WRAY-TV
{{Short description|Television station in Wake Forest, North Carolina}}
{{For|the station in Indiana|WRAY-TV (Indiana)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2024}}
{{Infobox television station
| callsign = WRAY-TV
| city = Wake Forest, North Carolina
| logo =
| branding =
| digital = 20 (UHF), shared with WUNC-TV[https://enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov/dataentry/api/download/attachment/25076f915fd11ef0015fe5e3f8ed41ab WRAY-WLXI-WUNC Channel Sharing Agreement (Redacted)]
| virtual = 30
| affiliations = TCT
| country = United States
| founded =
| airdate = {{start date and age|1995|8|7}} (in Wilson, North Carolina; license moved to Wake Forest in 2018[https://enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov/dataentry/api/download/attachment/25076f915fd11ef0015fe5f2200241ce WRAY Community of License Change Exhibit])
| last_airdate =
| location = {{ubl|Wake Forest–Raleigh–|Durham, North Carolina}}
| callsign_meaning =
| former_callsigns =
| former_channel_numbers = {{ubl|Analog: 30 (UHF, 1995–2009)|Digital: 42 (UHF, until 2018), 25 (UHF, 2018–2019)}}
| owner = Tri-State Christian Television
| licensee = Radiant Life Ministries, Inc.
| sister_stations = WLXI
| former_affiliations = {{ubl|Independent (1995–1997, 2006–2010)|Global Shopping Network (1997–1998)|Shop at Home (1998–2006)}}
| erp = 1000 kW
| haat = {{convert|461.9|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}
| class =
| facility_id = 10133
| coordinates = {{coord|35|51|59|N|79|10|0.5|W|type:landmark_scale:2000}}
| licensing_authority = FCC
| website = {{URL|http://www.tct.tv/}}
}}
WRAY-TV (channel 30) is a religious television station licensed to Wake Forest, North Carolina, United States, serving the Research Triangle region as an owned-and-operated station of Tri-State Christian Television (TCT). The station's transmitter is located on Terrells Mountain near Chapel Hill. WRAY-TV maintained studios on Expressway Drive in Wilson until TCT ended local operations in June 2018.
History
The station was given the call letters WEOU on February 18, 1992. However, the station was granted a license on April 14, 1995. It signed on August 7 as WRAY-TV, originally licensed to Wilson, North Carolina, and was initially a semi-satellite of WFAY (channel 62; now WFPX-TV), at that time Fayetteville's Fox affiliate; however, the station operated as an independent station, as its signal overlapped with WLFL, at that time Raleigh's Fox affiliate. WRAY's programming changed more towards home shopping upon its sale to Ramcast Corporation in 1997;{{cite web|url=http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/app_det.pl?Application_id=231017|title=Application Search Details|work=CDBS Public Access|publisher=Federal Communications Commission|access-date=February 20, 2010}} Ramcast quickly merged with the Global Shopping Network to become Global Broadcasting Systems, Inc.{{cite web|url=http://edgar.secdatabase.com/822/94018097000217/filing-main.htm |title=GLOBAL BROADCASTING SYSTEMS INC, Form S-1/A, Filing Date Mar 12, 1997 |publisher=secdatabase.com |access-date =May 15, 2018}} However, Global Broadcasting Systems soon ran into financial trouble, and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on June 26, 1997.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/27/business/cable-network-s-chapter-11-filing.html?pagewanted=1|title=Cable Network's Chapter 11 Filing|date=June 27, 1997|work=The New York Times|access-date=February 20, 2010}} Its assets, including WRAY, were sold to the rival Shop at Home Network in 1998.{{cite news|url=http://triangle.bizjournals.com/triangle/stories/1998/03/23/daily11.html?q=%20Global%20Broadcasting%20Systems%20%20WRAY|title=WRAY-TV acquired by 'home shopping' company|date=March 27, 1998|work=Triangle Business Journal|publisher=American City Business Journals|access-date=February 20, 2010}}
On May 16, 2006, Shop at Home parent the E. W. Scripps Company announced that the network would be suspending operations, effective June 22, 2006.{{cite press release|title=Scripps ceasing Shop At Home operations|publisher=The E. W. Scripps Company|date=May 16, 2006|url=http://pressreleases.scripps.com/release/854|access-date=February 20, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071117184747/http://pressreleases.scripps.com/release/854|archive-date=November 17, 2007|url-status=dead}} However, it temporarily ceased operations on June 21, and WRAY switched to Jewelry Television (and, on June 23, a mixture of both networks), which remained until Scripps found a buyer for its stations.
On September 26, 2006, Scripps announced that it was selling its Shop at Home stations, including WRAY, to Multicultural Television of New York City for $170 million.{{cite press release|title=Scripps sells Shop At Home TV stations|publisher=The E. W. Scripps Company|date=September 26, 2006|url=http://pressreleases.scripps.com/release/877|access-date=February 20, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927035508/http://pressreleases.scripps.com/release/877|archive-date=September 27, 2007|url-status=dead}} The sale of WRAY and sister stations KCNS in San Francisco and WOAC in Cleveland was completed on December 20, 2006. Soon after the sale, all Shop at Home programming ceased in favor of a schedule consisting primarily of infomercials.
After Multicultural ran into financial problems and defaulted on its loans, the station was placed into a trust; in October 2009, a sale of WRAY-TV to Marion, Illinois–based Tri-State Christian Television (via subsidiary Radiant Light Ministries, which had earlier acquired WOAC (now WRLM) from the trust), a chain of Christian television stations, was announced.{{cite news|url=http://www.rbr.com/tv-cable/tv_deals/18165.html|title=New owner for WRAY-TV Raleigh|date=October 30, 2009|work=Television Business Report|access-date=October 30, 2009}}
On April 4, 2017, WRAY was identified by the FCC as receiving $41 million for the spectrum reallocation auction.{{cite web|publisher=Federal Communications Commission|title=FCC Broadcast Television Spectrum Incentive Auction|page=1|url=http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2017/db0413/DA-17-314A2.pdf|access-date=April 13, 2017|date=April 13, 2017}} WRAY changed its city of license to Wake Forest, North Carolina and entered into a channel-sharing arrangement with WUNC-TV, along with sister station WLXI. With the 2018 FCC repeal of the Main Studio Rule, WRAY-TV's studio in Wilson was closed as part of a nationwide restructuring of TCT's operations into one hub from its Illinois base.[https://buffalonews.com/2018/07/02/wnyb-tv-ends-local-productions-station-site-is-for-sale/ WNYB-TV ends local productions, station site is for sale]. The Buffalo News. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
Technical information
=Subchannel=
{{#section:PBS North Carolina|subs}}
= Analog-to-digital conversion =
WRAY-TV ended regular programming on its analog signal, over UHF channel 30, on February 17, 2009, the original target date on which full-power television stations in the United States were to transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate (which was later pushed back to June 12, 2009). The station's digital signal continued to broadcasts on its pre-transition UHF channel 42,{{cite web|url=http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-1082A2.pdf |title=DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds |format=PDF |access-date=March 24, 2012}} using virtual channel 30.
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Raleigh-Durham TV}}
{{Other North Carolina Stations}}
{{Other Virginia Stations}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wray-Tv}}
Category:1995 establishments in North Carolina
Category:Television channels and stations established in 1995