CBC helps dedicate the Greene-Waters HD Center at UNC-CH: (l to r) UNC Provost Dr. Bruce Carney, John Greene, Martha Waters (Ben Waters’ widow), Jim Goodmon and Dean Jean Folkerts, UNC School of Journalism. |
Students in the journalism department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill now have the opportunity to develop their skills using the very latest in high-definition equipment thanks to a major donation from Capitol Broadcasting Company.
The UNC-CH Journalism School has long been recognized nationally with many, many outstanding graduates, and CBC President & CEO Jim Goodmon has always been supportive the educational development of area students. CBC’s involvement in our area colleges and universities are legendary in that it would be very difficult to find an area school that hasn’t received some assistance from the A.J. Fletcher Foundation or CBC.
Thanks to a generous donation from CBC, the school recently dedicated the Greene-Waters HD News Center. It was named for longtime CBC executives John Greene and the late Ben Waters.
Martha Waters (front left) & John Greene (front right) pose on the HD set dedicated for Greene & the late Ben Waters along with (back, l to r) UNC’s Dean Jean Folkerts, CBC’s Jim Goodmon & UNC’s Dr. Bruce Carney. |
John Greene ironically earned his degree in journalism from UNC in 1966, and worked in a number of news broadcasting positions prior to his tenure at WRAL-TV/CBC. He became station manger at WRAL-TV in 1976, and was named senior vice president of CBC in 1984. He retired in 1990, and taught broadcasting journalism in the UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
In 1994, Jim Goodmon lured Greene out of retirement to become Capitol’s vice president of special projects to help successfully shape the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
It should also be noted that during his career with CBC, Greene purchased Sky5, the first television news helicopter in North Carolina in 1976. He oversaw the station’s experimental license to broadcast high definition television in the mid-1990’s.
He was inducted into the N.C. Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2007.
Ben Waters was perhaps one of the most popular vice president’s in CBC history, retiring in 2003 as its vice president of administration, a position he had held since 1982.
A big group of CBC’ers, both past & present, attend the luncheon in dedication in honor of their two esteemed colleagues, Ben Waters & John Greene. |
Waters worked in nearly every capacity of the broadcasting business, holding titles like reporter, editor, sports play-by-play announcer, news anchor, assistant news director, news director and assistant general manager in television markets across the country. He joined CBC in 1977 as WRAL-TV news director and was promoted to Corporate Director of Special Projects in 1980.
Like Greene, Waters was called back into service after retirement to work on a variety of CBC endeavors. He served on CBC’s board for numerous years, mentored young employees and was a strong advocate of promoting from company ranks.
Waters was very active in the community serving on numerous boards and was a big organizer/supporter of Kids Voting USA.
Thanks to WRAL-TV’s Clarence Williams for this capcom story & to York Wilson Photography for these capcom photos.
