Highlights for Jim Graham

• “Back-in-the-Day” Photos

  1. Can you name this North Carolina politician who was a guest disc-jockey on WRAL-AM on a summer day in 1951? a) Thad Eure, NC Secretary of State b) W. Kerr Scott, Governor c) Jim Graham, NC Commissioner of Agriculture
• Ray Wilkinson spits with the best of them

  WRAL legend spits watermelon seed while NC Ag Commissioner Jim Graham cheers him on.

• WRAL First HD Newscast at State Fair

  WRAL-TV led the nation in the development of High Definition broadcasting. On October 13, 2000 WRAL made history by broadcasting the entire 5:00 PM newscast LIVE in HD from the State Fair. The historic newscast was broadcast from a special stage at the North Carolina State Fair in Raleigh. The broadcast came just days after WRAL announced it was purchasing equipment from Panasonic to allow the station to gather all of its news stories in the 1080i format. WRAL was the first in the country to convert its entire news operation into HD. This video documents the historic moment from a behind-the-scenes perspective.

  In 1996, WRAL was the first station in the nation to start broadcasting in HD even though most viewers did not have an HD television set.

• Jim Graham NC Commissioner of Agriculture swallows tobacco

  Jim Graham (1921 – 2003) was appointed by Governor Terry Sanford to be the NC Commissoner of Agriculture in 1964 and was relected eight times. He served until January 2001. Graham was very popular with North Carolinians. He was easily recognized wearing a Stetson hat, cowboy boots, and a cigar in his hand. In this video we see the peril of chewing tobacco while giving an interview. Graham was a graduate of NCSU.