WRAL First HD Newscast at State Fair
Division:
WRAL-TV
People:
David Witherspoon, Debra Morgan, Dr. Allen Mask, James Ford, Jim Goodmon, Jim Graham, Jim Griffin, Jim Payne, John Hudson, Mark Roberts, Scott Mason
Program Type:
Newscasts
Technology Type:
HD
Type:
Video
WRAL-TV led the nation in the development of High Definition broadcasting. On October 13, 2000 WRAL made history by broadcasting the entire 5:00 PM newscast LIVE in HD from the State Fair. The historic newscast was broadcast from a special stage at the North Carolina State Fair in Raleigh. The broadcast came just days after WRAL announced it was purchasing equipment from Panasonic to allow the station to gather all of its news stories in the 1080i format. WRAL was the first in the country to convert its entire news operation into HD. This video documents the historic moment from a behind-the-scenes perspective.
In 1996, WRAL was the first station in the nation to start broadcasting in HD even though most viewers did not have an HD television set.