| Raleigh/Durham/ Fayetteville, North Carolina |
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|---|---|
| City of license | Raleigh |
| Branding | Fox 50 (general) WRAL News Me-TV 50.2 (on DT2) |
| Channels | Digital: 49 (UHF) Virtual: 50 (PSIP) |
| Subchannels | 50.1 Fox (HD) 50.2 Me-TV |
| Owner | Capitol Broadcasting Company (WRAZ-TV, Inc.) |
| First air date | June 3, 1993 |
| Call letters' meaning | variation of WRAL-TV |
| Sister station(s) | WRAL-TV, WRAL-FM, WCMC-FM |
| Former callsigns | WACN (1993-1995) |
| Former channel number(s) | 50 (UHF analog, 1993-2009) |
| Former affiliations | Independent (1993-1995) The WB (1995-1998) RTV (on DT2, 2007-2011) local weather (on DT3) This TV (on DT3) |
| Transmitter power | 1,000 kW |
| Height | 467 m |
| Facility ID | 64611 |
| Website | fox50.com |
WRAZ is the Fox-affiliated television station for North Carolina's Triangle licensed to Raleigh. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 49 (virtual channel 50.1 via PSIP) from a transmitter near Auburn along US 70 Bus in Clayton. The station can also be seen on Time Warner Cable channel 13 and in high definition on digital channel 1150. Owned by the Capitol Broadcasting Company, WRAZ is sister to CBS affiliate WRAL-TV. It has studios on South Mangum Street/US 15/US 501 (along NC 147/Durham Freeway) in Downtown Durham adjacent to the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. Syndicated programming on the station includes The Office, Two and a Half Men, The King of Queens, and Family Feud among others.
Contents |
On WRAZ-DT2 and Time Warner Cable digital channel 151 is Me-TV.
| Channel | Name | Video | Aspect | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50.1 | WRAZ-HD | 720p | 16:9 | Main WRAZ programming / FOX |
| 50.2 | MeTV | 480i | 4:3 | Me-TV |
The station signed-on June 3, 1993 as WACN. It was Independent outlet airing an analog signal on UHF channel 50. WACN was originally owned by The Reverend James Layton's Tar Heel Broadcasting. In December 2002, Layton entered the then-under construction station into a local marketing agreement (LMA) with Capitol Broadcasting. Under this agreement after WACN launched, it operations were to be run out of WRAL's studios. As an Independent the station ran a blend of cartoons, classic sitcoms, and movies. There was also some CBS programming pre-empted by WRAL in order to broadcast Atlantic Coast Conference men's basketball games. James Layton had a morning talk show on this station early on. During the Friday quarterfinal rounds of the ACC Basketball Tournament, WACN aired the full slate of CBS soaps pre-empted by WRAL.
In 1995, the station's calls changed to WRAZ (variation of WRAL) after the previous one went to a low-powered outlet also owned by Tar Heel Broadcasting. In September 1995, the station became a WB affiliate after WNCN in Goldsboro went to NBC. A subsequent re-branding occurred in 1996 to "WB 50" to reflect the network affiliation. On August 1, 1998, Fox announced it would not renew its contract with Raleigh's WLFL when that station got involved in a dispute with the Sinclair Broadcast Group over prime time newscast slots. Even though the network later relented, it still managed to seek a new affiliation with WRAZ leaving WLFL to pick up programming from The WB. Following the affiliation switch, reality and talk shows as well as first-run court shows were added to the lineup and cartoons were cut to Saturday mornings.
WRAZ's main offices and master control eventually relocated to the Diamond View office building in Downtown Durham next door to the Durham Bulls Athletic Park and the American Tobacco complex. Capitol Broadcasting would buy WRAZ outright in 2000, however unlike most new duopolies that start sharing the same studios elsewhere, its studios remained in Durham. In most markets, such a duopoly would not have been allowed under Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules which forbid one person from owning two of the four largest stations in a single market. However, the FCC allowed Capitol to buy WRAZ since it was the Triangle's sixth-rated station at the time. To this day, it is the largest Fox affiliate owned in a duopoly with another big three station. Along with WRAL, WRAZ began digital broadcasting in late-2000 from a transmission tower near Garner.
On September 10, 2007, the station added the Retro Television Network (RTV) to its second digital subchannel which also aired live Durham Bulls home games. At one point in time, WRAL operated a 24-hour local weather channel on WRAZ's third digital subchannel. Known as the "WRAL Weather Center Channel", this could also be seen on Time Warner Cable digital cable channel 252. It switched to This TV on March 30, 2009 and featured the jointly-owned Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Weigel Broadcasting 24-hour movie channel. [1] At some point, WRAZ-DT3 became a standard definition simulcast of its main feed and moved to digital cable channel 150. As part of the DTV transition on June 12, 2009, WRAZ shut down its analog transmitter at 1 in the afternoon and continued to broadcast on its pre-transition digital channel (49). However, through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display its virtual channel as 50.1.
The station has had a history of preempting some Fox programming it deemed too risky or controversial. It was one of the few stations in the United States to refuse to air portions of reality television shows Temptation Island and Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire. WRAZ viewed the programs as anti-family. Instead, the station showed reruns of Cheers or The Andy Griffith Show. Conversely, neighboring Fox affiliate WCCB in Charlotte aired the show despite the conservative background of its owner, Bahakel Communications. It used the same approach in 2003 by refusing to air additional episodes of Married by America claiming that the content of the show was demeaning to the institution of marriage. This also happened with Who's Your Daddy? in 2005 when WRAZ cited its treatment of adoption.
It was also one of a handful of Fox affiliates who initially declined to broadcast the controversial, two-part interview special on O.J. Simpson. It was set to air on November 27 and 29 in 2006 before the network pulled the plug on the project. More recently, WRAZ was among a handful of stations that either delayed or refused to air the season premiere of Osbournes: Reloaded on March 31, 2009. In this station's case, the show aired at 11:35 at night replacing an episode of Seinfeld that had been moved to the spot immediately after American Idol.[2] [3] Since WRAL operates in a duopoly with WRAZ, this station may also broadcast CBS programming in certain cases when WRAL is unable to do so (such as during special events or news-related emergencies). It aired CBS Sports coverage of the Duke/St. Louis college basketball game on December 11, 2010 so WRAL could offer live coverage of Elizabeth Edwards's funeral. [4]
During Season 5 of Fox's mega-hit American Idol, WRAZ was consistently one of the network's top-drawing stations. While the national Nielsen ratings for February 28, 2006 were 17.0 with a 25% share of overall households tuning in, the station registered a 21.7 rating (equivalent to 213,788 households in the market) and a 31% share. Those numbers were roughly 28% higher than the national average. Part of the show's high ratings numbers in North Carolina are tied to the past success of artists such as Season 2 runner-up Clay Aiken (who is from Raleigh) and Season 3 champion Fantasia Barrino (of High Point). Season 5 had three finalists hailing from North Carolina: Chris Daughtry (McLeansville) who finished fourth, Kellie Pickler (Albemarle) who finished sixth, and Bucky Covington (Rockingham) who finished eighth.
In August 1998, WRAZ added a nightly prime time newscast at 10 (produced by WRAL) through a news share agreement. This half-hour show was originally a re-purposed WRAL newscast and competed with WLFL's longer-established sixty minute broadcast also seen every night. That station already had a firmly established operation in the market by this time and it remained strong in the ratings with a popular on-air team. After the affiliation switch on August 1, 1998, WRAZ's newscast became known as Fox 50 Ten O'Clock News. On January 28, 2001, WRAL became the first Triangle station to upgrade local news to high definition.
However, the shows on WRAZ were not initially included in the change. When its broadcasts were re-branded as WRAL News at 10 on Fox 50 a few years later, they were finally upgraded. On August 16, 2004, WLFL's news department was downsized and converted into Sinclair's controversial News Central operation. A further reduction occurred at that station in September 2005 when its broadcast was cut down to thirty minutes in an attempt to boost its now anemic ratings against WRAZ. On June 26, 2006 after shuttering its in-house operation, WLFL entered into a news share agreement with ABC's owned-and-operated station WTVD.
That resulted in a new nightly prime time newscast to debut, and like the previous effort, runs directly against the WRAL-produced newscast on WRAZ. Since then, there have never been any plans announced for a weekday morning show on WLFL which would also be produced by WTVD. This is unlike WRAZ which airs a two-hour extension of WRAL's weekday morning show. Known as WRAL Morning News on Fox 50, this can be seen from 7 until 9. All newscasts originate from WRAL's facility on Western Boulevard in Raleigh as part of the North Carolina State University campus. When it comes to local breaking news, this station usually simulcasts its sister outlet. However, national coverage is provided through Fox News while WRAL airs CBS News.
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