Programming
The station has had a history of preempting some Fox programming it deemed too risky or controversial. It was one of the few stations in the United States to refuse to air portions of reality television shows Temptation Island and Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire. WRAZ viewed the programs as anti-family. Instead, the station showed reruns of other shows such Cheers, The Andy Griffith Show, and Seinfeld, among others. It used the same approach in 2003 by refusing to air additional episodes of Married by America claiming that the content of the show was demeaning to the institution of marriage. This also happened with Who's Your Daddy? in 2005 when WRAZ cited its treatment of adoption.
It was also one of a handful of Fox affiliates who initially declined to broadcast the controversial, two-part interview special on O.J. Simpson. It was set to air on November 27 and 29 in 2006 before the network pulled the plug on the project. More recently, WRAZ was among a handful of stations that either delayed or refused to air the season premiere of Osbournes: Reloaded on March 31, 2009. In this station's case, the show aired at 11:35 at night replacing an episode of Seinfeld that had been moved to the spot immediately after American Idol. Since WRAL operates in a duopoly with WRAZ, this station may also broadcast CBS programming in certain cases when WRAL is unable to do so (such as during special events or news-related emergencies). It aired CBS Sports coverage of the Duke/St. Louis college basketball game on December 11, 2010 so WRAL could offer live coverage of Elizabeth Edwards's funeral.
During Season 5 of Fox's mega-hit American Idol, WRAZ was consistently one of the network's top-drawing stations. While the national Nielsen ratings for February 28, 2006 were 17.0 with a 25% share of overall households tuning in, the station registered a 21.7 rating (equivalent to 213,788 households in the market) and a 31% share. Those numbers were roughly 28% higher than the national average. Part of the show's high ratings numbers in North Carolina are tied to the past success of artists such as Season 2 runner-up Clay Aiken (who is from Raleigh) and Season 3 champion Fantasia Barrino (of High Point). Season 5 had three finalists hailing from North Carolina: Chris Daughtry (McLeansville) who finished fourth, Kellie Pickler (Albemarle) who finished sixth, and Bucky Covington (Rockingham) who finished eighth.
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Famous quotes containing the word programming:
“If there is a price to pay for the privilege of spending the early years of child rearing in the driver’s seat, it is our reluctance, our inability, to tolerate being demoted to the backseat. Spurred by our success in programming our children during the preschool years, we may find it difficult to forgo in later states the level of control that once afforded us so much satisfaction.”
—Melinda M. Marshall (20th century)