One of the most popular and long-lasting programs in WRAL-TV history was Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling. The matches were recorded every Wednesday night in WRAL’s Studio A and were televised on Channel 5 on Saturdays.
WRAL-TV was the main studio home for the wrestling productions that were syndicated throughout the region by Jim Crockett Promotions. Raleigh promoter Joe Murnick coordinated the Raleigh events and is also remembered as the ring announcer for many of the WRAL matches in the 1970s.
The weekly influx of wrestlers and their entourages made for interesting times at WRAL-TV. Colorful personalities like Wahoo McDaniel, Black Jack Mulligan and Ric Flair made WRAL home every Wednesday afternoon–recording promos, playing cards, wandering the halls and occasionally getting into shouting matches that brought a carnival atmosphere to the station. By and large the wrestlers were a genial group, but when the matches got underway in front of hundreds of screaming fans in Studio A – it was all business.
WRAL on-air personalities became some of the most popular play-by-play hosts for the matches. North Carolina Hall-of-Fame sportscaster Ray Reeve was first to call the matches, followed by Nick Pond and the legendary Bob Caudle—who gained his greatest fame as the voice of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling. Weatherman Bob DeBardelaben even got in on the action, putting his voice on the famous announcement that always preceded commercial breaks: “Let’s take time for this commercial message about the Mid-Atlantic Wrestling events coming up in your area.”
The first known wrestling program at WRAL-TV was recorded on January 31, 1959. The matches ran continuously for more than two decades before coming to an end July 29, 1981.
Capitol Broadcasting Company’s first major historic restoration project began in 2002 when the company purchased the abandoned American Tobacco factory in Durham. Over the next decade CBC would invest more than $200 million to complete the largest project of its kind in the state. The American Tobacco Historic District has been recognized nationally as the definitive example of redeveloping and repurposing historic properties.
CBC views historic restoration as a way to conserve and protect historically-significant buildings while also creating economic growth and vitality in the surrounding community. The American Tobacco project is regarded as the catalyst that changed the economic trajectory of downtown Durham.
CBC’s newest project is the restoration and redevelopment of the historic Rocky Mount Mills in Eastern North Carolina. CBC purchased the old textile mill in 2007 and now plans to transform it into the Rocky Mount Brewmill – an incubator for startup craft breweries along with production, sales and educational facilities associated with the craft beer industry.
It may seem surprising, but a pioneering opera company played an important role in the history of Capitol Broadcasting Company.
CBC founder A.J. Fletcher had a life-long love of opera that led him to start the Grass Roots Opera Company in 1948. Fletcher wanted to present opera in English to people who might not otherwise get a chance to experience it.
Beginning in 1950 the Grass Roots Company toured North Carolina and surrounding states to stage performances at schools, civic centers and auditoriums. Much of the focus was on rural schools, and during the company’s first half century more than 1.7 million school children heard opera—many for the first time.
The Grass Roots Company eventually evolved into the National Opera Company, but its overall mission never changed. The company gave aspiring singers a chance to practice their craft in front of audiences. Hundreds benefitted from the professional experience with the company and many more took advantage of the opera company’s educational outreach. In addition to programs in public schools, the company held master classes at local colleges and granted scholarships to talented music majors.
The National Opera Company was based in Raleigh with headquarters in a stately house on Hillsborough Street. A.J. Fletcher even built an auditorium for performances adjacent to WRAL-TV’s studio building on Western Boulevard. It was a state-of-the-art performance hall that was later converted into the WRAL –TV newsroom.
In 2001 the National Opera Company merged with the North Carolina School of the Arts graduate opera program to form the Fletcher Opera Institute. The institute carries on the mission that A.J. Fletcher started more than 60 years ago.
CBC divisions have supported the community in many ways, often through special projects that benefit a specific cause. This section of the archive contains a sample of those special projects.
The Children’s Miracle Network telethon began on WRAL-TV in 1993 as a way to raise money for medical research and treatment of children’s health issues.
The CMN organization was founded by the well-known Osmond family (Donny & Marie et al) and actor John Schneider, among others. The network is made up of 170 children’s hospitals across the country.
WRAL’s first telethon raised nearly a million dollars for patients undergoing treatment at Duke Children’s Hospital in Durham. In 1994 MIX-101.5 began its annual CMN “Radiothon” that has raised more than $15 million in the last two decades.
