Tempus Fugit, or “time flies” in Latin, was a radio and television show created by former WRAL President and General Manager Fred Fletcher.

The radio show began on WRAL-AM around 1940 when Fletcher – tired of having to fill in for morning announcers who failed to show up – took over the morning announcing shift at the station.

Fletcher entertained listeners with a variety of regular features, news, weather, music and fun. He also created special call-in segments like “Lost and Found” and “Trading Post” where listeners would swap items in an on-air exchange program.

The best-known segment on Tempus Fugit was the reading of a fairy tale each morning. The idea came about in late 1941 to entice children to listen to the show in hopes of luring their parents to the radio as well.

Fred Fletcher read the fairy tales live, doing all the different voices and sound effects himself. Within months, ratings went up and by 1945 Tempus Fugit was beating the NBC World News on WPTF-AM. Fletcher’s fame skyrocketed and from that point on he was known to one and all as “The Fairy Tale Man.”

Months after WRAL-TV went on the air in 1956, Fletcher moved his Tempus Fugit Show to television, where it lasted for several more years. The title of the show became the title of Fletcher’s autobiography, which was published in 1990.