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WNAO-TV was a television station broadcasting on channel 28 in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Owned by the Sir Walter Television Company, it was the first television station in the Raleigh–Durham area and the first UHF television station in North Carolina,[1] broadcasting from July 12, 1953, to December 31, 1957. The station closed because of the establishment of higher-powered, more accessible VHF television stations in the region.

History

Construction and early years

On October 16, 1952, the Sir Walter Television and Broadcasting Company was granted a construction permit to build channel 28 in Raleigh. Sir Walter primarily consisted of investors from the northeast, some of whom were contesting station assignments in Erie, Pennsylvania, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana; the company had chosen Raleigh over Durham, Winston-Salem, and Roanoke, Virginia, because of the accessibility of talent and the presence of North Carolina State University.[2] The permit originally bore the call letters WETV. However, that December, Sir Walter acquired WNAO (850 AM) and WNAO-FM 96.1 from The News & Observer newspaper in a $250,000 transaction;[3] at the same time, Sir Walter restructured into the Sir Walter Television Company to accommodate a stock purchase by the Jarecki family.[4] The acquisition of the radio stations gave Sir Walter an FM transmission site and was seen by the seller as hastening the arrival of television to Raleigh.[5] The call letters of the television construction permit immediately were changed to WNAO-TV.[6] The station's launch was pushed back from April due to an inability to secure parts on time,[7] particularly the transmitter.[8] WNAO-TV was co-located with the WNAO radio stations at 219 South McDowell Street, near the News & Observer offices.[9]

After airing test patterns since July 8,[10] WNAO-TV began broadcasting at 5:25 p.m. on July 12, 1953, from a transmitter at Asbury,[11] which also served as the initial studio site until the downtown facility was ready.[2] It was primarily affiliated with CBS, though it aired programming from all four networks.[12] Additional delays meant that all programming aired from films in the early months[11] until the station was interconnected on September 29, in time to air the World Series.[13] Channel 28 boosted its power in 1954, transmitting with 182,000 watts instead of 17,500; plans were also drafted to move all television operations from the Raleigh studio to the Asbury transmitter site.[14]

VHF competitors arrive

The WNAO radio-TV studio on Western Boulevard in Raleigh, as seen in a 1950s postcard

While WNAO-TV went on air, the two VHF channels for Raleigh and Durham, channels 5 and 11, remained in comparative hearing. The arrival of VHF television in the Triangle, which would begin with the September 2, 1954, launch of WTVD, created increasing concern at Sir Walter. In July 1954, Sir Walter petitioned the FCC to change channels 5 and 11 to noncommercial assignments and substitute UHF channels 22 and 40 in their place.[15] Radio station WPTF, which was one of two applicants for channel 5 at Raleigh, rebutted, noting that Sir Walter did not contest the original assignment of the VHF channels to the Raleigh-Durham area.[16]

In 1955, WNAO radio and television moved from 219 South McDowell Street[9] into the former Club Bon Air supper club building on Western Boulevard at Pullen Pike,[17] which had been built in 1946 and had last operated as the Chez Gourmet restaurant.[18][9] It also was able to begin carrying CBS network color presentations.[19] That year, the company entered into discussions with the University of North Carolina; the year before, UNC had launched educational station WUNC-TV (channel 4), which now found itself in budgetary trouble; three parties inquired as to potential use of the channel, which was noncommercially reserved.[20]

In June 1956, WNAO-TV proposed that channel 5 be moved from Raleigh to Rocky Mount and a UHF allotment be assigned in its stead; the FCC went ahead with awarding the channel to Capitol Broadcasting Company, which built WRAL-TV.[21] Earlier that year, in an appeals court, Sir Walter warned that the award of this channel would make it unlikely that WNAO-TV could survive.[22] However, the station declared that if the FCC were to level the playing field for UHF stations with an all-channel plan, the station had drafted a proposal to move its transmitter site and broadcast at the maximum of 5 million watts.[1] In August 1957, Sir Walter sold the radio stations, which had been recalled WKIX-AM-FM, to the Ted Oberfelder Broadcasting Company, in order to concentrate on channel 28;[23] the FCC approved the sale in November.[24]

Closure and fight for High Point channel 8

In early October 1957, CBS announced that WTVD would assume the network affiliation in the Raleigh-Durham market effective April 1, 1958; the Durham station was an ABC affiliate with a handful of CBS programs, and it was expected that upon the affiliation switch, WNAO-TV would become the new ABC affiliate in the market.[25] A month later, however, WNAO-TV announced that it would suspend operations on December 31 and apply for VHF channel 8 in a joint venture with another silent UHF station, Winston-Salem's WTOB-TV (channel 26).[26] The petition supported changing WBTW-TV in Florence, South Carolina, from channel 8 to channel 13 so that channel 8 could be assigned in the Piedmont Triad region; WTOB-TV proposed to move to the channel temporarily, and the two stations founded the Southern Broadcast Company in order to apply for the channel if it were placed in the Triad region. Sir Walter reported that it had lost $650,000 since WNAO-TV signed on.[27]

CBS immediately accelerated its affiliation with WTVD to begin on January 1 instead of April 1,[26] though it would take months for the entire CBS lineup to move over.[28] WNAO-TV was sued after closure by Ziv Television Programs for more than $8,600 in unpaid program rights fees.[29]

For the next five years, Southern pursued channel 8; when it won the construction permit for what became WGHP in October 1962—after an initial decision the year before favored a competing application from the owners of WKIX radio[30]—the WNAO-TV and WTOB-TV permits were surrendered for cancellation as a condition of the award.[31] At the time of the award, Sir Walter principals owned 35 percent of Southern (Winston-Salem principals held 55 percent and five residents of High Point the remainder); in 1965, Winston-Salem bought out the other shareholders for $1.2 million.[32]

After the closure of WNAO-TV, the former studios on Western Boulevard housed a furniture store. A fire on the morning of February 23, 1964, gutted the store, causing $175,000 in damage.[17] Channel 28 in the Triangle was reactivated when WRDU-TV, licensed to Durham, began telecasting in November 1968, initially airing programming from CBS and NBC.[33]

References

  1. ^ a b "WNAO-TV Marks Anniversary". The News & Observer. July 12, 1956. p. 28. Retrieved May 19, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ a b Stanley, Hal (August 23, 1953). "Television Comes To Capital City". The News & Observer. p. 53. Retrieved May 19, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "TV Buys AM: Raleigh Sale Nears" (PDF). Broadcasting. December 1, 1952. p. 61. Retrieved May 19, 2020.
  4. ^ "FCC Grants Consent To Six Station Transfers" (PDF). Broadcasting. February 9, 1953. p. 50. Retrieved May 19, 2020.
  5. ^ "Radio Station WNAO Sold To New TV Interests Here". The News & Observer. November 18, 1952. pp. 1, 3. Retrieved May 20, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "Change Asked In TV Station Call Letters". Asheville Citizen-Times. Associated Press. January 6, 1953. p. 10. Retrieved May 19, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "TV Delayed For Raleigh". Statesville Daily Record. United Press. May 16, 1953. p. 13. Retrieved May 19, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "WNAO-TV, Raleigh, N. C. (Ch. 28)..." (PDF). Television Digest. May 9, 1953. p. 5 (27). Retrieved May 20, 2020.
  9. ^ a b c "To Move". The News & Observer. February 8, 1955. p. 8. Retrieved May 20, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "Stations" (PDF). Broadcasting. July 20, 1953. p. 58. Retrieved May 19, 2020.
  11. ^ a b "Raleigh's First Television Station Begins Operation". The News & Observer. July 13, 1953. p. 20. Retrieved May 19, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "WNAO-TV On Air Today; Opening Ceremonies Slated". The News & Observer. July 12, 1953. p. 1. Retrieved May 19, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "First Program". The News & Observer. September 30, 1953. p. 26. Retrieved May 19, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ "WNAO-TV Plans To Boost Power". The News & Observer. May 11, 1954. p. 19. Retrieved May 19, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ "WNAO-TV Urges Changes In Proposed VHF Channels". The News & Observer. July 3, 1954. pp. 1, 3. Retrieved May 20, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ "WPTF Files TV Protest". The News & Observer. July 14, 1954. p. 16. Retrieved May 20, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ a b Jefferys, Grady (February 24, 1964). "Fire in Furniture Store Causes Loss of $175,000". The News & Observer. p. 1. Retrieved May 20, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ "Club Bon-Air Holds Formal Opening Here". The News & Observer. December 10, 1946. p. 3. Retrieved May 20, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ Hall, Jane (August 14, 1955). "Hall Marks". The News & Observer. p. 11. Retrieved May 20, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ^ "Commercial TV Seeks To Run UNC Station". The Robesonian. Associated Press. October 25, 1955. p. 4. Retrieved May 19, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ^ "TV Block Asked". The Charlotte Observer. The Associated Press. July 17, 1956. p. 10-B. Retrieved May 19, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ^ "WNAO-TV Fights VHF TV Station". The News & Observer. March 15, 1956. p. 13. Retrieved May 19, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. ^ "Oberfelder Co. Pays $167,926 For WKIX-AM-FM Raleigh, N. C." (PDF). Broadcasting. August 12, 1957. p. 74. Retrieved May 19, 2020.
  24. ^ "FCC Approves WKIX Transfer". The News & Observer. November 15, 1957. p. 8. Retrieved May 19, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  25. ^ "WTVD Will Become CBS Affiliate". The News & Observer. October 4, 1957. p. 14. Retrieved May 19, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  26. ^ a b "WNAO-TV Will Suspend Operations Next Tuesday". The News & Observer. December 28, 1957. pp. 1, 2. Retrieved May 19, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  27. ^ "WNAO-TV to Go Black, Joins WTOB-TV in Ch. 8 Shift Plea" (PDF). Broadcasting. December 30, 1957. p. 10. Retrieved May 19, 2020.
  28. ^ Lowery, Raymond (December 31, 1957). "Goings On". The News & Observer. p. 8. Retrieved May 19, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  29. ^ "Suit for $8,659.60 was filed..." The News & Observer. January 30, 1958. p. 26. Retrieved May 20, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  30. ^ "Southern Wins Ch. 8" (PDF). Broadcasting. October 8, 1962. p. 58. Retrieved May 19, 2020.
  31. ^ "Dropping of u permits clears way for N.C. vhf" (PDF). Broadcasting. November 5, 1962. p. 46. Retrieved May 19, 2020.
  32. ^ "For the Record" (PDF). Broadcasting. September 20, 1965. p. 94. Retrieved May 19, 2020.
  33. ^ Morrison, Bill (November 3, 1968). "Our New TV Station Debuts This Week". The News & Observer. p. 2. Retrieved May 20, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
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