The WRAL Live Cam in Franklinton debuted during the weathercast on WRAL’s Morning News on Wednesday, July 21, 2021.
The newest WRAL Live Cam debuted during WRAL-TV Meteorologist Elizabeth Gardner’s weather segment on Wednesday morning, July 21, 2021. Franklinton now joins the list of 39 locations with cameras in the WRAL Live Cam Network.
WRAL-TV Technical Project Coordinator/Training Supervisor Tony Gupton, the WRAL engineer who heads up the station’s Videstra Camera Network for News and Weather at the studio shared details about the new installation and why the location is particularly meaningful to him.
“WRAL-TV Transmitter Supervisor Matt Brandes and I have done quite a few installs together over the past year and when I realized that we didn’t have a camera in Franklin County I pitched it to our news & weather folks and they loved the idea and I did too since it was my hometown” said Gupton.
He was happy to be able to help shine a light on a place near and dear to him.
“Franklinton is a small town that is making quite a comeback with several new restaurants opening and a new Brewery opening in August,” explained Gupton. “I met with Franklinton’s town manager earlier this year and he introduced me to one of the developer’s there that is leading the way with Franklinton’s revitalization plan. They were so excited to learn that they would be joining WRAL’s Live Cam Network.”
Gupton and the team selected a new coffee shop/deli called Mason and Main. Gupton called the shop “cool” and said the folks there were “fantastic to work with.”
The new WRAL Live Cam in Franklinton is located atop the deli/coffee shop Mason and Main.
He continued, “It’s in a building close to 100 years old that has been remodeled but kept the interesting ‘brick and bones.’ Matt and I had a few hurdles to jump through from scaling to the top of the building with all our equipment to some bandwidth issues.”
This crack WRAL engineering team worked through the challenges and the Franklinton Live Cam is now up and running.
“I was proud of this project in my hometown of Franklinton, a feeling of being able to give back a little,” said Gupton.
Check out the WRAL Live Cam Network on in the weather section of WRAL.com, and tune in to WRAL-TV’s daily morning, noon and evening newscasts for glimpses of the viewing area through the WRAL Live Cam Network. WRAL News and Weather use the cams for live backdrops during newcasts as well as beauty shots to highlight locations and towns in the viewing area.
VIDEO: WRAL-TV Meteorologist Kat Campbell welcomes Franklinton to the WRAL Live Cam Network on July 21, 2021
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