Tempus Fugit

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Tempus Fugit, or “time flies” in Latin, was a radio and television show created by former WRAL President and General Manager Fred Fletcher.

The radio show began on WRAL-AM around 1940 when Fletcher – tired of having to fill in for morning announcers who failed to show up – took over the morning announcing shift at the station.

Fletcher entertained listeners with a variety of regular features, news, weather, music and fun. He also created special call-in segments like “Lost and Found” and “Trading Post” where listeners would swap items in an on-air exchange program.

The best-known segment on Tempus Fugit was the reading of a fairy tale each morning. The idea came about in late 1941 to entice children to listen to the show in hopes of luring their parents to the radio as well.

Fred Fletcher read the fairy tales live, doing all the different voices and sound effects himself. Within months, ratings went up and by 1945 Tempus Fugit was beating the NBC World News on WPTF-AM. Fletcher’s fame skyrocketed and from that point on he was known to one and all as “The Fairy Tale Man.”

Months after WRAL-TV went on the air in 1956, Fletcher moved his Tempus Fugit Show to television, where it lasted for several more years. The title of the show became the title of Fletcher’s autobiography, which was published in 1990.

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Highlights for Tempus Fugit

Happy 71st Birthday WRAL-FM!

September 6, 1946. That is the day WRAL-FM joined big brother WRAL-AM on the radio. To get the full scoop on how WRAL-FM came into being, we turn to Fred Fletcher’s book, TEMPUS FUGIT to get the facts and a bit of frivolity. And it all started with the FCC granting CBC a license to […]
Ratings Dominator from the Start!

WRAL’s dominance in ratings started right-off-the-bat after The Big 5 signed-on in December, 1956. According to then WRAL General Manager Fred Fletcher in his book Tempus Fugit, “By July, 1958 – a year and a half after sign-on – we were able to claim that we had led in every Raleigh-Durham ARB survey, sign-on to […]
Tempus Fugit show

Host Fred Fletcher conducts an interview during live Tempus Fugit program at NC Farmers Market
Thad Eure hosts Tempus Fugit

NC Secretary of State Thad Eure guest hosts Tempus Fugit program on WRAL FM in 1951.
Andy Griffith Discovered by Fred Fletcher?

The case can be made that Andy Griffith owes his start in showbiz to Fred Fletcher. Actually, Fred Fletcher made that claim in his book Tempus Fugit. One thing for sure, Fred knew talent when he heard or saw it. Read on to see how Fred makes his case. I still claim that the good […]

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Tempus Fugit

Highlights for Tempus Fugit

Happy 71st Birthday WRAL-FM!

Ratings Dominator from the Start!

Tempus Fugit show

Thad Eure hosts Tempus Fugit

Andy Griffith Discovered by Fred Fletcher?