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  • WRAL Faces a New Media World
  • A Hurricane Helene Survivor Reflects
  • What’s Ahead for Schools in Orange County
  • A New Wine Shop Opens in Raleigh
  • Watch: Durham Pride Parade
Credit: Photo by Matt Ramey

Good morning, readers.

James Goodmon Jr., the fourth-generation president of WRAL, speaks about the family business in epic terms.

“This is a war,” he told INDY and The Assembly in a recent interview. “This is a big battle that we’re fighting every day.”

Goodmon Jr. is battling for advertising dollars against bigger, richer competitors. He’s fighting to hold his audience’s attention amid stiff competition from social media, streaming services, and AI-generated Google search results. And he’s in a race against time, trying to predict the next trends and technological advancements in media to keep his station profitable and relevant.

There have also been casualties in the “big battle”—longtime employees who say they were laid off from WRAL or offered steeply reduced contracts, and others who left the station abruptly and without explanation. They say WRAL is losing some of the family culture that distinguished it from corporate-owned competitors and helped keep viewers loyal.

I asked Goodmon Jr. about the future of WRAL and local broadcasting. And I spoke with several journalists who have left the station about how it’s changed. Read the story below, and have a good Monday.

—Chloe

Read the Full Story on INDYWeek.com

The latest from INDY, plus other stories around the state you’ll want to read. Handpicked every day by INDY Editor-in-Chief Sarah Willets.

Credit: Photo: David Davis, County Extension Director, N.C. Cooperative Extension

Climate Positivity

After Hurricane Helene nearly cost a climate scholar and her son their lives, she says we don’t need more evidence of climate change—we need to focus on what we’ve done well and build on it.

Credit: Illustration by Nicole Pajor Moore

Lesson Plan

Fewer kids, stalled raises:

Four takeaways on what’s ahead for schools in Orange County from this month’s joint board meeting, from INDY’s Chase Pellegrini de Paur.

Credit: Photo by Baxter Miller

Glass Half Full

At the newly opened St. Pierre Wine Shop and Bar in Raleigh, making it onto the shelves is stiff competition, Elliott Harrell writes for INDY.

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EDUCATION: Duke University Libraries has lost 40 positions this year, The Chronicle reports.

STATE: An analysis by ProPublica and The Assembly of counties hit by Helene shows that the households that got the most aid tended to have the highest incomes.

STATE: With Duke Health and Aetna deadlocked, 70,000 state employees may soon need to find a new doctor, WRAL reports.

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