WRAZ
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| WRAZ | |
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| Raleigh / Durham, North Carolina | |
| Branding | FOX50 |
| Slogan | Funny Original Xciting |
| Channels | 50 (UHF) analog, 49 (UHF) digital |
| Affiliations | FOX alternate CBS affiliate |
| Owner | Capitol Broadcasting Company |
| Founded | 1995 |
| Call letters meaning | variation of sister station's call letters (WRAL) |
| Former affiliations | Independent (spring 1995), The WB (fall 1995-98) |
| Website | http://www.fox50.com |
WRAZ, "FOX50", is a broadcast television station based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Broadcasting on UHF channel 50, WRAZ is an affiliate of the FOX television network and is locally owned by Capitol Broadcasting Company. It offers first-run programming from Fox, talk shows, court shows, sitcoms, and local news produced by sister station WRAL-TV. WRAZ's transmitter is located in Garner, North Carolina.
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[edit] History
WRAZ signed on in the spring of 1995 as an independent station under a local marketing agreement with WRAL-TV. It ran a blend of cartoons, classic sitcoms, and movies, as well as some CBS programming being pre-empted by WRAL in order to broadcast ACC men's basketball games. During the Friday quarterfinal rounds of the ACC Tournament, WRAZ even aired the full slate of CBS soaps that WRAL was pre-empting. That same fall, WRAZ became The WB's Triangle affiliate; the new affiliation came after former WB affiliate WNCN flipped to NBC under the network's new ownership after WRDC (now a UPN affiliate) was one of NBC's low-rated affiliates for decades.
In 1996, WRAZ rebranded itself as WB 50 to reflect its network affiliation. But later that year Fox decided to move its Triangle affiliation to WRAZ after its contract with charter Fox affiliate WLFL-TV ran out in 1998 due to a conflict with that station's owner Sinclair over primetime newscast slots. Following the official affiliation switch in August of 1998, reality and talk shows, as well as first-run court shows were added to the lineup, and cartoons were cut to Saturday mornings. The station also began to carry newscasts produced by WRAL-TV. While the news operation remained in the WRAL studios in Raleigh, WRAZ's main offices and master control 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, WRAL's owner, bought WRAZ outright in 2000. However, unlike most new duopolies that start sharing the same studios elsewhere, WRAZ's studios remained in Durham.
Along with WRAL, WRAZ began digital broadcasting in late 2000 from a transmission tower located in Garner, North Carolina. WRAZ even produces live broadcasts of Durham Bulls home games on site, which air on a digital sub-channel carried by mostly by local Time Warner Cable outlets in central and eastern North Carolina.
[edit] Controversial Programming on FOX
WRAZ has had a history of pre-empting some FOX programming deemed too risque or controversial. It was one of the few FOX stations in the United States which refused to air portions of the reality television programs Temptation Island and Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire, viewing the programs as anti-family. Station manager Tommy Schenck stated: "Capitol Broadcasting will not support a program that makes light of the family in a 'reality' program." Instead, they showed reruns of Cheers or The Andy Griffith Show. In an ironic twist, neighboring Fox affiliate WCCB in Charlotte aired the show indeed despite its namesake owner of Bahakel Communications having a conservative background.
Fox 50 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 [1], as well as Who's Your Daddy? in 2005, citing its treatment of adoption [2].
WRAZ was also one of a handful of FOX stations who initially declined to broadcast the controversial two-part interview special on O.J. Simpson, set to air on November 27 and 29, before the network pulled the plug on the project. [3]
[edit] "Idol" Ratings
During Season 5 of Fox's mega-hit American Idol, WRAZ has been 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, WRAZ registered a 21.7 rating (equivalent to 213,788 households in the Raleigh-Durham market) and a 31 share. Those numbers were roughly 28% higher than the national average. Part of "Idol's" high ratings numbers in North Carolina are tied to the past success of artists such as Season 2 runner-up Clay Aiken from Raleigh and Season 3 champion Fantasia Barrino of High Point. Season 5 had three finalists hailing from the Tar Heel State: Chris Daughtry (McLeansville), who finished fourth, Kellie Pickler (Albemarle), who finished sixth, and Bucky Covington (Rockingham), who finished eighth. American Idol Rewind airs on Saturdays at 6pm eastern starting in September.
[edit] News Programming
WRAZ's news programming is produced by sister station WRAL, using WRAL's news team.
[edit] Newscast Schedule
- FOX 50 Morning News - weekdays 7a-9a
- News: Valonda Calloway, Bill Leslie, Lynda Loveland
- Weather: Elizabeth Gardner
- Traffic: Mark Roberts
- FOX 50 News at Ten - 10p-10:35p
- Weekdays
- News: Gerald Owens, Debra Morgan, Pam Saulsby
- Weather: Mike Maze/Greg Fishel
- Sports: Jeff Gravley
- Weekends
- News: Ken Smith, Kelcey Carlson
- Weather: Kim Deaner
- Sports: Bob Holliday
- Weekdays
- Rewind - Sunday 10:35p-11p
Anchored by Debra Morgan and Gerald Owens, this shows the biggest news and weather stories of the week.
WRAZ usually simulcasts local breaking news coverage from WRAL. For national breaking news, WRAZ carries Fox News coverage, while WRAL carries CBS News. Otherwise, WRAZ may broadcast CBS programming in case WRAL can't in news-related emergencies.
[edit] External links
| Broadcast television in the Raleigh/Durham/Fayetteville market (Nielsen DMA #29) | |||
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WUNC 4 / WUNU 31 / WUNP 36 (PBS/UNC-TV) - WRAL 5 (CBS) - WTVD 11 (ABC) - WNCN 17 (NBC) - WLFL 22 (The CW) - W24CP 24 (3ABN) - WTNC 26 (TFU) - WRDC 28 (MNTV) - WRAY 30 (S@H/JTV) - WACN-LP 34 (DS) - WUVC 40 (UNI) - WHFL-LP 43 (Worship) - WZGS 44 (Telemundo) - W45CN 45 / W45CO 45 / W63CW 63 / W64CN 64 (TBN) - WRPX 47 / WFPX 62 (i) - WRAZ 50 (Fox) - WWIW-LP 66 (DS) - W67CD 67 (A1) - W68BK 68 (Educational) |
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| Local cable television channels | |||
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| Out-of-market broadcast television available on cable in some parts of the market | |||
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WECT 6 (NBC, Wilmington) |
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| Fox Network Affiliates in the state of North Carolina | |
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WGHP 8 (High Point) - WFXI 8 / WYDO 14 (Morehead City / Greenville) - WCCB 18 (Charlotte) - WSFX 26 (Wilmington) - WRAZ 50 (Raleigh) |
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| See also: ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, CW, MNTV and Other stations in North Carolina | |
