WRAL-TV

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(Redirected from WRAL-HD)

Template:Infobox Broadcast 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 locally owned by Capitol Broadcasting Company. Its transmitter is located between Garner and Clayton, North Carolina.

1 History
2 Newscasts
3 Personalities, Past and Present
4 Syndicated Programming
- 4.1 Syndicated Shows Formerly Shown on WRAL
5 External links

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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. It 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 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 UPN affiliate WRDC-TV.

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-TV an ABC owned and operated station. As a result, the CBS affiliation moved to WRAL-TV.

A severe ice storm in December 1989 caused the station's 2,000-foot tower to collapse, forcing WRAL off the air. By cooperation with Fayetteville station WKFT-TV Channel 40 (which at the time was facing severe financial problems), it was back on the air in 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, with the exception of ACC basketball programming from Raycom/Jefferson Pilot, which occasionally, during the season, forces some prime-time CBS programming to overnight timeslots. 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. The Y&R 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.

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Newscasts

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)

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.

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Personalities, Past and Present

Jesse Helms (1960s, commentary)
Bobbie Battista (joined CNN in 1982)
Charlie Gaddy (until 1994)
Adele Arakawa (1980s)
Bob DeBardelaben (weather, until 1980s)
Greg Fishel (weather)
David Crabtree (1994-present)
Pam Saulsby
Debra Morgan
Tom Suiter (sports)
Donna Gregory(1988-1995, later worked for WNCN)
Renee McCoy
Bill Leslie

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Syndicated Programming

WRAL airs the following syndicated series:

Dr. Phil: weekdays, 9am-10am
The Andy Griffith Show: two episodes, weekdays, 10am-11am (the station has held the rights to this show in this market continuously for decades)
The Insider: weekdays, 1pm-1:30pm
Inside Edition: weeknights, 7pm-7:30pm
Entertainment Tonight: weeknights, 7:30pm-8:00pm

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