WRAL-TV
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| WRAL-TV | |
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| Raleigh / Durham / Fayetteville, North Carolina
<tr><th style="vertical-align: top; text-align: right;">City of license</th><td style="text-align: left;">Raleigh, North Carolina</td></tr><tr><th style="vertical-align: top; text-align: right;">Branding</th><td style="text-align: left;">WRAL 5 (general) | |
| Channels | 5 (VHF) analog, 53 (UHF) digital |
| Affiliations | CBS |
| Owner | Capitol Broadcasting Company |
| Founded | December 15, 1956
<tr><th style="vertical-align: top; text-align: right;">Call letters meaning</th><td style="text-align: left;">W RALeigh</td></tr><tr><th style="vertical-align: top; text-align: right;">Former affiliations</th><td style="text-align: left;">NBC (1956–62) |
WRAL-TV is a broadcast television station based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Broadcasting on VHF channel 5 (DTV on UHF channel 53), WRAL has been an affiliate of the CBS television network since 1985, and is the flagship station of Capitol Broadcasting Company. Its transmitter is located between Garner and Clayton, North Carolina.
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[edit] History
The station's first broadcast was on December 15, 1956, an airing of the 1947 movie Miracle on 34th Street. Capitol Broadcasting had won the license in something of an upset over the much larger Durham Life Insurance Company, owners of the Triangle's oldest radio station, WPTF-AM. Channel 5 was originally an NBC affiliate. When WNAO-TV, channel 28, went dark in 1959, WRAL shared ABC with WTVD until 1962, when it took the ABC affiliation full-time. This was somewhat unusual for a two-station market, and the reason for this is still not clear to this day. ABC was not on an equal footing with NBC and CBS, in terms of both ratings and affiliated stations, until the early 1970s. WTVD shoehorned NBC onto its schedule until 1968, when WRDU-TV signed on channel 28. Ironically, Durham Life bought WRDU in 1978 and changed the calls to WPTF-TV; that station is now MyNetworkTV affiliate WRDC-TV.
WRAL has broadcast some of the most memorable locally-produced children's programming throughout its storied history, but the most famous and longest-running is Time for Uncle Paul (1961-1981), starring Paul Montgomery, who had played various other characters on other local shows before getting his own program. He voluntarily ended his program after station management suggested a change to an educational format. Soon after, WRAL continued to produce acclaimed kids' shows with an educational slant, including Frog Hollow, Sparks, and The Androgena Show.
During the 1960s until his election in 1972, future Senator Jesse Helms was a regular editorial commentator on WRAL's news broadcasts. In fact, his politically conservative commentaries became so popular, WRAL began pre-empting the last ten minutes of the ABC evening network newscasts (then anchored by Howard K. Smith and Frank Reynolds or Harry Reasoner), giving Helms a ten-minute nightly program to himself.
In 1979, the station became the state's first to begin using a helicopter for newsgathering (Sky 5).
In 1985, Capital Cities Communications merged with the ABC network, making WTVD an ABC owned and operated station. As a result, the CBS affiliation moved to WRAL-TV effective August 4. Within six months, WRAL was the 4th strongest CBS affiliate in the country.
A severe ice storm in December 1989 caused the station's 2,000-foot tower to collapse, forcing WRAL off the air. A rather quick-timed arrangement with Fayetteville station WKFT-TV (now WUVC-TV) Channel 40 (which at the time was facing severe financial problems), allowed WRAL to return to the airwaves in only 3 hours. WKFT ran the entire WRAL schedule during this time. The station's new, stronger tower was launched on October 25, 1990, at which point WKFT reverted to airing its own programming.
In the early-1990s, WRAL broadcasted its programming via C-Band satellite as part of the Primetime 24 package, which offered network affiliates to viewers in the Caribbean, Latin America and rural areas where local signals are not available. It was replaced in the late-1990s with Erie, Pennsylvania's WSEE-TV.
In 1996, WRAL-TV was granted the first experimental high-definition television license in the United States by the FCC. In 2000, WRAL-HD aired the world's first all-HDTV newscast on October 13. In January 2001, WRAL converted all of its local news broadcasts to high-definition. Today, WRAL-TV airs the entire CBS program schedule, as it has since the late 1990s. The only exception to this rule involves ACC basketball programming from Raycom/Lincoln Financial Sports (formerly Jefferson-Pilot), which sometimes forces prime-time programmming from CBS to overnight timeslots during the season. WRAL is one of the few CBS affiliates that show The Young and the Restless from 4-5pm as a lead in to their 5pm newscast. Most CBS stations air Y&R from 12:30-1:30pm, but in the case of WRAL, the timeslot switch occurred in January of 1993, because the station's sitcom reruns (the show being run at the time was an hour block of The Golden Girls) were having no luck against The Oprah Winfrey Show on WTVD.
WRAL announced on February 1, 2006 that it will simulcast all of its programming on the Web to computer users in the Triangle, signifying the latest advance in technology-driven delivery of product by a local television station.
[edit] Newscasts
[edit] Weekdays
- WRAL News @ 5AM - 4:55 - 6:00AM
- WRAL Morning News - 6:00 - 7:00AM
- WRAL News @ Noon - 12:00 - 1:00PM
- WRAL News @ 5PM - 5:00 - 6:00PM
- WRAL News @ 6PM - 6:00 - 6:30PM
- WRAL News @ 11PM - 11:00 - 11:35PM (Everynight)
[edit] Weekends
Saturdays
- WRAL Saturday Morning News - 6:00 - 8:00AM
- WRAL News @ 6PM - 6:00 - 6:30PM
- Headline Saturday - 6:30 - 7:00PM
Sundays
- WRAL Sunday Morning News - 7:00 - 9:00AM
- WRAL News @ 6:30PM - 6:30 - 7:00PM
- Chuck Amato Show - 11:35PM - 12:05AM (Only during the College Football season)
WRAL is sister station to Fox affiliate WRAZ-TV and the two stations share news resources. WRAL produces the Fox 50 Morning news and FOX50 News at Ten. WRAL-TV's news is simulcast with local weather inserts on another of its sister stations, WILM-LP in Wilmington.
WRAL has one of the most-watched and most-respected television news organizations in North Carolina, winning numerous regional Emmys and often ranking #1 in the Raleigh-Durham television market in addition to being one of the highest-rated CBS affiliates in the country. That ratings success reaches back to the 1970s and 1980s when Charlie Gaddy's 6 p.m. newscast drew a 56 share in the Raleigh-Durham market. Until his retirement on July 1, 1994, Gaddy co-anchored newscasts alongside Bobbie Battista, Adele Arakawa (now with KUSA in Denver), Donna Gregory (who now works for NBC), and Pam Saulsby. Today Saulsby, along with current co-anchor David Crabtree (who replaced Gaddy in 1994), chief meteorologist Greg Fishel (who took over for retiring Bob DeBardelaben in 1989), and popular sportcaster Tom Suiter, is a part of the longest-running on-air news team (news, weather, and sports) in the Triangle.
On November 17, 2006, WRAL had a special "reunion" newscast at 6pm with Gaddy, Battista, DeBardelaben, and Suiter reprising their roles once again. This commemorated the station's 50th anniversary. [1]
[edit] Personalities, Past and Present
[edit] Present
- Rick Armstrong, reporter
- John Bachman, reporter
- Cullen Browder, reporter
- Valonda Calloway, morning anchor
- Kelcey Carlson, reporter/fill-in anchor
- Mike Charbonneau, reporter
- Renee Chou, weekend morning anchor
- Renee Coleman, reporter
- David Crabtree, 5 and 6 p.m. anchor (1994-present)
- Kim Deaner, weekend evening meteorologist
- Greg Fishel, chief meteorologist (1981-present)
- Elizabeth Gardner, morning/noon meteorologist
- Jeff Gravley, 10 and 11 p.m. sports anchor
- Sloane Heffernan, reporter
- Bob Holliday, weekend sports anchor
- Monica Laliberte, weekend evening anchor/5 on Your Side reporter
- Amanda Lamb, reporter
- Bill Leslie morning/noon anchor and environmental reporter (1984-present)
- Julia Lewis, reporter
- Lynda Loveland, morning anchor
- Dr. Allen Mask, Health Team physician
- Scott Mason, reporter/documentary producer
- Mike Maze, 5:30 and 11 p.m. meteorologist
- Ken Medlin, sports reporter
- Bryan Mims, reporter
- Mike Moss, weekend meteorologist
- Debra Morgan 5, 5:30, 10, and 11 p.m. anchor (1993-present)
- Gerald Owens, 5:30, 10, & 11 p.m. anchor
- Mark Roberts, traffic reporter/host of Brain Game
- Pam Saulsby, 5, 6, and 11 p.m. anchor (1991-present)
- Ken Smith, weekend evening anchor
- Tom Suiter, 6 p.m. sports anchor (1971-present)
- Fred Taylor, reporter
- Chris Thompson, fill in meteorologist
[edit] Past
- Adele Arakawa former co-anchor (1983-89, now at KUSA-TV in Denver)
- Jim Axelrod (now Chief White House Correspondent, CBS News)
- Bobbie Battista, former co-anchor (1976-81, joined CNN in 1982)
- Sam Beard, news anchor during the 1960s and early 1970s
- Bob Caudle, news and weather anchor/wrestling announcer
- Ned Colt (now an NBC News Correspondent)
- Bob DeBardelaben, former off-camera announcer and weather anchor (1963-1989)
- Bette Elliott, longtime host of women's program Femme Fare (1962-75)
- Charlie Gaddy, legendary anchorman (1970-1994)
- Donna Gregory, originated WRAL's 5:30 p.m. newscast (1988-1995, Now with NBC News)
- Jesse Helms, conservative political commentator (1960-72)
- J.D. Lewis, host of Teenage Frolics and editorialist (1958-1983)
- Paul Montgomery, star of Time for Uncle Paul (1956-1981)
- Renee McCoy, former reporter and morning/noon anchor (1982-2002, now does some freelance work in market)
- Ray Reeve, sportscaster
- Stuart Scott (now with ESPN)
- Ray Wilkinson 1963-1995 farm news, now deceased
- Dan Wilkinson son of Ray Wilkinson, farm news, now deceased
[edit] External links
- WRAL website
- A documentation of the WRAL tower crash of 1989
- 50th Anniversary Multimedia Page
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WRAL
| Broadcast television in the Raleigh/Durham/Fayetteville market (Nielsen DMA #29) | |||
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WUNC 4 / WUNU 31 / WUNP 36 (PBS/UNC-TV) - WRAL 5 (CBS) - WTVD 11 (ABC) - WNCN 17 (NBC) - WLFL 22 (The CW) - W24CP 24 (3ABN) - WTNC 26 (TFU) - WRDC 28 (MNTV) - WRAY 30 (S@H/JTV) - WACN-LP 34 (DS) - WUVC 40 (UNI) - WHFL-LP 43 (Worship) - WZGS 44 (Telemundo) - W45CN 45 / W45CO 45 / W63CW 63 / W64CN 64 (TBN) - WRPX 47 / WFPX 62 (i) - WRAZ 50 (Fox) - WWIW-LP 66 (DS) - W67CD 67 (A1) - W68BK 68 (Educational) | |||
| Local cable television channels | |||
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| Out-of-market broadcast television available on cable in some parts of the market | |||
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WECT 6 (NBC, Wilmington) | |||
| CBS Network Affiliates in the state of North Carolina | |
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WFMY 2 (Greensboro) - WBTV 3 (Charlotte) - WRAL 5 (Raleigh) - WNCT 9 (Greenville) - WILM-LP 10 (Wilmington) | |
| See also: ABC, Fox, NBC, PBS, CW, MNTV and Other stations in North Carolina
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