• 30 Minutes

     

    “30 Minutes” was a weekly public affairs program that was produced on WRAL-TV in 1996-97. The program aired on Saturday evenings and was hosted by WRAL news anchor David Crabtree.

    Similar programs in this time period were “Q&A with David Crabtree” and “Headline Saturday.”

     

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      Scheduling Change: WRAL-TV Coronavirus Specials at 7pm, 11pm News Expands to One Hour

      Due to the coronavirus concerns, WRAL-TV will make two major scheduling changes beginning Monday, March 16, 2020: WRAL-TV will produce and broadcast 7pm local news specials all week. The programs will be 30 minutes long.  (Inside Edition will move to
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      Behind the Scenes with WRAL-TV’s “Brain Game”: New Season Begins with Taping

      The smartest 30 minutes on television recently got geared up for a new season on WRAL-TV.  The 21st season of WRAL-TV’s Brain Game kicked off with the taping of the first competition.  Brain Game Host Mark Roberts welcomed students from
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      Which Tomorrow Will We Choose?

      WRAL News Anchor David Crabtree takes a hard look at urban sprawl in the Raleigh, Durham and Research Triangle Park area of North Carolina. What will the future look like in this very popular part of the state?

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      To Russia With Music

      Ligon Middle School’s student music program is called The Silver Strings Orchestra. Sixteen students participated in a cultural exchange with Russia. WRAL News anchor Pam Saulsby and photographer Keith Baker covered the trip.

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      WRAL-TV 30 Minutes weekly program

      WRAL-TV News Anchor David Crabtree and WRAL-TV Sports Anchor Jeff Gravley play the 18 best public golf courses in North Carolina.

  • Carolina Saturday

     

    “Carolina Saturday” was a WRAL-TV issues program hosted by Public Affairs Director Waltye Rasulala.  The weekly program aired in the 1980s.

     

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      Waltye Rasulala WRAL-TV Public Affairs

      Waltye Rasulala was the Public Affairs Director at WRAL-TV. She hosted several programs including “AWARE,” “Carolina Saturday” and “Carolina Sunday.” PROJECT TANZANIA was the most ambitious project she was involved in while at WRAL.

      Watch and listen to how Waltye engaged the community through projects sponsored by WRAL-TV. Waltye was interviewed by John Harris, Corporate Director of Special Projects at CBC.

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      Bob Sadler Local Productions photographer

      Bob Sadler started work at WRAL in 1969. He learned photography while serving in the US Navy which prepared him well to work in television. In the beginning, Bob was assigned to work in the news department during the days of 16 mm film and retired during the era of high definition. He also worked on documentaries, local production projects, and public affairs programs.

      Bob shares his memories of WRAL with John Harris, Corporate Director of Special Projects.

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      Carolina Saturday June 1988

      WRAL-TV Public Affairs Director Waltye Rasulala hosts the program from Spivey’s Corner. Topics covered in this edition: Catholic missions help migrant workers during harvest season, two women in Chatham County help the poor, a child with a brain tumor has a bright outlook, “hollering” contest from Spivey’s Corner.

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      Carolina Saturday

      “Carolina Saturday” hosted by Public Affairs Director Waltye Rasulala. Waltye shares stories of people living in eastern North Carolina.

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      CAROLINA SATURDAY featuring Black History Month

      WRAL-TV Public Affairs Director Waltye Rasulala honors Black History Month by talking with three leaders who have made a difference in North Carolina.

  • Editorials

     

    CBC founder A.J. Fletcher thought that it was important for his company to weigh in publicly on the issues of the day. As a result, CBC has a long history of editorial commentary that aired on WRAL-TV and the company’s radio outlets.

    There’s no doubt that the most famous Capitol Broadcasting Company editorialist was Jesse Helms, whose controversial commentaries were broadcast from 1960-1972. Other commentators who delivered CBC’s editorial opinions over the years include William P. Cheshire, Carl Goerch, Joel Lawhon, J.D. Lewis, Charles Dunn and Giles Lambertson.

    Several guest editorials are featured in this part of the history archive, but notably missing are any of the legendary commentaries by Jesse Helms. WRAL-TV is often asked: What happened to all those “Viewpoint” editorials? The short answer is that the video segments simply weren’t preserved. While that answer is true, it bears more explanation, which in turn calls for a bit of history about television production in the early days of the medium.

    In the early days of broadcasting local television stations carried a mixture of live programming and occasional segments shot on film. Videotape technology was introduced in the 1950s and 1960s, but the new production method did little to promote the archival preservation of television’s early content (to see WRAL-TV’s first videotape machine, type “videotape” into the search box).

    The first VTR (videotape recorder) machines utilized costly reels of two-inch-wide magnetic tape. Standard practice was to record a segment on a reel of videotape and then re-use it after the programming had aired. It was just too expensive for most stations to save tapes for posterity, so they were used over and over until they wore out.

    The new technology made it relatively easy for WRAL personnel to record the Viewpoint editorials, but it also made it just as easy to erase them. Jesse Helms would record his daily editorial on videotape and it would air in that night’s newscast. The next day the same videotape would be rewound and used again—wiping away the previous day’s commentary forever.

    This “re-use” practice erased countless hours of classic programming. Not only were the Viewpoint editorials lost, so were shows like “Tempus Fugit,” “Cap’n Five,” and “Femme Fare.” The practice gradually began to change when smaller, cheaper videotape formats were introduced in the mid-to-late 1970s, but by then many of WRAL-TV’s classic programs had been lost to the ages.

     

  • Harambee

     

    “Harambee” was a weekly program hosted by Public Affairs Director J.D. Lewis.  The show focused on issues of the day–particularly those affecting minority communities.

     

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      Harambee

      WRAL-TV Public Affairs Director JD Lewis talks with guests about ” The Wilmington 10.”The Wilmington Ten were nine young men and a woman, who were convicted in 1971 in Wilmington, North Carolina of arson and conspiracy, and served nearly a decade in jail. The case became an international cause in which many critics of the city’s actions characterized the activists as political prisoners.
      This edition of Harambee aired in 1976.

  • On the Record

     

     

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      UNC President William Friday interviewed by WRAL News reporter Laura Leslie

      WRAL News reporter Laura Leslie interviewed UNC System President emeritus William Clyde “Bill” Friday on March 6, 2012. The 15 minute interview was used as a segment within another WRAL news/public affairs program. President Friday addressed several topics including NCAA investigations into the UNC Football program, higher education, tuition costs, politics, and civility.

      Friday was assistant Dean of Students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 1948 to 1951, assistant to the President of the Consolidated University of North Carolina Gordon Gray from 1951 to 1955, then Secretary of the University of North Carolina system, and acting president from 1956 to 1957, when he was chosen to take the position permanently. Friday led the UNC system from 1956 to 1986, a period that included desegregation, challenges to free speech and the creation of a 16-campus state university system in 1971. Enrollment began to surge during his tenure, setting the stage for major expansions and battles over tuition increases in the years since he retired.

      Friday was born in Virginia July 13, 1920 and grew up in Dallas, North Carolina. He died in his sleep on October 12, 2012, coincidentally UNC’s University Day. He was 92.