The History of Capitol Broadcasting Company

Pops in the Park is an annual Labor Day concert that quickly became one of Capitol Broadcasting Company’s signature community projects – a spectacular evening of music that proved perfect for television and radio.

In 1981, WRAL-TV and WRAL-FM formed a partnership with The North Carolina Symphony and began broadcasting the concert live on location. That first broadcast originated from Raleigh’s Pullen Park, but the event was moved the next year to a larger outdoor venue at Meredith College’s McIver Amphitheatre.

The live performances were simulcast in stereo on WRAL-FM, so audio quality was of extreme importance. WRAL producers and engineers spent weeks perfecting microphone placements, sound levels, camera-angles and in-depth knowledge of the musical score that ultimately yielded a first-rate broadcast.

Over the years the concerts have grown in popularity and attendance climbed steadily; by the year 2000, an estimated 40,000 people attended the concert. Many thousands who couldn’t attend the events in person watched on Channel 5 and listened on WRAL-FM.

WRAL news anchors and personalities have routinely hosted the festivities and guest musicians from around the state were given the opportunity to perform with the symphony, including WRAL’s resident composer/musician Bill Leslie.

Various attractions for children were added over time, including soccer contests, pony rides, coloring books, free balloons and registration for the safety-oriented “Ident-a-Kid” program.

Each and every year, Pops in the Park concludes with Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture” followed by a rousing rendition of “Stars and Stripes Forever,” complete with fireworks and simulated cannon-fire. It’s always a crowd pleaser that leaves everyone smiling.

In 2001, a final change of venue moved the concert from Meredith College to Cary’s Koka Booth Theater. The NC Symphony enjoys its Summer Concert Series at the Booth Theater to this day.

CBC’s coverage of sports goes well beyond high school football, the ACC or the professional teams that visit the region.  Major sporting festivals have come to our area and CBC has been there to cover the action and sponsor the activities.  Here is a sample of the sporting events that have made a difference in the community:

Capitol Broadcasting Company has often been referred to as a “Digital Television Pioneer,” and for good reason. In the 1990s CBC led American television stations into the digital age—breaking barriers, setting standards and blazing a DTV (digital television) trail that other stations would follow.

CBC’s early work with digital television focused on the format known as High Definition (HD). WRAL-TV obtained the first experimental HDTV (high-definition television) license in June of 1996 and became the first commercial television station in the nation to broadcast a HDTV signal a little over one month later.

By 1998, WRAL’s digital experimentation moved from transmitters to production. On October 28, 1998, WRAL produced the first live news event in HD—John Glenn’s historic return to space. The station followed that up a year later with the nation’s first all-HD documentary—“The Cape Light.”

In 2000, WRAL-TV was ready to spread HD to its news operation. On Friday, October 13, 2000—WRAL-TV broadcast its entire 5pm newscast in HD from the NC State Fairgrounds. It was the first live, all-HD newscast ever produced. Only months later, on January 28, 2001, WRAL-TV converted all its studio newscasts to HD, making it the world’s first news operation to gather and present high-definition local news on a continuous basis.

In addition to HD programming, CBC found other innovative uses for the expanded bandwidth of the digital television spectrum. WRAL-TV multi-cast all 64 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament games in 2000, splitting the bandwidth to allow the broadcast of up to four simultaneous games. Sister station WRAZ-TV/FOX 50 soon began broadcasting Durham Bulls home baseball games on its digital channel. And later, WRAL-TV used its new digital channel capacity to launch a 24-hour local news channel and weather channels.
On September 8, 2008, Capitol Broadcasting Company’s WILM became one of the first four television stations in the country to turn off its analog signal and move solely to digital transmissions.

Then on June 12, 2009, WRAL took part in the biggest change in broadcasting since the advent of color TV. CBC television stations joined others across the country in turning off their analog signals, completing the official nationwide conversion to digital television.

During this digital broadcasting transformation CBC brought leading edge technology to its other stations, including radio. WRAL-FM became the first licensed commercial radio station on the east coast to broadcast in HD Radio on December 20, 2002.

There is perhaps no better example of Capitol Broadcasting Company’s technological leadership than in the realm of High Definition Television (HDTV). With WRAL-TV leading the way in the 1990s, CBC pioneered HDTV and became the standard by which other stations were measured.

WRAL-TV obtained the first experimental HDTV (high-definition television) license in June of 1996 and became the first commercial television station in the nation to broadcast a HDTV signal a little over one month later. As part of that experimental work, CBC conducted extensive testing with the digital signal, using prototype equipment and helping write the manuals that would guide engineers in the future.

By 1998, WRAL’s experimentation moved from digital transmitters to HD production. On October 28, 1998, WRAL produced the first live news event in HD—John Glenn’s historic return to space. The station followed that up a year later with the nation’s first all-HD documentary—“The Cape Light.”

In 2000, WRAL-TV was ready to spread HD to its news operation. On Friday, October 13, 2000—WRAL-TV broadcast its entire 5pm newscast in HD from the NC State Fairgrounds. It was the first live, all-HD newscast ever produced. Only months later, on January 28, 2001, WRAL-TV converted all its studio newscasts to HD, making it the world’s first news operation to gather and present high-definition local news on a continuous basis.

Capitol Broadcasting has always believed that new technology can improve production and performance.  Nowhere is that more evident than in the coverage of news on television and radio.  CBC has led the way with innovative ideas and uses of technology that have consistently given its journalists better tools to do their job.  Here are some of the highlights: