WRAL-TV
FCC | |
Facility ID | 8688 |
---|---|
ERP | 833.7 kW |
HAAT | 625 m (2,051 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 35°40′29″N 78°31′39″W / 35.67472°N 78.52750°W |
Links | |
Public license information | |
Website | www |
WRAL-TV (channel 5) is a
WRAL-TV is a
WRAL-TV has been affiliated with NBC since February 29, 2016, when it ended a 30-year affiliation with CBS, with CBS going to Goldsboro-licensed WNCN (channel 17) on that date. This is channel 5's second stint with NBC; it was a primary affiliate with that network for six years at the station's inception, after which it took on a secondary affiliation with NBC for the next nine years.
History
Early years
WRAL-TV began broadcasting on December 15, 1956. Among the first programs aired was the movie Miracle on 34th Street. A. J. Fletcher's Capitol Broadcasting Company, which first licensed WRAL Radio (AM 1240, now WPJL) in 1938, won the TV license in an upset over the much larger Durham Life Insurance Company, then-owners of radio station WPTF.[2]
WRAL was originally an NBC affiliate, taking that network from
From 1960 until his election to the United States Senate in 1972, Jesse Helms was an editorialist on WRAL-TV's news broadcasts; by the early 1970s, the editorials were running for 10 minutes every weeknight. Helms' conservative commentaries were both controversial and popular with many viewers.
Switch to CBS
In March 1985, WTVD's owner,
In December 1989, WRAL was knocked off the air when a severe ice storm caused the collapse of the station's 2,000-foot (610 m) transmitter tower. Within hours, channel 5 cut a deal with the then-struggling Fayetteville independent station WKFT-TV (channel 40, now Univision O&O WUVC-DT), allowing WRAL to return to the air in only three hours. WKFT ran the entire WRAL schedule during this time. The station's new, stronger tower was activated on October 25, 1990, at which point WKFT reverted to broadcasting its own programming.
In the early 1990s, WRAL distributed its programming via C-Band satellite as part of the Primetime 24 package, reaching viewers in the Caribbean and Latin America, as well as the few rural areas of the United States and Canada where local over-the-air broadcast signals were not available. It was replaced in the late 1990s with fellow CBS affiliate WSEE-TV from Erie, Pennsylvania, primarily because of WRAL's preemptions of network programming due to ACC basketball games, which were (and still are) a highly-popular audience draw in North Carolina.
Return to NBC
On January 15, 2016, WRAL-TV announced that it would switch to NBC on February 29, 2016. Concurrently, CBS announced that the existing NBC station, Media General-owned and Goldsboro-licensed WNCN (channel 17), would replace WRAL-TV as the Triangle's CBS affiliate the same day.[6] Capitol Broadcasting president and CEO Jim Goodmon stated that CBS would only renew its affiliation with WRAL if it entered into a reverse compensation agreement—under which Capitol would be required to pay the network for the local rights to air its programming, the complete opposite of traditional commercial television practices. NBC, on the other hand, took the line that an affiliation deal was a partnership. Goodmon saw the switch to NBC as "a business decision for the future."[7] The last CBS program to air on WRAL was a showing of the movie Last Vegas at 9 p.m. Eastern Time.[8]
WRAL officially rejoined NBC at 7 a.m. on February 29. In a ceremony at the end of the morning newscast, Goodmon pressed a button decorated with the
The delay in the affiliation switch kept CBS's coverage of Super Bowl 50, which featured the Carolina Panthers (based in nearby Charlotte) as champions of the National Football Conference, on WRAL-TV. As an NBC station, channel 5 carried the 2016 Stanley Cup Finals and the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, making it the only television station in the United States to air all three events from different networks in the same year.[12]
Programming
WRAL clears most of the NBC schedule in pattern, except for one hour of
However, the 2003 reality show Cupid did not air on the station, as have some controversial shows on sister station WRAZ, and WRAL was one of a few CBS affiliates in the nation that did not carry an hour of CBS' weekend morning children's programming block (in favor of Brain Game and Smart Start Kids). WRAL was also one of the few CBS affiliates that aired The Young and the Restless at 4 p.m. as a lead-in to its 5 p.m. newscast. Most CBS stations in the Eastern Time Zone air Y&R at 12:30 p.m. (CBS' recommended time for the show), but in the case of WRAL, the timeslot switch occurred in January 1993. This happened because the station's sitcom reruns (the show being run at the time was an hour-long block of The Golden Girls,[13] making it ironic that during their ABC affiliation they were one of 13 affiliates not to carry the original network run of Soap, another Witt/Thomas/Harris Production[14]) were having no luck against The Oprah Winfrey Show on WTVD. (The second half of their noon newscast and Right This Minute aired in Y&R's recommended time slot.)[15] Following WRAL-TV rejoining NBC on February 29, 2016, Y&R continued to air at 4 p.m. on WNCN while WRAL-TV carried local news at the time slot until January 17, 2022, when WNCN moved it to its traditional 12:30 p.m. timeslot and introduced its own 4 p.m. newscast.[16]
When WRAL joined CBS in 1985, it became the Triangle's home for the
. Despite the NCAA Tournament moving with the rest of the CBS schedule to WNCN, WRAL-TV continued to air ACC football and/or basketball.WRAL has broadcast memorable locally produced children's programming throughout its storied history. Its most famous and longest-running is Time for Uncle Paul, which ran from 1961 to 1981, and starred Paul Montgomery. He 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[
WRAL announced on February 1, 2006, that it would begin to stream all of its programming live on the internet. This signified the latest advances in technology-driven delivery of product by a local television station. A few months later, WRAL was selected to be the flagship station for North Carolina Education Lottery drawings (twice daily for certain games, with the multi-jurisdictional Mega Millions Tuesday and Friday nights, and Powerball Wednesdays and Saturdays). On December 3, 2007, WRAL became the first local television station to stream live video to mobile phones.[17]
Football Friday
Debuting in 1981, each Friday evening following the 11 p.m. news,
News operation
WRAL-TV presently broadcasts 42 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with seven hours each weekday, three hours on Saturdays and four hours on Sundays). WRAL has the highest rated television news organization in the Triangle[21] winning numerous regional Emmys. Most recently, WRAL and wral.com were nominated 29 times for Mid-South Regional Emmys.[22]
Until his retirement on July 1, 1994, Charlie Gaddy co-anchored newscasts alongside Bobbie Battista, Adele Arakawa (now with KUSA-TV in Denver), Donna Gregory (who now works for WWAY in Wilmington), and Pam Saulsby (formerly of WTVJ in Miami). From 1994 to 2022, David Crabtree (formerly of KCNC-TV and KMGH-TV in Denver, WITN-TV in Washington, North Carolina, and WKRN-TV in Nashville) and Debra Morgan were part of the longest-running on-air news team (news, weather, and sports) in the Triangle and one of the longest-running news teams in the state. Long time sports anchor Tom Suiter retired on December 18, 2008, and was replaced by Jeff Gravely, also a sports reporter and anchor for the 10 p.m. news on WRAZ. Jeff Gravely retired from WRAL, and Chris Lea (formerly of WXII in Winston-Salem) became the sports anchor in 2020.
In September 1995, WRAL began to produce newscasts for WRAZ. That station usually simulcasts local breaking news coverage from WRAL. For national breaking news events, WRAZ carries Fox News coverage, while WRAL carries coverage from NBC News. Otherwise, WRAZ may broadcast NBC programming in case WRAL cannot do so as in news-related emergencies. The WRAZ broadcasts include a three-hour newscast at 7 a.m. weekday mornings and a weeknight hour-long, weekend half-hour newscast at 10 p.m., seven nights a week. WRAZ previously aired a 4 p.m. newscast on weekdays; however that newscast moved to WRAL on February 29, 2016, replacing The Young and the Restless.[23]
WRAL was the first commercial station to provide high definition programming when it obtained an experimental HD transmission license from the FCC in 1996.[24] On October 13, 2000, WRAL aired the world's first all-HD newscast.[25] On January 28, 2001, WRAL converted all of its newsgathering and broadcasts to all digital high definition[25] (the WRAZ newscasts are broadcast in high definition as well). On November 17, 2006, WRAL had a special "reunion" newscast during the 6 p.m. broadcast with Gaddy, Battista and DeBardelaben reprising their roles once again in commemoration of the station's 50th anniversary alongside Suiter. On October 10, 2007, the WRAL sports department launched a sports talk radio station, WCMC-FM (which switched from a country music format); it is now the only FM sports talk station in the area and broadcasts in HD Radio. WRAL's newscasts are simulcast with local weather inserts on another sister station, WILM-LD in Wilmington.
The station moved newscasts out of the newsroom into Studio A in 2019 and upgraded to 4K cameras. A new set debuted with the noon newscast on October 31, 2019. The set, designed by Florida based FX Design Group, features a 20-by-11-foot (6.1 m × 3.4 m) LED video wall, the largest installation in a local news operation, and a smaller curved LED wall near the anchor desk.[26]
Agricultural coverage
WRAL was one of the first stations in North Carolina to cover agricultural markets and farm news in its regular newscasts. During 1953, Farm Program aired from 6 to 6:15 a.m. and Regional and Farm News aired between 12:45 and 12:55 p.m. from Fayetteville.[27]
WRAL's noon newscasts included a farm segment featuring each day's farm commodity prices, followed by a feature agricultural story from somewhere in the viewing area or around North Carolina. This grew WRAL's popularity in rural areas and with farmers, especially in Eastern North Carolina. The segments were anchored by veteran farm reporter Ray Wilkinson and were dropped in the late 1990s, but were continued on the evening news broadcasts by Ray's son Dan Wilkinson. After the sudden unexpected death of Dan Wilkinson in October 2003, it was decided that the station would no longer have a full-time farm reporter and frequent agricultural coverage came to an end.[28]
Sky 5
In 1979, WRAL became the state's first television station to begin using a news helicopter, known as "Sky 5". The
The current
In over 30 years of electronic news gathering using helicopters, WRAL has had no significant incidents and remains one of the few stations to own rather than lease their helicopter. "Sky 5" has also participated in numerous search and rescue operations over the years at the request of local emergency officials before returning to newsgathering duties.[30][31]
Awards
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (March 2012) |
WRAL has received award nominations for news 32 times, tying
In 1997, WRAL received eight Mid-South Regional Emmy Awards including those for news excellence, best newscast, best hard news series and investigative reporting.[37] In 1998, WRAL received seven Mid-South Regional Emmy Awards including those for best daytime newscast, special event coverage, news magazine, news promotion, public service announcement, and best children's entertainment program.[38]
WRAL was awarded nine Mid-South Regional Emmy Awards in 2000 including for documentaries on the Cape Light and coverage of the Special Olympics World Games. Jim Goodmon, president and CEO of WRAL parent company Capitol Broadcasting Company, Inc., was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award as well.[39]
In 2008, among the nine Emmy awards received by WRAL and WRAL.com received the inaugural award in Advanced Media for Interactivity for the video player used throughout the website.[40] The station also won a bronze Horizon Interactive Award for their online hurricane tracker.[41] Geoff Levine won the National Press Photographer of the Year award and the station received 6 awards from the North Carolina Associated Press Broadcasters.[42]
WRAL has consistently swept television media categories in the
Notable current on-air staff
- Scott Mason – Tar Heel Traveler anchor/producer
Notable former on-air staff
- KUSA in Denver, now retired)
- Jim Axelrod – political reporter (1993–1996, now with CBS News)[45]
- Fox News Channel)
- The Onion News Network; deceased)
- Sandra Bookman – weekend anchor/reporter (1985–1989, now at WABC-TV in New York)
- Rich Brenner – sports anchor (1978–1981; deceased)
- Dale Cardwell – reporter (1985–1991, later at WSB-TV in Atlanta. Democratic candidate for US Senate, 2008)
- Bob Caudle – news and weather anchor/wrestling announcer
- David Crabtree – evening anchor (1994–2022)
- Certified Broadcast MeteorologistSeal of Approval) – chief meteorologist (1981–2019)
- Charlie Gaddy – anchorman (1970–1994)
- Jesse Helms – general manager, commentator (1960–1972, later U.S. Senator, deceased)
- Brad Johansen – anchor (2018–2019, later at WCMH-TV in Columbus)
- Nate Johnson (AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist and NWA Seals of Approval) – meteorologist (now Director of Weather Operations at NBC Owned Television Stations)
- Bill Leslie – anchor (now retired)
- Ray Reeve – WRAL's first sportscaster (1956–1973, deceased)
- Stuart Scott – reporter (1988–1990, deceased)
- Tom Suiter – sports anchor, Football Friday anchor/producer and reporter for "The Extra Effort Award" (1981–2008; continued hosting the Football Friday program until the end of the 2015–16 football season; is currently retired)
- Mikaya Thurmond – journalist (2015–2022)
- Ray Wilkinson – farm news (1963–1995, deceased)
- Fox News Channel)
Technical information
Subchannels
The station's digital signal is
Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
---|---|---|---|---|
5.1 | 1080i | 16:9 |
WRAL HD | NBC |
5.2 | 480i | WRAL DT | Cozi TV | |
5.3 | WRAL 3 | Start TV | ||
5.4 | WRAL 4 | Ion Mystery | ||
34.1 | 720p | 16:9 | WARZ CD | WRAL Plus (WNGT-CD) |
On June 19, 1996, the
The station's digital signal moved to channel 53 in March 2000.WRAL-TV was the first in the U.S. to broadcast a live sports program in high definition (on September 6, 1997), as well as the first HD newscast (on October 13, 2000).[49] CBS utilized WRAL-HD in testing its own high-definition programming, and in 1999, began providing the station with a regular schedule of prime time programs in HD. HD sports programming recorded by WRAL was provided to other model stations as well.[50] WRAL-TV's pioneering efforts in digital television have won wide recognition from within the television industry.[51][52]
Analog-to-digital conversion
WRAL-TV discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over
ATSC 3.0
| |
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UHDTV demo loop | |
History | |
First air date | June 29, 2016 |
Last air date | 2018 |
Technical information[54] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
Facility ID | 703425 |
ERP | 40 kW |
HAAT | 548 m (1,798 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 35°40′35.1″N 78°32′7.2″W / 35.676417°N 78.535333°W |
Links | |
Public license information |
On June 29, 2016, WRAL became the first U.S. television station to begin broadcasting a full-time service using
Channel | Video | Programming |
---|---|---|
39.1 | 1080p | Main WRAL-TV programming / NBC |
39.2 | 2160p |
Ultra high-definition demo loop
|
Mobile Emergency Alert System
WRAL-TV debuted the first Mobile Emergency Alert System (M-EAS) in the United States on September 13, 2012.[59] The system allows emergency information including text, web pages and video to be distributed to compatible receivers using existing digital television signals.[60]
Station coverage
WRAL's signal can be viewed across much of Central and Eastern North Carolina. The official eastern fringe of the Raleigh market is
WRAL-TV is still viewed and is quite popular with many outside of the Triangle, mainly in portions of the
Significantly-viewed status
In addition to the 23 counties in the
Out-of-market cable carriage
For decades, WRAL has been available on cable in much of the eastern portion of North Carolina, as far east as Wilmington. It is also available on cable systems in portions of the Charlotte and Triad media markets, as well as the North Carolina portions of the Hampton Roads and Florence–Myrtle Beach markets. In recent years, it has also been picked up by cable systems on the fringes of the Richmond and Roanoke markets.[62]
During the 1970s and 1980s through CATV, WRAL was once carried in even more places. In North Carolina, it was once carried in
Amenities
The station building, shared by WRAL-TV and WRAZ, and located at 2619 Western Boulevard in Raleigh, adjacent to the
References
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{{cite web}}
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