Capitol Broadcasting Company


The Capitol Broadcasting Company, Inc. is an American media company based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Capitol owns three television stations and nine radio stations in the Raleigh–Durham and Wilmington areas of North Carolina and the Durham Bulls minor league baseball team.

History

A.J. Fletcher founded the Capitol Broadcasting Company in 1937, when he founded Raleigh radio station WRAL. WRAL radio began transmission two years later in 1939, using a 250-watt transmitter, becoming Raleigh's second radio station. In 1942, Capitol created the Tobacco Radio Network, a farm news radio service that was discontinued in 2002. On September 6, 1946, Capitol Broadcasting received a license with the Federal Communications Commission for WCOY-FM, operating from a 250,000-watt transmitter. In 1960, CBC founded the North Carolina News Network, a statewide radio network that now provides news, weather and sports content to about 80 radio stations. This property was sold to Curtis Media Group in 2009.
On December 15, 1956, Capitol Broadcasting's flagship television station WRAL-TV went on the air in Raleigh. In 1979, WRAL-TV became the first television station in the state of North Carolina to have a dedicated helicopter for newsgathering. In 1987, Capitol acquired independent station WJZY-TV in Charlotte. The following year, Capitol also acquired another independent station, WTTV and its satellite station, WTTK, in the Indianapolis area. WTTV and WTTK were sold in 1991 to River City Broadcasting. In 1996, WRAL-TV was granted the first experimental high definition digital television license in the United States by the Federal Communications Commission. On October 13, 2000, WRAL became the first television station in the world to broadcast a news program entirely in high-definition; the station would begin broadcasting all of its local newscasts in high-definition in January 2001. In 2001, Capitol purchased WFVT in Charlotte, creating the market's second television duopoly. On October 14, 2005, Capitol Broadcasting signed on WCMC-FM on 99.9 MHz in Raleigh with a Country music format, "Genuine Country".
In July 2008, Capitol Broadcasting acquired five radio stations in Wilmington from NextMedia Group for $12 million. On April 14, 2009, Capitol Broadcasting and the City of Raleigh partnered to introduce the first mobile digital television in a public transit bus. On January 28, 2013, Fox Television Stations announced that it had entered into an agreement to purchase WJZY and WMYT from Capitol for $18 million; the deal was completed on April 17.

Major assets

Notes:

Television stations

Radio stations

Note: Stations operated within the Wilmington radio station cluster are operated under the name Sunrise Broadcasting;
City of License/MarketStationOwned sinceCurrent formatNotes
Boiling Spring Lakes, North CarolinaWKXB 99.92008Rhythmic OldiesServes the Wilmington market
Durham, North CarolinaWDNC 6202009Sports radioServes the Raleigh market
Holly Springs, North CarolinaWCMC-FM 99.92005ESPN Radio affiliateServes the Raleigh market
Raleigh, North CarolinaWCLY 15502009ESPN Deportes affiliate
Raleigh, North CarolinaWRAL-FM 101.51947Adult contemporary
Jacksonville, North CarolinaWRMR 98.72011AAAServes the Wilmington market
Southport, North CarolinaWAZO 107.52008Contemporary HitsServes the Wilmington market
Wilmington, North CarolinaWILT 103.72008Adult Contemporary
Wilmington, North CarolinaWMFD 6302008Sports talk

Sports

Television stations

Radio