As the owners of the Durham Bulls, Capitol Broadcasting Company knows what it takes to play ball with the professionals.
CBC’s Capitol Sports Radio group is home to the play-by-play broadcasts of the Carolina Hurricanes and the Carolina Panthers, and CBC produces and broadcasts Durham Bulls home games all season long on WRAZ-TV’s dot-two digital channel.
The names read like a “Who’s Who” among North Carolina’s legendary sports announcers. From Ray Reeve and Bill Currie to Nick Pond, Rich Brenner and Tom Suiter – WRAL’s broadcast history is filled with sportscasters who had a unique style that made sports come alive to their listeners and viewers.
“Good Morning, Charlie!” was an entertainment program on WRAL-TV featuring television newcomer Charlie Gaddy.
Gaddy joined WRAL-TV in September 1970 after gaining popularity on WPTF Radio’s “Ask Your Neighbor” program. The morning entertainment show was created to showcase his gift for conversation and singing abilities.
The program featured Charlie taking phone calls from viewers interspersed with interviews and regular entertainment from the host and visiting performers. Charlie was a talented vocalist and the program often featured him singing, sometimes with performer Joyce Hawley.
It was a half-hour live program airing at 9:00 a.m. each weekday.
PM Magazine was a unique programming concept that spread across the country in the late 70s and early 80s.
As the name implies, PM was a “magazine” show that featured local hosts introducing stories produced at the local and national level. The story topics were uplifting, interesting, and fun, while the hosts were friendly and entertaining. For WRAL-TV, the mix of local co-hosts appearing in quintessential North Carolina locations proved to be a hit with viewers.
PM Magazine aired on WRAL from 1980 to 1987. The show was hosted originally by Susan Dahlin and Tom McNamara. When Tom left to anchor news in another city, Rick Williams, a WRAL news reporter, was tapped to join Susan.
WRAL Program Director Will Davis spearheaded the show’s launch before moving into other management roles at WRAL. Phyllis Parish served as story producer, associate producer, and later co-producer with Dahlin for the last two years of the run. A number of talented photographers worked on the show, including Jim Colman, Steve Craddock and John Avery.
One of the secrets to PM’s success was the format. It was developed by KPIX-TV in San Francisco in 1976 and was franchised by Group W Television in 1978.
PM Magazine was essentially a story-sharing cooperative made up of member stations across the country. Group W developed theme music and graphics and provided two six-minute story segments for all the stations to use each weekday. That formula ensured that no matter where the program aired, it would have a high measure of quality and style.
The only requirement the local station needed to provide was its own co-hosts plus one local feature for the cooperative each week. If a station had more production resources, it could substitute local features for national features any time.
Everything was shot on location, and the blend of local and national stories gave viewers an insight into interesting people and places across the country.
Former PM Producer Phyllis Parish remembers one of her favorite PM experiences: “One of my favorite NC stories focused on the loggerhead sea turtles at Bald Head Island. We camped out several nights waiting on a mama turtle to arrive. Late one evening, we saw this loggerhead dragging her giant body ashore to nest and bury her eggs. It was a sight I’ll never forget! We were real careful not to let our TV lights scare her from digging her hole in the sand, depositing 80+ ping pong ball sized eggs, then covering up the nest with sand before slowly heading back out to sea. About sixty days later, we traveled back to Bald Head and timed it perfectly, capturing the mama’s hatchlings as they scampered out of the sandy nest and headed toward the ocean! The national PM office selected this story to air nationwide and our team was thrilled. (Having a story ‘go national’ was like winning an Emmy!) This was one of those unforgettable experiences we captured on tape and were proud to share with PM’s viewers across the country.”
WRAL’s PM Magazine unit sometimes traveled out of state and even out of the country to find stories. The PM team visited the Florida Keys to swim with the dolphins and even flew across the Atlantic to produce features on the town of Durham, England.
Where are former hosts Susan, Tom, and Rick now?
After PM Magazine ended its run, Susan Dahlin remained with WRAL-TV as a producer and executive producer of documentaries and special projects. Now she is a successful local artist and entrepreneur.
Tom McNamara moved into television news and is a news anchor at KVOA in Tucson, Arizona.
Rick Williams returned to his journalistic roots in 1988 when he joined WPVI in Philadelphia. Rick was inducted into the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia in 2010.
Teenage Frolics was a WRAL-TV music and dance program that is thought to be the country’s first regularly-scheduled television program hosted by an African-American.
The weekly program debuted on Channel 5 in 1958 and ran until 1982. It was hosted by J.D. Lewis, a WRAL radio and television personality who broke racial barriers and gained widespread popularity during a long career at Capitol Broadcasting Company.
Teenage Frolics aired live from the WRAL-TV studios at noon every Saturday. The show featured a studio audience comprised of African-American teenagers who sometimes traveled up to 100 miles just to take part. Former audience members say they practiced their moves all week to be ready to impress fellow dancers and the viewers at home.
Teenage Frolics was best known for its current music and dance. The program featured a house band led by local musician Irving Fuller, and on occasion nationally-known recording stars would drop by to promote their latest records. The show’s free-flowing live format also gave J.D. Lewis a platform for interviews with community leaders and nationally-known entertainers such as Lou Rawls and Isaac Hayes.
Teenage Frolics provided a window into black youth culture and music and gave African-American teenagers a sense of pride. The show also made host J.D. Lewis an institution in the community – a role model who gave black teenagers a chance to express themselves in positive ways. Lewis’ daughter, Yvonne Lewis-Holley, says people still approach her on the street and say that her father “…was the first black man they could see on TV who wasn’t pushing a broom.”
Teenage Frolics is often compared to “Soul Train,” a nationally-syndicated dance program featuring legendary host Don Cornelius. While Soul Train gained fame on a national level, it didn’t debut until 1971 — thirteen years after Teenage Frolics took to the air on WRAL-TV Channel 5.