Part of the Research Triangle and the state’s capital, Raleigh regularly lands on a lot of top 10 lists for quality of life and business. New residents moving into the Raleigh-Durham area at a rate of 1,650 a month are expected to add 1 million to the population by 2020. The market is also home to several universities, including Duke University, University of North Carolina and NC State University.
The growing TV market added 40,790 TV households, a gain of nearly 4 percent, to move up one spot in Nielsen’s market rankings to No. 27. While the TV market includes Fayetteville to the south, the much smaller radio footprint doesn’t.
As attractive as Raleigh-Durham is, the market is not immune to the economic conditions plaguing local markets across the country. The businesses that are based in the market, such as IBM, Cisco Systems, GlaxoSmithKline, Sony Ericcsson and Fidelity Investments, are not the kind that advertise locally, though they obviously do employ locally.
Capitol Broadcasting’s CBS affiliate WRAL-TV is the clear revenue and news leader in the market. WRAZ, the company’s Fox affiliate in Durham, gives the duopoly wins in late news at both 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. WTVD-TV, ABC’s owned-and-operated station, generally ranks No. 2, and WNCN, Media General’s NBC affiliate, comes in third. WNCN is the only station to air news from 7 to 8 p.m., forgoing news at 5 p.m.
In addition to TV, Capitol has been on the leading edge of new technologies via its CBC New Media Group and News Over Wireless divisions. The company this summer plans to deploy the nation’s first application of mobile digital television. Through an agreement with the City of Raleigh, the city’s Capital Area Transit buses equipped with digital screens will air WRAL’s local, syndicated and network programming, along with city-oriented news briefs and real-time weather. News Over Wireless, Capitol’s mobile division, also recently introduced the first local TV iPhone application for WRAL.
Capitol also holds a leading position in radio with its two radio properties, No. 3-ranked Adult Contemporary WRAL-FM and WCMC-FM The Fan. But the top-rated two positions are held by Radio One’s Urban WQOK-FM and Urban Adult Contemporary WFXC-FM. Curtis Media Group, owner of the largest group of radio stations in the market with six stations, rounds out the top five with No. 4-ranked Country WQDR-FM and No. 5-ranked Talk WPTF-AM. Curtis also operates PTF News Network, the largest radio news organization in the state, and the Triangle Traffic Network, which provides traffic information to 13 radio stations.
The News & Observer, the state’s second largest paper, is owned by McClatchy Co., which also owns the Charlotte Observer, the state’s largest paper. To cut expenses, McClatchy in September offered buyouts to all N & O newsroom employees (about 40 percent of the staff); it was the third round of cuts since May 2008. The paper, which also covers Durham, shut down its news bureau there.
The local Durham daily, The Herald-Sun, owned by Paxton Media Group, has also had a series of downsizings, the most recent in May.
Augusta, Ga.-based Fairway Outdoor, a regional outdoor specialist, is the largest operator in the market with bulletins and poster inventory. Lamar Advertising also offers bulletins. Clear Channel Outdoor, whose sister company Clear Channel Radio also operates four radio stations in the market, has the airport advertising contract at Fayetteville Regional Airport and Raleigh-Durham International Airport.
Vital Stats:
* TV DMA Rank: 27
* Population 2-plus: 2,657,627
* TV Households: 1,080,680
* TV Stations (Net/Ind/Multicast/Public): 6/18/4/2
* Wired Cable Households: 625,480
* Radio Metro Rank: 43
* Population 6-plus: 1,230,300
* Radio Stations (rated): 22
* Newspapers (Daily/Weekly): 12/22
The Numbers:
