1. Which vehicle would be the best choice to cover breaking news in eastern North Carolina?
a) Unmarked live van with obvious microwave unit on top.
b) Action News 5 WRAL TV news van.
c) “The General Lee” from The Dukes of Hazzard.
d) Send SKY 5.
2. In the early days of WRAL, sponsors and contests helped bring in viewers. Hadacol, a liquid vitamin supplement, was the sponsor of this event. Hadacol had an ingredient that made it popular in “dry counties” (no alcoholic drinks) throughout the southern states. What was that ingredient?
3. What is this a picture of?
a) WRAL Master Control in 1958.
b) Part of the set “SPARKS.” A WRAL children’s show produced in the ‘80s.
c) The cockpit of X-5 spaceship from “Captain 5,”a WRAL children’s show from the ‘50s and ‘60s.
d) Control area at the transmitter building in 1959.
e) New mock-up design for Pete Sockett’s office.
4. A rare photo of the NBC logo on the side of the broadcast building on a snowy day. When did WRAL drop NBC to become an ABC affiliate?
a) 1960
b) 1961
c) 1962
d) 1963
5. Where was this picture of former WRAL News anchor Charlie Gaddy taken?
a) Chinatown in San Francisco
b) On a movie set in Hollywood
c) Charlie arriving in Raleigh from Biscoe
d) China
Answers:
1. Let’s leave the General Lee car behind.
2. Hadacol contained 12 percent alcohol. It was listed on the tonic bottle label as a “preservative.” During the ‘50s and early ‘60s, two name brands – Geritol and Hadacol, were very popular “health supplements” that promised to help people who were “tired, run-down, and listless,” or had “iron poor blood.” Two television shows poked fun at these elixers:
The Andy Griffith Show featured the character Aunt Bee becoming “gassed” after drinking Colonel Harvey’s Elixir – a tonic that will fix any ailment. The I Love Lucy Show had Lucy cast as a spokesperson in a commercial for the fictitious health tonic “Vitameatavegamin.” During the multiple takes during the rehearsal, Lucy becomes quite inebriated and slurs her words while being wildly happy! She was snockered!
3. c) The cockpit of X-5 spaceship of Space Harbor, the setting for Captain 5. A WRAL children’s program in the early ‘60s.
4. c) 1962
5. d) China
Thanks to Corp’s Pam Allen for this capcom story. Pam Parris Allen is a former WRAL newscast producer/director who now works as a researcher and producer on the CBC History Project.
