WRAL-HD Becomes America's First On-Air HDTV Station on July 23, 1996

WRAL-TV today became the nation's first experimental High definition digital television (HDTV) station to go on-the-air. The new channel 32, with the call sign of WRAL-HD, is owned by Capitol Broadcasting Co., Inc., Raleigh, North Carolina. In making the announcement, James F. Goodmon, President and Chief Executive Officer of Capitol, said HDTV is critical to the future of free over-the-air television. "Broadcasters," he said, "must move forward to effectively compete with other digital services."

The station began the transmission of full-power digital test signals today under authorization granted by the Federal Communications Commission. The new station's effective radiated power is 100 kilowatts with the antenna at 1750 feet. Full operation will follow a period of testing the Grand Alliance HDTV system as recommended to the FCC by the Advisory Committee on Advanced Television Service and as documented by the Advanced Television Systems Committee. Channel 32 will continue to make technical measurements of digital signal propagation and test coverage of the Raleigh-Durham-Fayetteville area. Signal testing will continue until Spring of 1997 when actual broadcasts of regularly-scheduled programming will begin. Television sets are expected to hit the consumer market in 1997.

Plans call for the station to carry programming from the soon-to-be-developed national HDTV satellite digital feed from the Public Broadcasting Service. In addition, programming from the CBS Television Network will be a part of the schedule. WRAL-HD will be training staff and transmitting its own HDTV programming in the near future.

Goodmon praised the engineering and technical staffs at CBS who are working as consultants on the project. "To be broadcasting five weeks after the license was granted is a tribute to the hard work and cooperation of CBS, the Harris Corporation, Andrew and Zenith," he said. "This could not have been done without supreme effort from all the parties involved." The system is driven by a new Harris HDTV Sigma transmitter through a special Andrew antenna. Other manufacturers involve in the development, design and testing are Zenith, Snell & Wilcox, Mitsubishi, and Hewlett Packard.

Peter Schruth, Sr. Vice President and General Manager of Affiliate Relations at CBS, said WRAL's achievement "represents a major first step in making the transition from analog to digital HDTV terrestrial broadcasting. This is a historic event."

Goodmon said, "We look forward to serving our viewers with superb HDTV pictures and sound on a wide screen display. This will revolutionize TV as we know it."