Bill Armstrong

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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.

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Highlights for Bill Armstrong

Bill Armstrong

First News Director at WRAL-TV
1964 Election coverage on WRAL-TV

Bill Armstrong, Sam Beard and Scottie Stephenson on set election night at WRAL-TV.
WRAL 60th Anniversary “The Early Years” by The Tar Heel Traveler

WRAL celebrated 60 years of broadcasting on December 15, 2016. In recognition of that anniversary, Scott Mason – better known as The Tar Heel Traveler – took viewers on a time travel, via black and white film footage, to witness several news events covered by WRAL during the early years.

A few of the highlights include President John F. Kennedy’s visit to the campus of UNC to WRAL News Director Bill Armstrong’s interview with NASA astronaut Neil Armstrong while he was training at the Morehead Planetarium in Chapel Hill. Meet Marlene Carole, WRAL’s first female weatherperson who used a chalkboard to write the high and low temperatures – with an eye-wink. Later we see WRAL transition to color and then lead the nation in HD technology.

Feature edited by WRAL Tar Heel Traveler photographer Bob Meikle.
The 1st WRAL-TV Staff 1956

These are a few of the people who were part of the inaugural staff of WRAL-TV in 1956. Some worked double-duties at WRAL radio and WRAL television. See if you can place the correct name with the picture. 1. He was the first news director and anchor. A. Sam Beard B. Bill Armstrong C. Joel […]
Man on the Moon

In 1963, WRAL News director and anchor Bill Armstrong landed an interview with NASA astronaut Neil Armstrong, no relation, at the Morehead Planetarium in Chapel Hill. Neil Armstrong and other astronauts were there January 28-30, 1963 learning about celestial navigation. He would return to the planetarium 10 more time before the end of the decade […]

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Bill Armstrong

Highlights for Bill Armstrong

Bill Armstrong

1964 Election coverage on WRAL-TV

WRAL 60th Anniversary “The Early Years” by The Tar Heel Traveler

The 1st WRAL-TV Staff 1956

Man on the Moon