More Highlights for Towers and Transmitters

• Transmitter engineer at work

  Bob Searcy at the controls in the WRAL transmitter building in November 1966

• WRAL TV Tall Tower Collapse 1989

  Sunday, December 10, 1989 is a day etched in the memory of so many employees at Capitol Broadcasting. It was the day the 2000’ “Tall Tower” crashed to the ground. This WRAL news story by reporter Les Boney.

• WRAL Tall Tower promo

  WRAL built the 2000 ft broadcast tower, also referred to as a “tall tower” in 1978. The site is located near Garner, North Carolina. The promo tells the viewer what the tall tower will mean to them in terms of reach and picture quality. This tower would fall to the ground on December 10, 1989 after an ice storm. The tower and guy wires were not able to withstand the unevening thawing of ice. on the structure. A new tall tower was built in 1990 and still stands today, although it no longer transmits the WRAL signal. WRAL now broadcasts in HD from a tower that is on the same property.

• WRAL engineer PB Jernigan

  P.B. Jernigan, retired WRAL engineer, started in 1961 and retired December, 2005. P.B. is a man of few words, but his work ethic and vaste knowledge demonstrated his passion for engineering and innovation. If you ever wondered who pulled the switch to light the Christmas tree lights on the tower, now you know.
  P.B. started work during the black and white era of television and continued to work into the high definition/digitial era. In this video, he shares his memories of working at WRAL and Capitol Broadcasting Company, including a few pranks.

• Microwave receiver after Hurricane Floyd

  Damaged microwave receiver atop the CPL Building downtown Raleigh following Hurricane Floyd.