WRDC-TV
Encyclopedia
WRDC, channel 28, is an affiliate station of MyNetworkTV
in the Raleigh
-Durham
-Fayetteville
, North Carolina
television market. The station is licensed to Durham, but its studios are in the Highwoods office park just outside downtown Raleigh. It is co-owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group
along with CW
affiliate WLFL-TV (channel 22).
WRDC appears on analog cable channel 12 in Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Fayetteville and most of their suburbs, and channel 10 in Cary, Garner, Clayton, Smithfield, and Carrboro. On Time Warner digital cable, WRDC is shown on channels 128 (standard definition) and 1128 (high definition).
) and the state's first-ever UHF station. It was owned by The News & Observer
along with WNAO radio (850 AM, now WKIX; and 96.1 FM, now WBBB), which the paper had begun only six years earlier. However, television manufacturers weren't required to include UHF tuning capability on their sets at the time. Until the Federal Communications Commission
required all-channel tuning in 1964, UHF stations were unviewable without a converter. Even with one, the picture was barely viewable. WNAO was also hampered by the fact that its initial affiliation with CBS
shifted over to WTVD in 1956. With WRAL-TV
(channel 5) signing on that year with NBC, WNAO was saddled with the then-struggling ABC
network. WNAO-TV had struggled for viewership for much of its brief existence, however these new changes simply made the situation worse. The station shut down at the end of 1957; WNAO radio was sold off the following year, as the fiscal loss for the News & Observer was so great that it decided to get out of broadcasting entirely.
. The station was owned by Triangle Telecasters, headed by the Everett family of Durham: Reuben Everett, his wife Kathrine and their son Robinson
.
Officially, WRDU took over as the Triangle's NBC affiliate. NBC had not had a full-time affiliate in the Triangle since 1962, when WRAL-TV dropped NBC in favor of ABC, leaving CBS affiliate WTVD to shoehorn NBC programming onto its schedule. Although the Triangle had long been large enough to support three full network affiliates, prospective station owners found it difficult to build a UHF station that was strong enough to cover a market which stretched from Chapel Hill
in the west to Goldsboro
in the east. UHF stations didn't cover large amounts of territory very well at the time.
Even after channel 28's sign-on, NBC continued to allow WTVD right of first refusal for its programming. WTVD, of course, chose the higher-rated programs from NBC and CBS, leaving WRDU to carry the lower-rated shows plus NBC's news programming. In 1971, the FCC
intervened on behalf of Triangle Telecasters (in part due to the Commission's policy aims of protecting the development of UHF stations), forcing WTVD to choose one network; it chose CBS. Still, the damage had been done, in terms of station identity and loyalty, making things vastly more difficult in the years to come.
Additionally, WRDU's main competitors, WTVD and WRAL, were two of the strongest performers for their respective networks, having built up followings over the previous dozen years or so on VHF channels--the same problem that derailed WNAO-TV essentially remained unchanged. Also, WRDU had to deal with longer-established NBC affiliates in nearby Winston-Salem
(WSJS-TV, now WXII), Washington
(WITN-TV
) and Wilmington
(WECT
) being available over the air with strong VHF signals in much of the surrounding area. Channel 28's transmitter was located on the Orange
-Chatham County line, providing only grade B coverage of Raleigh itself and rendering it practically unviewable over-the-air in southern and eastern Wake County.
However, one problem that could not be blamed on outside factors was Triangle Telecasters' frequent preemption of network shows for syndicated
ones, presumably because it believed it could get more revenue from local advertising than from network airtime payments. As NBC's popularity declined precipitously through the 1970s, WRDU only increased the number of preemptions.
The Durham Life Insurance Company, which owned the Triangle's oldest radio station, WPTF
(680 AM), bought WRDU-TV from the Everetts in May 1977 and changed its callsign to WPTF-TV on August 14 of the following year. This was Durham Life's second attempt to get into television; it had previously bid for the channel 5 allotment in 1956 before the FCC awarded the license to the much smaller Capitol Broadcasting
as WRAL-TV. Durham Life invested a large amount of money into its new purchase, building a new 1300 feet (396.2 m) tower near Apex
, which gave the station a coverage area comparable to those of WTVD and WRAL. It also poured significant resources into the news department, which had never been competitive against WRAL and WTVD, and added a kids' show entitled Barney's Army., which ran from 1978 to 1983. However, channel 28 was still reeling from the audience-loyalty problems it inherited from Triangle Telecasters. It didn't help that this came at a time when NBC was experiencing a precipitous ratings slump. The news department, even with the power boost and increased resources, made little headway in the ratings. This was in marked contrast to its radio sister, one of the most respected radio news operations in North Carolina.
WRAL and WTVD switched affiliations in 1985 after WTVD's owner, Capital Cities Communications
, bought ABC, but WPTF saw little windfall from the switch. At one point in the 1980s, even with NBC's powerful primetime lineup, WPTF-TV was dead last in the Triangle television ratings. It even trailed WLFL, an independent station (and later, a Fox
affiliate) that had only been on the air since 1981. The station also continued to preempt NBC programming, albeit at a reduced rate compared to the 1970s. This didn't sit very well with NBC, which has historically been far less tolerant of preemptions than the other networks.
Understandably enough, by the summer of 1991, Durham Life wanted out of broadcasting entirely. Durham Life broke up its entire broadcasting unit and sold off individual stations to various owners. WPTF-TV was sold to Paul Brissette, who changed the callsign to WRDC, after the three major cities in the Triangle—Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill. It also rebranded the station as "TRI-28". The new owners made the station profitable almost immediately. However, in a cost-cutting move, on July 31, 1991, Brissette fired the entire news department (save for one anchor/reporter who was kept for newsbreaks) and most of the production crew. One disgruntled ex-employee, in a bitter joke, suggested that the station's new callsign really stood for "We Really Don't Care." WRDC lost a good deal of credibility as a result and never recovered.
By the mid-1990s, NBC, obviously embarrassed and angry about its poor performance in one of the country's fastest-growing markets, had finally had enough with WRDC and was looking to move its programming to another station. It got its chance in 1995 after WNCN
(channel 17, formerly WYED-TV), based in Goldsboro
, boosted its signal to 5 million watts to provide greater coverage to the Triangle market. WNCN's owner, Outlet Communications, also owned WJAR-TV in Providence, Rhode Island
and WCMH-TV
in Columbus, Ohio
, which were two of NBC's strongest and longest-standing affiliates. Although WNCN had just affiliated with the WB Television Network, NBC quickly cut a deal with Outlet to move its Triangle affiliation to WNCN.
However, NBC's contract with WRDC didn't run out until September 3, 1995. Starting in January 1995, WNCN began airing all of the NBC programming that WRDC turned down. When NBC's contract with WRDC ran out in September, WRDC became a UPN
affiliate. It had already been airing UPN programming during the late-night hours since January. As such, WRDC no longer had a decent amount of programming to preempt, with UPN providing far fewer hours of network fare per week than any of the major networks. WRDC also picked up several syndicated shows that WNCN no longer had time to air.
Brissette began sinking under the weight of massive financial problems, and merged his group with Benedek Broadcasting
later in 1995 (a year earlier, a sale to the Communications Corporation of America
was approved by the FCC but never consummated). However, since the merger left Benedek one station over FCC limits of the time, WRDC was sold to Glencairn Ltd. Glencairn was owned by Edwin Edwards, a former executive with WLFL's owner, Sinclair. The Smith family, founders and owners of Sinclair, held 97 percent of Glencairn's stock, leading to allegations that Sinclair was using Glencairn to do an end run around FCC rules forbidding duopolies
. Sinclair and Glencairn allegedly further circumvented the rules by merging WRDC's operations with those of WLFL's under a local marketing agreement
. Although WLFL was the senior partner, the two stations' operations were based at WRDC's former studios in the Highwoods complex. Similar arrangements were in place at Glencairn's other eight stations. The FCC eventually fined Sinclair $40,000 for its illegal control of Glencairn.
Channel 28 briefly dropped its UPN affiliation in the spring of 1998 and became an independent, as did most of the UPN stations Sinclair either owned or controlled, due to a dispute between UPN and Sinclair. However, UPN and Sinclair patched up their dispute, and UPN programming returned to WRDC in the summer. Sinclair purchased WRDC outright in 2001. This was possible because WNCN had by this time passed WRDC as the fourth-rated station in the Triangle. The FCC's duopoly rules do not allow one person to own two of the four largest stations in a single market.
, a new service formed by the News Corporation
, who also owns the Fox network. Sister station WLFL, which had been a WB affiliate since 1998, took the CW affiliation a few months later. This gave North Carolina two CW/MyNetworkTV duopolies, the other being WJZY
/WMYT-TV
in Charlotte
. In both cases, the MyNetworkTV affiliate is the junior partner.
The station currently runs a two-minute segment called Brand Newz hosted by Christopher Martin, one half of 1980s hip-hop comedy duo Kid 'n Play
.
On the original DTV transition date of February 17 2009 WRDC turned off its analog channel 28 transmitter. It is one of three stations in the Triangle area, along with WLFL
and WRAY-TV
, who agreed to make the switch on that date, even though the DTV transition date had been changed to June 12, 2009. On June 12, 2009 at 12:00 PM WRDC switched its digital channel from 27 to 28.
As of June 2011, TheCoolTV is offered on Time Warner
, digital cable channel 129.
, in an attempt to increase its signal coverage to include Fayetteville and other cities located south and east of Raleigh. That same tower collapsed in December 1989 during an early morning winter ice storm that also claimed the nearby tower of WRAL-TV
. WPTF managed to get back on the air several hours later by rebroadcasting its signal on both WYED-TV (now WNCN
) for the Raleigh-Durham area and WFCT-TV (channel 62, now WFPX
) for the Fayetteville area.
A month following the WYED/WFCT simulcast, WPTF reactivated its old tower near Apex, which it had used from 1978 to 1986, allowing the station to resume its broadcasts on Channel 28 as usual. That same tower was dismantled several years later and then donated to classical radio station WCPE-FM
, who reassembled it at a spot near its studios in Wake Forest, North Carolina
in 1993. WPTF would eventually return to the newly-built broadcast tower completed in early 1991 near Garner, which also included the transmission signal for WRAL-TV, as well as WRAL-FM
, WQDR-FM
, and a couple of low-power TV stations in the area.
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...
in the Raleigh
Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh is the capital and the second largest city in the state of North Carolina as well as the seat of Wake County. Raleigh is known as the "City of Oaks" for its many oak trees. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city's 2010 population was 403,892, over an area of , making Raleigh...
-Durham
Durham, North Carolina
Durham is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the county seat of Durham County and also extends into Wake County. It is the fifth-largest city in the state, and the 85th-largest in the United States by population, with 228,330 residents as of the 2010 United States census...
-Fayetteville
Fayetteville, North Carolina
Fayetteville is a city located in Cumberland County, North Carolina, United States. It is the county seat of Cumberland County, and is best known as the home of Fort Bragg, a U.S. Army post located northwest of the city....
, North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
television market. The station is licensed to Durham, but its studios are in the Highwoods office park just outside downtown Raleigh. It is co-owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group
Sinclair Broadcast Group
The Sinclair Broadcast Group is an American telecommunications company that operates the largest number of local television stations in the United States. Headquartered in Hunt Valley, Maryland, it owns a total of 57 stations across the country in 35 primarily small and medium markets, many of...
along with CW
The CW Television Network
The CW Television Network is a television network in the United States launched at the beginning of the 2006–2007 television season. It is a joint venture between CBS Corporation, the former owners of United Paramount Network , and Time Warner's Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB...
affiliate WLFL-TV (channel 22).
WRDC appears on analog cable channel 12 in Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Fayetteville and most of their suburbs, and channel 10 in Cary, Garner, Clayton, Smithfield, and Carrboro. On Time Warner digital cable, WRDC is shown on channels 128 (standard definition) and 1128 (high definition).
WNAO-TV (1953-57)
On July 12, 1953 at 5:25 p.m., WNAO-TV began broadcasting on channel 28 as the Triangle's first television station (a few months before WTVDWTVD
WTVD, channel 11, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, licensed to Durham, North Carolina. The station serves the areas of Durham, Raleigh, Chapel Hill, and Fayetteville, known as the Triangle...
) and the state's first-ever UHF station. It was owned by The News & Observer
The News & Observer
The News & Observer is the regional daily newspaper of the Research Triangle area of the U.S. State of North Carolina. The N&O, as it is popularly called, is based in Raleigh and also covers Durham, Cary, and Chapel Hill. The paper also has substantial readership in most of the state east of...
along with WNAO radio (850 AM, now WKIX; and 96.1 FM, now WBBB), which the paper had begun only six years earlier. However, television manufacturers weren't required to include UHF tuning capability on their sets at the time. Until the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
required all-channel tuning in 1964, UHF stations were unviewable without a converter. Even with one, the picture was barely viewable. WNAO was also hampered by the fact that its initial affiliation with CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
shifted over to WTVD in 1956. With WRAL-TV
WRAL-TV
WRAL-TV, virtual channel 5 , is a television station in Raleigh, North Carolina. WRAL-TV has been the flagship station of Capitol Broadcasting Company since its inception, and is currently the CBS affiliate for the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill/Fayetteville area, known collectively as the Triangle...
(channel 5) signing on that year with NBC, WNAO was saddled with the then-struggling ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
network. WNAO-TV had struggled for viewership for much of its brief existence, however these new changes simply made the situation worse. The station shut down at the end of 1957; WNAO radio was sold off the following year, as the fiscal loss for the News & Observer was so great that it decided to get out of broadcasting entirely.
As an NBC affiliate (1968-95)
Channel 28 stayed dark until November 4, 1968, when WRDU-TV, licensed to Durham and unrelated to the earlier station, began operations. The new station had studios located on NC Highway 54 in southern Durham, with a transmitter located near Terrell's Mountain in Chatham CountyChatham County, North Carolina
Chatham County is a county located in the Piedmont area of the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of 2000, the population was 49,329. Its county seat is Pittsboro.-History:...
. The station was owned by Triangle Telecasters, headed by the Everett family of Durham: Reuben Everett, his wife Kathrine and their son Robinson
Robinson O. Everett
Robinson O. Everett was an American lawyer, judge and a professor of law at Duke University.Everett was born in Durham, North Carolina, to a family of lawyers: his grandfather and both of his parents being noted North Carolina attorneys...
.
Officially, WRDU took over as the Triangle's NBC affiliate. NBC had not had a full-time affiliate in the Triangle since 1962, when WRAL-TV dropped NBC in favor of ABC, leaving CBS affiliate WTVD to shoehorn NBC programming onto its schedule. Although the Triangle had long been large enough to support three full network affiliates, prospective station owners found it difficult to build a UHF station that was strong enough to cover a market which stretched from Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Chapel Hill is a town in Orange County, North Carolina, United States and the home of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and UNC Health Care...
in the west to Goldsboro
Goldsboro, North Carolina
Goldsboro is a city in Wayne County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 37,597 at the 2008 census estimate. It is the principal city of and is included in the Goldsboro, North Carolina Metropolitan Statistical Area. The nearby town of Waynesboro was founded in 1787 and Goldsboro was...
in the east. UHF stations didn't cover large amounts of territory very well at the time.
Even after channel 28's sign-on, NBC continued to allow WTVD right of first refusal for its programming. WTVD, of course, chose the higher-rated programs from NBC and CBS, leaving WRDU to carry the lower-rated shows plus NBC's news programming. In 1971, the FCC
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
intervened on behalf of Triangle Telecasters (in part due to the Commission's policy aims of protecting the development of UHF stations), forcing WTVD to choose one network; it chose CBS. Still, the damage had been done, in terms of station identity and loyalty, making things vastly more difficult in the years to come.
Additionally, WRDU's main competitors, WTVD and WRAL, were two of the strongest performers for their respective networks, having built up followings over the previous dozen years or so on VHF channels--the same problem that derailed WNAO-TV essentially remained unchanged. Also, WRDU had to deal with longer-established NBC affiliates in nearby Winston-Salem
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Winston-Salem is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina, with a 2010 population of 229,617. Winston-Salem is the county seat and largest city of Forsyth County and the fourth-largest city in the state. Winston-Salem is the second largest municipality in the Piedmont Triad region and is home to...
(WSJS-TV, now WXII), Washington
Washington, North Carolina
Washington is a city in Beaufort County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 9,744 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Beaufort County. The closest major city is Greenville, approximately 20 miles to the west....
(WITN-TV
WITN-TV
WITN-TV is the NBC-affiliated television station for Eastern North Carolina's Inner Banks licensed to Washington. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 32 from a transmitter in Grifton along NC 118. The station can also be seen on Charter and Time Warner Cable channel 7 as...
) and Wilmington
Wilmington, North Carolina
Wilmington is a port city in and is the county seat of New Hanover County, North Carolina, United States. The population is 106,476 according to the 2010 Census, making it the eighth most populous city in the state of North Carolina...
(WECT
WECT
WECT is the NBC-affiliated television station for the Cape Fear and Sandhills areas of North Carolina that is licensed to Wilmington. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 44 from a transmitter southwest of Winnabow. The station can also be seen on Time Warner and Charter...
) being available over the air with strong VHF signals in much of the surrounding area. Channel 28's transmitter was located on the Orange
Orange County, North Carolina
Orange County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2010 census, the population was 133,801. Its county seat is Hillsborough...
-Chatham County line, providing only grade B coverage of Raleigh itself and rendering it practically unviewable over-the-air in southern and eastern Wake County.
However, one problem that could not be blamed on outside factors was Triangle Telecasters' frequent preemption of network shows for syndicated
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
ones, presumably because it believed it could get more revenue from local advertising than from network airtime payments. As NBC's popularity declined precipitously through the 1970s, WRDU only increased the number of preemptions.
The Durham Life Insurance Company, which owned the Triangle's oldest radio station, WPTF
WPTF
WPTF, NewsRadio 680, is a talk radio station serving the Triangle area of Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The station is owned by Curtis Media Group...
(680 AM), bought WRDU-TV from the Everetts in May 1977 and changed its callsign to WPTF-TV on August 14 of the following year. This was Durham Life's second attempt to get into television; it had previously bid for the channel 5 allotment in 1956 before the FCC awarded the license to the much smaller Capitol Broadcasting
Capitol Broadcasting Company
Capitol Broadcasting Company is a TV and radio broadcast company based in Raleigh, North Carolina. They also own and operate the minor league baseball team, the Durham Bulls.-TV:*WRAL-TV 5...
as WRAL-TV. Durham Life invested a large amount of money into its new purchase, building a new 1300 feet (396.2 m) tower near Apex
Apex, North Carolina
Apex is a town in Wake County, North Carolina and a suburb of Raleigh. The population was 37,476 according to the 2010 census., wakegov.com-Geography:Apex is located at ....
, which gave the station a coverage area comparable to those of WTVD and WRAL. It also poured significant resources into the news department, which had never been competitive against WRAL and WTVD, and added a kids' show entitled Barney's Army., which ran from 1978 to 1983. However, channel 28 was still reeling from the audience-loyalty problems it inherited from Triangle Telecasters. It didn't help that this came at a time when NBC was experiencing a precipitous ratings slump. The news department, even with the power boost and increased resources, made little headway in the ratings. This was in marked contrast to its radio sister, one of the most respected radio news operations in North Carolina.
WRAL and WTVD switched affiliations in 1985 after WTVD's owner, Capital Cities Communications
Capital Cities Communications
Capital Cities redirects here. For the article about the seat of a government, see Capital .Capital Cities Communications was an American media company best known for its surprise purchase of the much larger American Broadcasting Company in 1985...
, bought ABC, but WPTF saw little windfall from the switch. At one point in the 1980s, even with NBC's powerful primetime lineup, WPTF-TV was dead last in the Triangle television ratings. It even trailed WLFL, an independent station (and later, a Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
affiliate) that had only been on the air since 1981. The station also continued to preempt NBC programming, albeit at a reduced rate compared to the 1970s. This didn't sit very well with NBC, which has historically been far less tolerant of preemptions than the other networks.
Understandably enough, by the summer of 1991, Durham Life wanted out of broadcasting entirely. Durham Life broke up its entire broadcasting unit and sold off individual stations to various owners. WPTF-TV was sold to Paul Brissette, who changed the callsign to WRDC, after the three major cities in the Triangle—Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill. It also rebranded the station as "TRI-28". The new owners made the station profitable almost immediately. However, in a cost-cutting move, on July 31, 1991, Brissette fired the entire news department (save for one anchor/reporter who was kept for newsbreaks) and most of the production crew. One disgruntled ex-employee, in a bitter joke, suggested that the station's new callsign really stood for "We Really Don't Care." WRDC lost a good deal of credibility as a result and never recovered.
As a UPN affiliate (1995–2006)
WNCN
WNCN is the NBC affiliate television station in the Triangle region of North Carolina , broadcasting on digital channel 17. It is licensed to Goldsboro, but its studios are just outside of downtown Raleigh...
(channel 17, formerly WYED-TV), based in Goldsboro
Goldsboro, North Carolina
Goldsboro is a city in Wayne County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 37,597 at the 2008 census estimate. It is the principal city of and is included in the Goldsboro, North Carolina Metropolitan Statistical Area. The nearby town of Waynesboro was founded in 1787 and Goldsboro was...
, boosted its signal to 5 million watts to provide greater coverage to the Triangle market. WNCN's owner, Outlet Communications, also owned WJAR-TV in Providence, Rhode Island
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...
and WCMH-TV
WCMH-TV
WCMH-TV, channel 4, is a television station in Columbus, Ohio, affiliated with the NBC television network and owned by Media General. The station's studios and transmitter are located in Columbus. NBC-4 broadcasts from its studio and office complex near the Ohio State University on Olentangy River...
in Columbus, Ohio
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus is the capital of and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The broader metropolitan area encompasses several counties and is the third largest in Ohio behind those of Cleveland and Cincinnati. Columbus is the third largest city in the American Midwest, and the fifteenth largest city...
, which were two of NBC's strongest and longest-standing affiliates. Although WNCN had just affiliated with the WB Television Network, NBC quickly cut a deal with Outlet to move its Triangle affiliation to WNCN.
However, NBC's contract with WRDC didn't run out until September 3, 1995. Starting in January 1995, WNCN began airing all of the NBC programming that WRDC turned down. When NBC's contract with WRDC ran out in September, WRDC became a UPN
UPN
United Paramount Network was a television network that was broadcast in over 200 markets in the United States from 1995 to 2006. UPN was originally owned by Viacom/Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries, the former of which, through the Paramount Television Group, produced most of the network's...
affiliate. It had already been airing UPN programming during the late-night hours since January. As such, WRDC no longer had a decent amount of programming to preempt, with UPN providing far fewer hours of network fare per week than any of the major networks. WRDC also picked up several syndicated shows that WNCN no longer had time to air.
Brissette began sinking under the weight of massive financial problems, and merged his group with Benedek Broadcasting
Benedek Broadcasting
Benedek Broadcasting is a former television broadcaster, who owned and operated 22 network-affiliated television stations throughout the United States, all affiliated with major television networks, serving mainly small and medium-size markets. The company was founded in the late 1970s by A...
later in 1995 (a year earlier, a sale to the Communications Corporation of America
Communications Corporation of America
Communications Corporation of America is a broadcasting company in the United States that owns television stations in smaller markets. The company is headquartered in Lafayette, Louisiana...
was approved by the FCC but never consummated). However, since the merger left Benedek one station over FCC limits of the time, WRDC was sold to Glencairn Ltd. Glencairn was owned by Edwin Edwards, a former executive with WLFL's owner, Sinclair. The Smith family, founders and owners of Sinclair, held 97 percent of Glencairn's stock, leading to allegations that Sinclair was using Glencairn to do an end run around FCC rules forbidding duopolies
Duopoly (broadcasting)
In United States broadcast television and radio, duopoly is a term used to describe a single company which owns two or more stations in the same city or community....
. Sinclair and Glencairn allegedly further circumvented the rules by merging WRDC's operations with those of WLFL's under a local marketing agreement
Local marketing agreement
In U.S. and Canadian broadcasting, a local marketing agreement is an agreement in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another licensee...
. Although WLFL was the senior partner, the two stations' operations were based at WRDC's former studios in the Highwoods complex. Similar arrangements were in place at Glencairn's other eight stations. The FCC eventually fined Sinclair $40,000 for its illegal control of Glencairn.
Channel 28 briefly dropped its UPN affiliation in the spring of 1998 and became an independent, as did most of the UPN stations Sinclair either owned or controlled, due to a dispute between UPN and Sinclair. However, UPN and Sinclair patched up their dispute, and UPN programming returned to WRDC in the summer. Sinclair purchased WRDC outright in 2001. This was possible because WNCN had by this time passed WRDC as the fourth-rated station in the Triangle. The FCC's duopoly rules do not allow one person to own two of the four largest stations in a single market.
As a MyNetworkTV affiliate (2006-present)
In January 2006, The WB and UPN (which has only used its initials as its official name since 2000) announced that they would merge into a new network, The CW. The news of the merger resulted in Sinclair announcing, two months later, that most of its UPN and WB affiliates, including WRDC, would join MyNetworkTVMyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...
, a new service formed by the News Corporation
News Corporation
News Corporation or News Corp. is an American multinational media conglomerate. It is the world's second-largest media conglomerate as of 2011 in terms of revenue, and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009, although the BBC remains the world's largest broadcaster...
, who also owns the Fox network. Sister station WLFL, which had been a WB affiliate since 1998, took the CW affiliation a few months later. This gave North Carolina two CW/MyNetworkTV duopolies, the other being WJZY
WJZY
WJZY is the CW-affiliated television station for Charlotte, North Carolina licensed to Belmont. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 47 from a transmitter in Dallas along the Catawba River. The station can also be seen on Time Warner Cable channel 8 and in high definition...
/WMYT-TV
WMYT-TV
WMYT-TV is the MyNetworkTV-affiliate in Charlotte, North Carolina. It broadcasts on digital channel 39 and virtual channel 55. Its branding refers to its position on channel 12 on Charlotte area cable systems. It is owned by Capitol Broadcasting Company along with WJZY...
in Charlotte
CHARLOTTE
- CHARLOTTE :CHARLOTTE is an American blues-based hard rock band that formed in Los Angeles, California in 1986. Currently, they are signed to indie label, Eonian Records, under which they released their debut cd, Medusa Groove, in 2010. Notable Charlotte songs include 'Siren', 'Little Devils',...
. In both cases, the MyNetworkTV affiliate is the junior partner.
The station currently runs a two-minute segment called Brand Newz hosted by Christopher Martin, one half of 1980s hip-hop comedy duo Kid 'n Play
Kid 'n Play
Kid 'n Play is an American hip-hop and comedy duo from New York City that was popular in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The duo was composed of Christopher "Kid" Reid and Christopher "Play" Martin working alongside their DJ, Mark "DJ Wiz" Eastmond...
.
Digital television
WRDC's digital signal is multiplexed.| Channel | Programming |
|---|---|
| 28.1 | Main WRDC programming / MyNetworkTV |
| 28.2 | TheCoolTV TheCoolTV THECOOLTV is a United States over-the-air digital subchannel launched in March 2009. The network's current program schedule consists of an all-music video lineup that can be customized to meet an affiliate's preference, along with the three hours per week of E/I programming as required by the... |
On the original DTV transition date of February 17 2009 WRDC turned off its analog channel 28 transmitter. It is one of three stations in the Triangle area, along with WLFL
WLFL
WLFL is the CW-affiliated television station for North Carolina's Triangle licensed to Raleigh. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 27 from a transmitter located in Auburn, North Carolina. The station can also be seen on Time Warner Cable channel 2 and in high definition...
and WRAY-TV
WRAY-TV
WRAY-TV is a full-power television station licensed to Wilson, North Carolina and serves the entire Raleigh-Durham-Fayetteville, North Carolina metropolitan area...
, who agreed to make the switch on that date, even though the DTV transition date had been changed to June 12, 2009. On June 12, 2009 at 12:00 PM WRDC switched its digital channel from 27 to 28.
As of June 2011, TheCoolTV is offered on Time Warner
Time Warner Cable
Time Warner Cable is an American cable television company that operates in 28 states and has 31 operating divisions...
, digital cable channel 129.
TV Tower
In 1986, WPTF erected a 2000 feet (609.6 m) tower near Auburn, North CarolinaAuburn, North Carolina
Auburn is an unincorporated community in Wake County, North Carolina, USA, just southeast of Raleigh. It lies about halfway between Garner and Clayton along Old Garner Road, a former alignment of US 70.-Landmarks:...
, in an attempt to increase its signal coverage to include Fayetteville and other cities located south and east of Raleigh. That same tower collapsed in December 1989 during an early morning winter ice storm that also claimed the nearby tower of WRAL-TV
WRAL-TV
WRAL-TV, virtual channel 5 , is a television station in Raleigh, North Carolina. WRAL-TV has been the flagship station of Capitol Broadcasting Company since its inception, and is currently the CBS affiliate for the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill/Fayetteville area, known collectively as the Triangle...
. WPTF managed to get back on the air several hours later by rebroadcasting its signal on both WYED-TV (now WNCN
WNCN
WNCN is the NBC affiliate television station in the Triangle region of North Carolina , broadcasting on digital channel 17. It is licensed to Goldsboro, but its studios are just outside of downtown Raleigh...
) for the Raleigh-Durham area and WFCT-TV (channel 62, now WFPX
WFPX
WFPX-TV is one of two Ion Television affiliates for the Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina, USA, television market, licensed to nearby Fayetteville. The station is owned by ION Media Networks , and is a full-time satellite of WRPX. WFPX operates on UHF digital channel 36. Its transmitter is located...
) for the Fayetteville area.
A month following the WYED/WFCT simulcast, WPTF reactivated its old tower near Apex, which it had used from 1978 to 1986, allowing the station to resume its broadcasts on Channel 28 as usual. That same tower was dismantled several years later and then donated to classical radio station WCPE-FM
WCPE-FM
- WCPE affiliates:Portions of WCPE's programming can also be heard on these stations:Kansas* KBTL 88.1 El Dorado - variousIllinois* WLNX 88.9 FM Lincoln - 24 hoursMichigan* WCHW-FM 91.3 FM Bay CityM-F, 7 p.m...
, who reassembled it at a spot near its studios in Wake Forest, North Carolina
Wake Forest, North Carolina
Wake Forest is a town and suburb of Raleigh, North Carolina in Wake County in the U.S. state of North Carolina and is located just north of the state capital, Raleigh. The population was 12,588 at the 2000 census. In 2009, the estimated population was 27,915...
in 1993. WPTF would eventually return to the newly-built broadcast tower completed in early 1991 near Garner, which also included the transmission signal for WRAL-TV, as well as WRAL-FM
WRAL-FM
WRAL is an Adult Contemporary music formatted radio station based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Its studios are located on Highwoods Boulevard in Raleigh, along with WCMC-FM, a sports talk station that signed on in October 2005...
, WQDR-FM
WQDR-FM
WQDR is a radio station in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA, broadcasting to the state's central and eastern regions, including the cities of Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Fayetteville, Rocky Mount, Wilson, and Goldsboro...
, and a couple of low-power TV stations in the area.
Newscasts
- Triangle News (1970s)
- NewsCenter 28 (late 1970s-1980s)
- Newsbeat 28 (1986–1990)
- WPTF-TV 28 News (1990-1991)
- TV-28 Newsbreak (Newsbriefs, 1991-1992)
- TRY 28 Newsbreak (Newsbriefs, 1992-1993)
External links
- My RDC Website
- Raleigh Tower Disaster - includes pictures of the WRAL and WPTF-TV towers, which were destroyed in a December 1989 ice storm