WRAL-TV
2619 Western Blvd
Raleigh, NC 27606
(919) 821-8555

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WRAL-TV

Overview
As the first VHF television station in Raleigh, NC, WRAL-TV immediately began setting high standards of broadcasting and news excellence, quality local programming and service to the community.

WRAL-TV has long been known and recognized for its innovative and quality programming, its extraordinary commitment to serving the communities in which we live, and providing its viewers with the best technology available on the market today. These attributes are inherent in our everyday policies and decisions, and help us provide the highest quality media service to our viewing audience.

Located on Western Boulevard, only a few miles from downtown Raleigh, WRAL-TV has been awarded nationally for its public service promotions, local programming and news reporting.

Mission Statement
Everything we do at WRAL-TV is based on the fact that we recognize and accept excellence as a fundamental goal of our television station. It is our inherent desire to be the best local television station in the country. We will affirm that commitment daily by maintaining the highest standards of excellence throughout our local news, entertainment, information and public service programming. Essential to that effort is a foundation of honesty and integrity -- qualities which will help us earn and build trust with our viewers, co-workers and business partners.

Accuracy and fairness are the cornerstones of our local news effort. As A.J. Fletcher said in 1956, "...to inform the public without bias or favor is this station's highest duty." We build upon that foundation by being solution-oriented in our news coverage, offering viewers helpful information and providing context to the stories that affect our viewers' lives. We provide a balance of all kinds of news about all aspects of life, emphasizing people's successes as well as their failures.

We recognize that hard work and creativity are our greatest assets. We seek to attract and retain the very best people at every level. We are open to positive change and innovation, with each of us continually working to expand our willingness to take responsibility, and be accountable for our actions.

WRAL-TV is strongly committed to the communities we serve. Public service is an important part of what we do every day, and we encourage our employees to be active participants in the process. We want to be an integral part of our viewers' lives, and we realize that community involvement is at the core of who we are and what we do.

We operate with a genuine team spirit, treating each other with respect and encouragement. We seek to build upon each other's ideas, making decisions based upon what's best for our customers and our company. In this same spirit, WRAL-TV strives to provide financial prosperity to our company, our business partners and our families.

History
Viewers all over central North Carolina have been tuning in to WRAL-TV since it first went on the air with “Miracle on 34th Street” on December 15, 1956. Through affiliations with NBC, ABC and now CBS, WRAL-TV has consistently ranked as one of the top local stations in the country.

On the Triangle and national scene for almost 50 years, WRAL-TV’s history could fill a set of encyclopedias. A few highlights include being the first to TV station in the state and one of the first in the nation to purchase a helicopter for our newsgathering efforts in June of 1979. WRAL-TV then added the area's first team of professional TV meteorologists in 1982 and joined stations in Charlotte and Greensboro in 1983 to form the Carolina News Network -- one of the nation's first regional TV news networks. In 1984, WRAL became the first TV station in the state and the second in the nation to use a KU-band transportable uplilnk vehicle, or "satellite truck," allowing us to broadcast from anywhere in North America.

In 1989, WRAL-TV's 2,000-foot tower collapsed after a severe ice storm, taking the station off the air. However, due to resourcefulness and the help of Fayetteville’s WKFT, Channel 40, WRAL-TV was back on the air only three hours after the collapse. WRAL began broadcasting from a new, more stable tower on October 25, 1990. The new 2,000-foot tower became the heaviest transmitting tower in the world, weighing in at about 723 tons. That became the tallest man-made structure east of the Mississippi River.

WRAL entered the digital age in 1995, launching WRAL OnLine (now WRAL.com) -- the area's first local TV Web site. The site is one of the nation's most honored local news Web sites, featuring up-to-the-minute, comprehensive local and national news, the latest forecasts and live Doppler 5000 images, sports scores, live traffic information and more.

WRAL became the nation's first commercial station to broadcast a high-definition signal on July 23, 1996. During that month, WRAL-HD, Channel 32, signed on the air. The newly-christened WRAL-DT began broadcasting at full power on its permanent home on March 24, 2000.

On Jan. 28, 2001, WRAL became the world's first high-definition TV newsgathering operation with the debut of the station's all-digital HD newsroom.

In 2000, WRAL-DT became the first station in the nation to begin broadcasting a data channel to personal computer users.

WRAL-TV also took advantage of the increased capacity afforded them by this new digital spectrum. In 2001, WRAL-TV launched a full-time local news channel on WRAL-DT digital channel, the WRAL NewsChannel, and on March 3, 2003, launched the WRAL Weather Center Channel.

View History Timeline

View WRAL 50th Anniversary Movie

Firsts
WRAL-TV has always taken a leadership role in the industry and the community, as is reflected in our list of accomplishments:

• First area television station to use a satellite to relay live coverage of a major news story
• One of the first stations in the country to begin a regional television news network
• One of the first stations in the country with a microwave-equipped helicopter
• First television station on the East Coast to have a portable satellite truck for news coverage
• First station in the Raleigh/Durham market to broadcast an hour-long newscast
• First newscast with state-of-the-art WeatherCenter staffed by a team of meteorologists
• First commercial television station to broadcast an HDTV signal
• First station in the Raleigh/Durham area to have a state-of-the-art Doppler system
• First station in the world to broadcast an all-HD newscast
• First station in North Carolina to simulcast the news in Spanish
• First station in North Carolina to begin a full-time local news channel, WRAL NewsChannel
• First station in North Carolina to begin a full-time local weather channel, WRAL Weather Center Channel

Awards
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