to digital has made it easier in the recording and distribution of the Commissioner and Planning Board meetings. And with the growth of streaming and those capabilities, we are able to get that information out and make it available to more people.

You’ve seen a lot. You’ve heard a lot. You’ve captured a lot. From new buildings to natural disasters, I can’t imagine all the stories you could tell. But of everything you’ve gotten the opportunity to be involved with in your 20-plus years, what’s the biggest moment or event that stands out in your mind?

The best part of my job is that I get to interact with almost every department in our organization and I’ve had the chance to meet a lot of great people. I’ve been to a lot of groundbreaking and ribbon cutting ceremonies. I also had the challenges of COVID-19 and the long duration of Hurricane Florence. One thing that sticks out and is satisfying to me personally is we used to create videos every week of the dogs and cats up for adoption at Animal Control, before the Sheriff’s Office started doing it. At one point, Animal Control had to remove more than100 dachshunds from a home in the county and they had no idea how they were going to get them all adopted. The Communications team came up with a plan and we made videos and were able to get the word out. In the end, all of the dogs were adopted – and I even adopted two sweet dachshund pups.

Eric, thank you for the work, for adapting through change, and for making sure the public stays connected to what we do.

You can see Eric’s work – and that of our whole Communications team – on our social media channels (Facebook, X/Twitter, Instagram, YouTube) and at NHCtv.com.