A.J. Fletcher founded the Capitol Broadcasting Company in 1937 when he founded Raleigh radio station WRAL (1240 AM, now
WPJL). WRAL radio began transmission two years later in 1939, using a 250-watt transmitter, becoming
Raleigh's second radio station (after
WPTF). In 1942, Capitol created the
Tobacco Radio Network, a farm news radio service that was discontinued in 2002. On September 6, 1946, Capitol Broadcasting received a license with the
Federal Communications Commission for WCOY-FM (whose callsign was later changed to WRAL-FM), operating from a 250,000-watt transmitter. In 1960, CBC founded the
North Carolina News Network, a statewide radio network that now provides news, weather, and sports content to about 80 radio stations. This property was sold to
Curtis Media Group in 2009. On December 15, 1956, Capitol Broadcasting's flagship television station
WRAL-TV went on the air in Raleigh. In 1979, WRAL-TV became the first television station in North Carolina to have a dedicated
helicopter for newsgathering. In 1987, Capitol acquired
independent station WJZY-TV in
Charlotte. The following year, Capitol also acquired another independent station,
WTTV and its satellite station, WTTK, in the
Indianapolis area. WTTV and WTTK were sold in 1991 to
River City Broadcasting. In 1996, WRAL-TV was granted the first experimental
high definition digital television license in the United States by the Federal Communications Commission. On October 13, 2000, WRAL became the first television station in the world to broadcast a news program entirely in
high-definition; the station would begin broadcasting all of its local newscasts in high-definition in January 2001. In 2001, Capitol purchased WFVT (now
WMYT-TV) in Charlotte, creating the market's second television
duopoly. On October 14, 2005, Capitol Broadcasting signed on WCMC-FM on 99.9 MHz in Raleigh with a country music format, "Genuine Country". In July 2008, Capitol Broadcasting acquired five radio stations in Wilmington from
NextMedia Group for $12 million. On April 14, 2009, Capitol Broadcasting and the City of Raleigh partnered to introduce the first mobile digital television in a public transit bus. On January 28, 2013,
Fox Television Stations announced that it had entered into an agreement to purchase WJZY and WMYT from Capitol for $18 million; the deal was completed on April 17. On April 20, 2026, Capitol announced to sell its five Wilmington radio stations (Sunrise Broadcasting) to Curtis Media Group for $1.75 million. ==Major assets==