The History of Capitol Broadcasting Company

Bill Armstrong was WRAL-TV’s first News Director, a role he held from the station’s sign-on in 1956 to 1966.

He was also the station’s primary news anchor, who teamed with sportscaster Ray Reeve and weatherman Bob Knapp to form the first WRAL-TV anchor team.

Armstrong was a native of Salisbury who joined the Army and served on the front lines of World War II in Europe. He was a graduate of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a degree in Journalism. Before joining WRAL, he was a reporter at the Raleigh Times.

Armstrong was a “one-man-news operation” in WRAL’s early days, chasing down the news then reporting it himself from the anchor desk. Among the highlights of his WRAL news career was an interview with Neil Armstrong, who was training at UNC-Chapel Hill at the time and later became the first astronaut on the moon. (see an excerpt of that interview here).

Armstrong also provided on-the-scene coverage from the Raleigh-Durham airport when the victorious UNC men’s basketball team returned to North Carolina after winning the 1957 national championship.

Armstrong left WRAL-TV in 1966 for a job as Director of Highway Safety Promotion in the state Motor Vehicles Department. He also worked for North Carolina Citizens for Business and Industry and its North Carolina Magazine.

Bill Armstrong died March 30, 2005 at the age of 80.

Bill Jordan was the popular “morning man” at WRAL-FM (MIX-101.5) for more than two decades. He says he “was made to do mornings at WRAL-FM,” and his success over the years proved that statement true.

Jordan grew up in Newport News, VA and attended the University of Richmond before being terminally bitten by the radio bug. He got his first job at WSSV-AM in Petersburg and followed up with on-air stops in Roanoke, Norfolk, Charleston, SC and Durham. Then he got the call from the radio managers at Capitol Broadcasting and his long career with CBC was born.

Jordan walked through the doors at WRAL-FM on Nov. 14th, 1989 and began a career that would encompass seven different co-hosts, five program directors and three general managers.

His career at MIX was full of highlights: broadcasting from London, Paris, the Olympics in France and Universal Studios and Disneyworld in Orlando. Along the way he chatted with countless celebrities, among them Charlton Heston, Richard Petty, President Jimmy Carter, First Lady Michelle Obama, Kevin Costner, Mark Harmon, Marie Osmond and Jeff Foxworthy.

Jordan is probably best known to listeners for two things – his good natured “Birthday Call” segments and his tireless work at the helm of the annual MIX “Radiothons” for Duke Children’s Hospital.

Jordan anchored the WRAL-FM coverage through 19 radiothons, helping raise over $15 million and making it the biggest per capita radiothon on record anywhere. He credits those experiences as the most significant thing he’s ever been involved with professionally.

During his first ten years on radio in Raleigh Jordan also entertained listeners with daily birthday calls to unsuspecting recipients. In true “Candid Camera” style, Jordan would use the phone and radio to play good-natured gags on local citizens who most always laughed along with listeners once the truth came out. The birthday calls helped make Jordan one of the most popular broadcasters in the market.

As a staunch supporter of the military and veterans, Jordan flew on three “Flights of Honor” and says he was humbled to be in the presence of so many WWII veterans who truly represent our nation’s Greatest Generation.

Bill never shied away from first-hand experience, and during his career he shared some eye-opening experiences with every branch of the military.

Bill flew with the Navy Blue Angels and passed out only when the gravitational force reached 6 ½ “Gs.” He also spent three days “learning the ropes” with US Marines at Parris Island; and he flew on a refueling mission with the 916th Air Refueling Wing out of Seymour Johnson AFB.

Never one to leave out the G.I.s – Bill jumped out of a perfectly good airplane 2 ½ miles above the earth while strapped to one of the elite members of the Army Golden Knights Parachute Team, an experience he says he’ll never forget.

Jordan says he just tried to live out his life out on the radio, and the best compliment he could ever hear was for someone to say he was like their neighbor, brother or dad.

In honor of his long career and service to the community, Bill was awarded the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, North Carolina’s highest citizen honor.

Jordan retired from WRAL-FM July 31, 2013.

Bob Caudle was a longtime newscaster and weatherman at WRAL-TV, but he is best known as the television announcer for Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling during a broadcast career that spanned more than three decades.

Bob’s TV career began in 1954 at WMFD-TV (later WECT-TV) in Wilmington, NC, where he played a lead role in “Bob and Hester,” a children’s program featuring a dog puppet that talked and sang songs. After three years in Wilmington, Caudle moved to TV job in Savannah, and three years later headed to Raleigh and WRAL-TV.

At WRAL, Caudle anchored late-night news and appeared as “The Atlantic Weatherman” who would deliver the forecast each evening dressed in a gas station attendant’s uniform. In 1961 he took on additional duties as the announcer for Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, which was recorded every Wednesday night at WRAL. From that point on—Bob Caudle became a household name in the world of television wrestling.

Caudle announced and recorded hundreds of wrestling matches in WRAL’s famous Studio A, teaming up with partners such as David Crockett, Roddy Piper, Les Thatcher and Johnny Weaver. Soon he began going on the road for Crockett Promotions to tape wrestling shows throughout the eastern half of the country.

Bob’s signature sign-off line at the end of every show was “That’s it for this week, and until next week fans, so long for now!”

Caudle left WRAL-TV in early 1981 to become a legislative assistant for U.S. Senator Jesse Helms, with whom he had worked during his early days at WRAL. Caudle held that position until he retired in 1996. During his time as Senator Helms’ assistant, he continued his ring announcing—working for Jim Crockett Promotions and Turner Broadcasting until the early 90s.

Bob Caudle is a native of Charlotte. He and his wife have three children and seven grandchildren. They live in Raleigh.

Bob Inskeep was a popular morning radio announcer at WRAL-FM during the 1970s and ‘80s.

Known as “F.B.I.” – which stood for “Famous Bob Inskeep” – Bob combined a laid-back conversational style with a keen wit and biting sense of humor to win legions of fans for his morning show on MIX-101.5.

Inskeep came to WRAL-FM in 1974, not long after the station changed its programing to the popular Adult Contemporary format. He was on the air 3 ½ hours each morning delivering a mix of music, interviews, prepared sketches and impromptu humor. Listeners loved him and he was named “Best in the Triangle” five years running in the annual poll conducted by Spectator Magazine.

Inskeep was born in Urbana, Ohio, but moved with his family to Rockwell, Maryland where he graduated high school. He went on to Virginia Tech University where he got his first radio experience at the campus station. At first Bob produced commercials, but he soon got his first regular on-air role as the host of a folk music program.

Inskeep’s first commercial radio job came at WCFV in the small town of Clifton Forge, Virginia. Stints at other Virginia stations followed, including a sales job in Roanoke with announcer Adrian Cronauer, who would go on to fame as the subject of the movie “Good Morning Vietnam.”

Bob first came to North Carolina for a sales job at WDNC AM/FM in Durham. He next moved to WCHL-AM in Chapel Hill, and that’s where he got his first morning announcing shift. In 1974 a job opened at WRAL-FM and Inskeep was hired as the station’s Operations Manager.

Over the next 15 years, Inskeep entertained Triangle listeners as the always-likable “F.B.I.” One of his hallmarks was community involvement, and Inskeep appeared at telethons, broadcast from the United Way’s hot air balloon, did charity “Walkathons” and made countless appearances and speeches at festivals, parades and meetings. His tireless community spirit won him a permanent place in the heart of the Triangle community.

In the late 1980s Inskeep felt the urge to help others in need of personal counseling. He began taking courses at Duke University Divinity School to gain practical knowledge, but before long he felt a deeper calling that pulled him toward the ministry. Bob acted on that call and enrolled in pastoral classes that set the stage for the next phase of his career. He completed fifteen courses at Duke Divinity School between 1979 and 1986.

Bob remained on the air at MIX-101.5 for the next three years, but left morning radio behind and moved into a corporate role at CBC in late 1989. The next year he left the company for good and headed north to Richmond where he enrolled at Union Presbyterian Seminary. He earned his Masters of Divinity at Union in 1994 and was ordained a Presbyterian minister.

Today Bob Inskeep is Associate Minister at Raleigh’s First Presbyterian Church.

Bob Knapp was WRAL-TV’s first weathercaster, joining the staff on December 13, 1956. That was two days before the station signed on the air.

Knapp came to WRAL from Richmond, where he got early experience in radio and television. Knapp not only handled weather, he also reported and anchored sports and filled in for Ray Reeve when necessary.

Knapp was best known for the “Atlantic Weatherman” segments where he would deliver the forecast wearing the full uniform of a service station attendant. Atlantic Oil Company sponsored weathercasts at more than 40 television stations along the east coast in the late 1950s and early 60s. WRAL-TV adopted the “Atlantic style” and Knapp would appear each night wearing a tan-colored service station attendant’s uniform, bow tie and black-visored cap.

The WRAL weather background included an Atlantic logo on the left and North Carolina regional map on the right. Each night it would be rolled into the studio on wheels and positioned in front of the single camera that was used for the production. Knapp stored his Atlantic caps on a shelf above the map—just out of camera range and out of sight of viewers.

Bob Knapp also covered sports most days and he became known as an “active” reporter, taking part in individual competitions and showing particular skill at golf. In 1957 Bob won the Press-Radio-TV division of the Atlantic Coast College football roundup golf tournament, shooting a 77 over the Finley golf course in Chapel Hill. He repeated the feat the next year with an even par 72, which garnered him the A.E. Finley Trophy for overall low score.

Bob Knapp left WRAL-TV in 1965, but came back to the station for another year in 1967. He was the first of three WRAL-TV chief weather anchors named Bob; Knapp would be followed by Bob Caudle and later by the biggest name in weather—Bob DeBardelaben.