Not to thread jack but I found this interesting to read. Any more experiences or examples (even if you have to create a separate thread)? I remember when WRAL use to be decent. Other than my wife likes to watch the weather on that channel, I've don't like to watch base on my perceived bias. I knew they went to the left but didn't know why.
The WRAL Post did not seem to be relevant to some. Others, Maybe....
To give you the Reader's Digest version of what I wrote....hastily.....and some subsequent thoughts....
WRAL transitioned from being rather mainstream to ultraliberal. AJ Fletcher and Fred Fletcher were astute businessmen and did it the OLD FASHIONED WAY....they BUILT IT. WRAL in the 60's owned Montlawn Perpetual Care Cemetery on South Saunder's street or 70/401 South. YES....they owned the whole shooting match.. It was a money maker of the highest level. NOW....they also owned the adjoining property. One was called...."Par Golf". It was a 3 Hole Pitch and Putt. I played there many times in College with my wife....for FREE. WRAL employees and spouse were allowed one FREE round daily. We were poor college students and it was a nice way to break the monotony of studying. On the OTHER SIDE (further South), they owned "Happy Trails Riding Academy". Now....that was also FREE to employees. I may have the two, geographically reversed....but read on ..... it doesn't matter
From a business model perspective, they kept them as three separate "subsidiaries". So, Montlawn property was taxed by Raleigh and Wake County at a much higher rate than "semi-developed" raw land (Happy Trails and Par Golf). As the need to expand the cemetery grew....they just did a little "relandscaping" and then "sold" property from either one to Montlawn. It was a brilliant plan. Well thought out and well executed. NOW, the TV Station was STILL the cash cow.....but suffice it to say that their heirs would be OK with that perpetual care cemetery as "spending money".
WRAL also owned Woody Hayes Music. It was an "elevator" or Musac service. A business would pay a monthly rental for a specially tuned FM Receiver. There were TWO Channels. Elevator (restful for restaurants or whatever) and Upbeat (faster or quicker tempo for assembly line plants). They actually SHUT DOWN WRAL FM. In that, WRAL-FM was automated. There were NO....I repeat NO "Disk Jockeys". Everything was on tape. There were "tones" that signaled another tape machine. So, the staion breaks were controlled by a "Clock". I worked for a while in TV Production running Audio and Camera. I helped video tape Jesse Helms' Editorials. I also did Wrestling and Teenage Frolics (Remote Black Band Stand show with J D Lewis). I needed a full time job over the summer that would let me go to Summer School. I was moved to a WRAL-FM Control Operator. My job was to play the various "Farm News Shows". They had about 15 of them. Ray Wilkinson and someone else would take the audio from their TV newscasts plus all the "Cutting Floor" stuff and turn it into "Plantin' Time" or "Tobacco Talk" or "Some Fertilizer and Seed Company Show". I forget all the names. But from 4:30 until 9:00 every weekday morning, I had a air log and had to play each of the various shows (some were often repeated) at exactly the SECOND. I had to PUSH the magic button. That was an ALERT Tone that went out to ALL the "Tobacco Radio Network" stations. Every AM radio station into Southern Virginia and Upper SC and the FAR EASTERN NC counties were in the Network. These were FILL IN shows for them. WRAL (Ray Wilkinson and his assistants) produced the shows....the AM radio (and a few FM) paid for them....and WRAL got a cut from the advertising. It was a money maker of the first ORDER.
BTW....WRAL partnered with an FM Station in Winston Salem....so the shows were available in the High Point Triad area and "Fed" from that FM Station. It was BRILLIANT. Pay a college kid minimum wage for 5 hours or so.....5 days per week. They also, back then, owned WRAL-AM. It was a smaller competitor to the BIG GUY....WPTF. But it did OK. The morning Jocks would do the News....and it was then phone line fed to WRAL-FM and I played or aired the local NEWS....which was "NC Specific".
Fast paced and you had to be on the second (you could potty while Ray was interviewing Farmer Jones). When Ray Wilkinson did his TV interviews, he OFTEN used the peoples names..... SO he could use the Audio on his own little empire. He often shot 3X the video that he needed....because he new that he could use the "Fluff" stuff on his radio shows. He literally had 5 separate "Agricultural News" shows....each running about 5 minutes. When he was in the area, it was like a circus. All the farmers were there to be interviewed. He would drive around eastern NC and stop when he saw a guy on a tractor or pull into a large farm. The locals LOVED IT. They watched TV and told their families and neighbors that THEY would be on TV and RADIO.
WAY TOO CONFUSING....so, lets ADD to that. WRAL-FM was the ONLY local FM station that was NOT stereo. WHY? The "Combined Mono Signal" was what was aired on WRAL-FM. OK...I was an EE...so it made sense. To get Stereo, you have to broadcast a Sub Carrier FM Signal. It was a Multiplexed Frequency of the original FM Frequency (there WILL be a Pop Quiz). BUT, WRAL, used TWO Sub Carriers. Instead of it being the "LEFT Channel" like everyone else....they spit it and had TWO subcarrier signals. So, that was what broadcast the TWO Woodie Hayes Music Channels.
WRAL-FM put out the cash cow Tobacco Radio New or Network signals....much like a Football game is broadcast on the HOME station, but picked up, via FM, in the far corners of the state. WRAL's Subcarrier bands were the Woodie Hayes Music. SO, they HAD to keep WRAL-FM ON THE AIR....to make money.
THAT is the background.....
To your question. The Fletcher's supported the local "ARTS" programs. That enamored them with the Lawyers and Politicians and the Liberal Democratic community. Jesse Helms was the CONSERVATIVE. He brought in the OTHER side....
PERFECT. THEN....Fred's heir's were not "chosen" to take over the reins. The apple had fallen too far from the tree....so to speak. I had classes with one of the heirs and he was not gonna be the next GM of Capitol Broadcasting. AJ had a daughter. She married well and sired a son from a Mr. Goodmon. He was the apple of AJ's Eye.... He went to Duke (never graduated) in EE. He joined the Navy and then was married and due to the family connections was hired in broadcasting. He had LEARNED a lot from following his grand daddy around as a kid. He became the HEIR APPARENT. He came to WRAL in the early 60's and was the Automation KID....he shut down the TV station and was moved from Engineering to "Marketing"
Somewhere in his life, he had a LIFE CHANGING experience. As one friend, who's wife was a high level Administrative Assistant told me (he filled in a few gaps after I graduated)....Mrs. Goodmon began to "remold" Mr. Goodmon. The station started to drift to the LEFT....and it kept going.
Now, to Mr. Goodmon's credit. He IS a very astute business man. He learned at the feet of his Grand Daddy, AJ. I stand in awe of what he did, from a family and business standpoint, to grow the family wealth. BUT, he chose the Dark Side That was by design as he did not like it when he was "literally and figuratively" thrown out of his bedroom. There is a rumor that he had an apartment built in the basement and often spent the night there....but I can NOT confirm or deny that....as I was NOT there. BUT folks knew things were shaky at home.
SO....somewhere, he got with the program. Marital Bliss. His wife as a social shining star. He figured out HOW to capitalize on his new "personna"....the rest is history....
BTW....the recent "resignations" of two old time WRAL-TV personalities was a direct result....I am told....of certain "you MUST say this" mindset pressure. One had dire consequences and the other just said NO....I ain't gonna think like you and I will make a living in the industry on my own.
There you have it....