More Highlights for Public Affairs and Editorials

• Scheduling Change: WRAL-TV Coronavirus Specials at 7pm, 11pm News Expands to One Hour

  Due to the coronavirus concerns, WRAL-TV will make two major scheduling changes beginning Monday, March 16, 2020: WRAL-TV will produce and broadcast 7pm local news specials all week. The programs will be 30 minutes long.  (Inside Edition will move to
• Behind the Scenes with WRAL-TV’s “Brain Game”: New Season Begins with Taping

  The smartest 30 minutes on television recently got geared up for a new season on WRAL-TV.  The 21st season of WRAL-TV’s Brain Game kicked off with the taping of the first competition.  Brain Game Host Mark Roberts welcomed students from
• Doctors On Call

  “Doctors on Call” was hosted by WRAL Health Team physician Dr. Allen Mask. The program provided viewers with the opportunity to call the station and receive free, confidential medical advice from physicians and specialists with the NC Medical Society. WRAL News anchor Pam Saulsby served as co-host.Dr. Allen Mask interviews the following doctors during this particular program: Dr. Sharon Fekrat – Duke Ophthalmologist, Dr. Joel Schneider – Wake Med Cardiologists, Dr. Roy Cromartie – Kaiser Oncologist, Dr. Marty Sullivan – Duke Integrated Medicine, Dr. Richard Alioto, Duke Orthopedic surgeon.Doctors on Call aired on WRAL for many years. This program aired in 1999.

• Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Breakfast 2012

  The 32nd annual Martin Luther King Triangle Interfaith Breakfast took place January 16, 2012.
  The gathering celebrated many of the principles of Dr. Martin Luther King’s legacy which include: respect, equality, opportunity, diversity and a commitment to peace, justice, and non-violent solutions to conflict. All of these principles at the heart of the civil rights movement are equally as relevant to our lives today as we seek to address and solve present-day social issues in our community.

• UNC President William Friday interviewed by WRAL News reporter Laura Leslie

  WRAL News reporter Laura Leslie interviewed UNC System President emeritus William Clyde “Bill” Friday on March 6, 2012. The 15 minute interview was used as a segment within another WRAL news/public affairs program. President Friday addressed several topics including NCAA investigations into the UNC Football program, higher education, tuition costs, politics, and civility.

  Friday was assistant Dean of Students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 1948 to 1951, assistant to the President of the Consolidated University of North Carolina Gordon Gray from 1951 to 1955, then Secretary of the University of North Carolina system, and acting president from 1956 to 1957, when he was chosen to take the position permanently. Friday led the UNC system from 1956 to 1986, a period that included desegregation, challenges to free speech and the creation of a 16-campus state university system in 1971. Enrollment began to surge during his tenure, setting the stage for major expansions and battles over tuition increases in the years since he retired.

  Friday was born in Virginia July 13, 1920 and grew up in Dallas, North Carolina. He died in his sleep on October 12, 2012, coincidentally UNC’s University Day. He was 92.