Programming
WRAL clears most of the NBC schedule in pattern, except for one hour of The More You Know (NBC's E/I-compliant block), which it preempts in favor of paid programming in the noon hour on Saturdays (as a CBS affiliate, it cleared the network's entire schedule from the late 1990s until it rejoined NBC). The only exceptions involved ACC football and basketball from Raycom Sports, both of which aired on the station from 1977, when they moved from WTVD, until the end of the syndication package in 2019. ACC-preempted NBC programming aired either as originally scheduled on digital subchannel 5.2 (which is otherwise an affiliate of Cozi TV) or overnights on the main signal. The More You Know is split over two days; the first hour airs on Saturdays from 10 to 11 a.m., with Brain Game and Smart Start Kids (both of which count toward WRAL's E/I commitments) airing from 11 a.m. to noon, and the second hour airs on Sundays from 11 a.m. to noon.
However, the 2003 reality show Cupid did not air on the station, as have some controversial shows on sister station WRAZ, and WRAL was one of a few CBS affiliates in the nation that did not carry an hour of CBS' weekend morning children's programming block (in favor of Brain Game and Smart Start Kids). WRAL was also one of the few CBS affiliates that aired The Young and the Restless at 4 p.m. as a lead-in to its 5 p.m. newscast. Most CBS stations in the Eastern Time Zone air Y&R at 12:30 p.m. (CBS' recommended time for the show), but in the case of WRAL, the timeslot switch occurred in January 1993. This happened because the station's sitcom reruns (the show being run at the time was an hour-long block of The Golden Girls,[12] making it ironic that during their ABC affiliation they were one of 13 affiliates not to carry the original network run of Soap, another Witt/Thomas/Harris Production[13]) were having no luck against The Oprah Winfrey Show on WTVD. (The second half of their noon newscast and Right This Minute aired in Y&R's recommended time slot.)[14] Following WRAL-TV rejoining NBC on February 29, 2016, Y&R continued to air at 4 p.m. on WNCN while WRAL-TV carried local news at the time slot until January 17, 2022, when WNCN moved it to its traditional 12:30 p.m. timeslot and introduced its own 4 p.m. newscast.[15]
When WRAL joined CBS in 1985, it became the Triangle's home for the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, which has aired on CBS since 1981. Due to the Triangle's (and North Carolina's) longstanding status as a college basketball hotbed and local teams North Carolina and Duke being fixtures in the tournament, NCAA Tournament games on WRAL were consistently among the highest-rated programs in the Triangle during tournament season. WRAL aired the Tar Heels' national championship wins in 1993, 2005, and 2009; five of the Tar Heels' other Final Four appearances in 1995, 1997, 1998, 2000, and 2008; all five of the Blue Devils' national championship victories in 1991, 1992, 2001, 2010, and 2015; four of the Blue Devils' other national championship appearances in 1986, 1990, 1994, and 1999; and three of the Blue Devils' other Final Four appearances in 1988, 1989, and 2004. Despite the NCAA Tournament moving with the rest of the CBS schedule to WNCN, WRAL-TV continued to air ACC football and/or basketball until the package ended in 2019 in favor of the ACC Network. WRAL-TV may potentially air any away games of the local ACC teams if the opposing home team is from the Big Ten, Atlantic-10 or Big East conferences.
WRAL has broadcast memorable locally produced children's programming throughout its storied history. Its most famous and longest-running is Time for Uncle Paul, which ran from 1961 to 1981, and starred Paul Montgomery. He had played various other characters on other local shows before getting his own program. He voluntarily ended his program after station management suggested a change to an educational format.
Soon after, WRAL continued to produce acclaimed educational children's shows such as Frog Hollow, Sparks, and The Androgena Show. Today, WRAL continues to produce educational programs with such shows as Smart Start Kids and Brain Game. In recent years, WRAL and UNC-TV have co-produced programming, such as the 2009 Gubernatorial Inauguration and the 2006 Parade of Sail Tall Ship Show in Beaufort. UNC-TV has, also, begun carrying WRAL's award-winning Focal Point documentaries. WRAL has long been a corporate supporter of UNC-TV, often assisting them financially and occasionally with on-air talent during UNC-TV's pledge drives.
WRAL announced on February 1, 2006, that it would begin to stream all of its programming live on the internet. This signified the latest advances in technology-driven delivery of product by a local television station. A few months later, WRAL was selected to be the flagship station for North Carolina Education Lottery drawings (twice daily for certain games, with the multi-jurisdictional Mega Millions Tuesday and Friday nights, and Powerball Wednesdays and Saturdays). On December 3, 2007, WRAL became the first local television station to stream live video to mobile phones.[16]
Debuting in 1981, each Friday evening following the 11 p.m. news, Tom Suiter hosts Football Friday covering all high school football games throughout Wake and Durham counties along with a dozen or more counties. WRAL crews spread out across the area providing not just scores but video coverage of each of 25 to as many as 35 games in the area. The show is an extension of the expansion throughout the 1980s of high school football coverage on the 11 p.m. newscast. Each Friday, video crews are sent to cover two games each. WRAL videographers and sports reporters capture highlights of the first quarter of one game and second quarter of the other game. Editors have little more than an hour to prepare highlights.[17] From 1995 through 2002, Football Friday was broadcast from WRAL's Studio A with an audience of cheerleaders, bands, players and fans. The arrival of the North Carolina Education Lottery moved the show to the newsroom.[18][19]
