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American Idol Hometown Hero Clay Aiken Visits The Triangle |
American Idol finalist and hometown star Clay Aiken visited several Capitol Broadcasting stations and entities on a short trip home from Hollywood. On Wednesday, May 7, 2003, he became one of the final three contestants on the 2003 season of the show and made a quick visit to the Triangle to see his hometown fans before setting to work on his music for the next leg of the competition.
American Idol Clay Aiken joined Bill & Sheri in the Morning on WRAL-FM. |
Aiken got a special ride to the Durham Bulls Ballpark in Sky5. |
Aiken began his trip to Raleigh on Thursday visiting NC Governor Mike Easley at the Capitol Building and then took a ride in Sky5 for a grand entrance on the field of the Durham Bulls Athletic Park in Durham. He threw out the first pitch for the Bulls v. Rochester Red Wings game and sang the National Anthem. He then signed autographs for a special group of fans.
Clay Aiken talked with Laurie Clowers (left) & Bill Leslie (center) on WRAL’s Morning News on FOX50. |
Aiken joined the morning personalities on MIX 101.5 (l to r) Vanna Fox, Bill Jordan, Sheri Logan & Mike Morse. |
On Friday, May 9, Aiken started the day on WRAL’s Morning News on FOX50 with WRAL-TV personalities Bill Leslie, Laurie Clowers, Trafficologist Mark Roberts and Meteorologist Mike Maze. Aiken tried his hand at doing traffic and weather reports and talked about his experiences on American Idol.
Aiken signed autographs and took photos with MIX listeners. |
Then Aiken moved on to the studios of MIX 101.5/WRAL-FM and spent an hour on the air with Bill & Sheri in the Morning. He answered questions, did commentary on his music and even threw in a few impressions of Simon, AI‘s most caustic judge. Then Aiken signed autographs and had photos taken with fans who won a chance to meet him by listening to MIX. He also did the grand prize drawing for one MIX fan to win a trip to Hollywood for the final American Idol show and for a fan to see him and the other Idol finalists on tour when they pass through Raleigh in August.
Aiken made a visit to Charlotte before hopping on a jet, stopping by to pick up other finalists, Ruben Studdard in Birmingham and Kimberly Locke in Nashville. The three headed back to Hollywood to get ready for next week’s show.
American Idol appears on FOX50. The three finalists will sing during a one-hour show on Tues. 5/13 from 8-9pm and the three will be narrowed to two on a one-hour results show on Wed. 5/14 at 8:30pm. Then the two finalists will perform on a part 1 one-hour season finale on Tues. 5/20 at 8pm followed by a part 2 – two-hour season finale results show on Wed. 5/21 at 8pm.
