North Carolina State Fair

Throwback Thursday: WRAL's first live HD newscast transmitted from NC State Fair in 2000

On Oct. 13, 2000, WRAL made history by broadcasting the entire 5 p.m. newscast LIVE in HD from the State Fair.

Posted 2023-10-10T20:39:31+00:00 - Updated 2023-10-12T10:35:00+00:00

WRAL history: First live newscast in HD (Oct. 13, 2000)

WRAL-TV led the nation in the development of high definition broadcasting.

On Oct. 13, 2000, WRAL made history by broadcasting the entire 5 p.m. newscast LIVE in HD from the State Fair.

The historic newscast was broadcast from a special stage at the North Carolina State Fair in Raleigh. The broadcast came just days after WRAL announced it was purchasing equipment from Panasonic to allow the station to gather all of its news stories in the 1080i format.

One of the segments was a tour of the updated (for 2000) WRAL newsroom with its new HD equipment.

WRAL was the first in the country to convert its entire news operation into HD.