CBC Covers Election Night
In the midst of a historically close Presidential race, the vote for the first new N.C. Agriculture Commissioner in 36 years, and the seesawing now-it’s-for-Gore-now-it’s-for-Bush Florida electoral vote, Capitol Broadcasting subsidiaries provided their usual high standard of coverage. |
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WRAL-FM had minute updates twice an hour at :05 and :30 starting at 8:05pm. Lizz Wall provided results of the Presidential, Gubernatorial, Wake County school bond referendum, Bond referendum for Higher Education, the race between Hilary Clinton and Rick Lazio for the New York Senate, and the Lt. Governor’s race.
The North Carolina News Network provided 53 radio stations across the state with three elections reports an hour, each five minutes long. They started at 7:55pm and ran every hour at :15, :35 & :55. Steve Shumake anchored with political analyst Ran Coble, Executive Director of the NC Center for Public Policy Research. NCNN had reporters with the Easley campaign in Raleigh, with the Vinroot campaign in Charlotte, and reports on the Council of State races (Lt. Gov., Attorney General, Commissioner of Agriculture, Labor, Insurance, State Auditor, State Treasurer.) They also had reports on NC’s Congressional races.
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Reporter Steve Shumake dressed to impress for his Election Night coverage. |
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WRAL-TV worked to make more DTV history during its election coverage Tuesday night. WRAL-TV provided lower third returns most of the night, but also sent a separate feed of returns to FOX50 in Durham. This allowed WRAZ to provide local information throughout the evening. Steve Williams, Steve Loyd and the WRAL engineering staff worked hard to innovate this new data stream that once again displayed the flexibility of multi-channel DTV.
WRAL-TV had updates at :23 and :53 past the hour, beginning at 7:53pm and ending at 10:53pm, and a half-hour newscast at 11:00pm. Anchors Deborah Morgan and Jim Payne manned the desk while Pam Saulsby reported from Richard Vinroot’s headquarters in Charlotte, and David Crabtree covered the returns from Mike Easley’s camp in Raleigh. Other WRAL reporters were on the road as well. The coverage continued with a half-hour Special Election Update at 11:30pm. Reporter Len Besthoff was with local Democrats, and reporter Stephanie Hawco was with local Republicans
Attorney General Mike Easley (D) won the Governor’s Race on Tuesday. |
Beverly Perdue will become the first female Lt. Governor in NC history. |
WRAL-TV dominated the television election coverage beginning with its 5:00 newscast which had a 25 share/11.9 rating, as compared to 7.9/17 for ABC (WTVD) and 1.9/4 for NBC (WNCN). The 5:30 newscast drove WRAL-TV to its high for the evening with a 28 share/15.4 rating, well ahead of the next closest WTVD with its 18 share/9.8 rating. WRAL continued to rule the evening with shares between 18 and 24 until the 11:30pm. WTVD hovered in the teens during most of that time, and WNCN barely made double digits.
WRAL OnLine had up-to-the-minute election results for races inside and outside WRAL’s viewing area. Elections results for every state House and Senate race, and all U.S. House seats in North Carolina were available online.