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WRAZ
Raleigh/Durham/Fayetteville, North Carolina
Branding	FOX 50
Slogan	Funny Original EXciting
Channels	Analog: 50 (UHF) Digital: 49 (UHF)
Affiliations	FOX (1998-present) CBS (secondary) RTN (DT2 only, Sept. 2007)
Owner	Capitol Broadcasting Company
Founded	May 12, 1995
Call letters meaning	variation of sister station's call letters (WRAL)
Former affiliations	Independent (May-September 1995), The WB (September 1995-98)
Transmitter Power	5000 kW (analog) 1000 kW (digital)
Height	549 m (analog) 614.1 m (digital)
Facility ID	64611
Transmitter Coordinates	35°40′35″N, 78°32′9″W (analog) 35°40′29″N, 78°31′40″W (digital)
Website	http://www.myfoxraleigh.com/

WRAZ, "FOX50", is the Fox affiliate for the Triangle television market (the Raleigh/Durham/Fayetteville, North Carolina DMA). It is locally owned by Capitol Broadcasting Company and is sister station to the company's flagship station, WRAL-TV. The station is licensed to Raleigh, and most operational functions are shared with WRAL. However, its studios are located in Durham. It offers first-run programming from Fox, talk shows, court shows, sitcoms, and local news produced by sister station WRAL-TV. WRAZ's transmitter is located in Garner, North Carolina.

WRAZ shows on cable channel 13 in Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Fayetteville and most suburbs, channel 8 in Cary, Garner, Clayton, and Smithfield, and channel 11 in Carrboro.

WRAZ signed on for the first time on May 12, 1995 as an independent station under a local marketing agreement with WRAL-TV. It ran a blend of cartoons, classic sitcoms, and movies, as well as some CBS programming being pre-empted by WRAL in order to broadcast ACC men's basketball games. During the Friday quarterfinal rounds of the ACC Tournament, WRAZ even aired the full slate of CBS soaps pre-empted by WRAL. That same fall, WRAZ became The WB's Triangle affiliate; the new affiliation came after former WB affiliate WNCN flipped to NBC.

In 1996, WRAZ rebranded itself as WB 50 to reflect its network affiliation. But later that year Fox decided to move its Triangle affiliation to WRAZ after its contract with charter Fox affiliate WLFL-TV ran out in 1998 due to a conflict over primetime newscast slots.

Following the official affiliation switch in August of 1998, reality and talk shows, as well as first-run court shows were added to the lineup, and cartoons were cut to Saturday mornings. The station also began to carry newscasts produced by WRAL-TV. While the news operation remained in the WRAL studios in Raleigh, WRAZ's main offices and master control relocated to the Diamond View office building in downtown Durham next door to the Durham Bulls Athletic Park and the American Tobacco complex. Capitol Broadcasting, WRAL's owner, bought WRAZ outright in 2000. However, unlike most new duopolies that start sharing the same studios elsewhere, WRAZ's studios remained in Durham. To date, WRAZ is the largest Fox affiliate involved in a duopoly with any other "Big Four" network affiliate, much to the contradiction of FCC rules prohibiting this.

Along with WRAL, WRAZ began digital broadcasting in late 2000 from a transmission tower located in Garner, North Carolina. WRAZ even produces live broadcasts of Durham Bulls home games on site, which air on digital sub-channel 50-2 and is carried by mostly by local Time Warner Cable outlets in central and eastern North Carolina on channel 251. That same channel also began airing programming from the Retro Television Network on September 10, 2007. [1] [2]

WRAZ has had a history of pre-empting some Fox programming deemed too risqué or controversial. It was one of the few Fox stations in the United States to refuse to air portions of the reality television programs Temptation Island and Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire, viewing the programs as anti-family. Instead, they showed reruns of Cheers or The Andy Griffith Show. Conversely, neighboring Fox affiliate WCCB in Charlotte aired the show, despite the conservative background of its owner Bahakel Communications.

WRAZ used the same approach in 2003 by refusing to air additional episodes of Married by America, claiming that the content of the show was demeaning to the institution of marriage [3], as well as Who's Your Daddy? in 2005, citing its treatment of adoption [4].

WRAZ was also one of a handful of FOX stations who initially declined to broadcast the controversial two-part interview special on O.J. Simpson, set to air on November 27 and 29, 2006, before the network pulled the plug on the project. [5]

During Season 5 of Fox's mega-hit American Idol, WRAZ has been consistently one of the network's top-drawing stations. While the national Nielsen ratings for February 28, 2006 were 17.0 with a 25% share of overall households tuning in, WRAZ registered a 21.7 rating (equivalent to 213,788 households in the market) and a 31 share. Those numbers were roughly 28% higher than the national average. Part of "Idol's" high ratings numbers in North Carolina are tied to the past success of artists such as Season 2 runner-up Clay Aiken from Raleigh and Season 3 champion Fantasia Barrino of High Point. Season 5 had three finalists hailing from the Tar Heel State: Chris Daughtry (McLeansville), who finished fourth, Kellie Pickler (Albemarle), who finished sixth, and Bucky Covington (Rockingham), who finished eighth. American Idol Rewind airs on WRAZ at 6 pm local time every Saturday.

WRAZ's news programming is produced by sister station WRAL, using WRAL's news team.

WRAZ usually simulcasts local breaking news coverage from WRAL. For national breaking news, WRAZ carries Fox News coverage, while WRAL carries CBS News. Otherwise, WRAZ may broadcast CBS programming in case WRAL can't in news-related emergencies.

• WRAZ Website
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WRAZ