Standard Reply, updated frequently
BTW, B-more is about 5-6 hours depending on how fast you drive between Raleigh and Richmond.
A poster on MediaLine said this, "Raleigh is a great place to live, bad place to visit." I wholeheartedly agree. When people come to visit, we usually go to the beach or mountains, because Raleigh doesn't stand out as a tourist destination. The area has some good places to go; IMAX, a couple of great state museums, recreational lakes and green areas, college sports galore, and some pretty good festivals. Off-Broadway tours are staying longer, the concert scene is pretty good (mostly at the ampitheater). Most towns have a pretty good nightlife, but varies widely when the college students aren’t in town. Most weekends have a good mix of kid friendly and adult fare. Pro sports consist of Hurricanes hockey and minor league baseball. Traffic can be bad, but reasonable depending on where you live and your commute. Sprawl is very evident. Every corner has a strip mall. Market is a collection of communities with no other ties other than the roads connecting them. Each area has it’s own personality and quicks. Cost of living is cheaper than Atlanta, about the same as Richmond, more expensive than Birminham. Housing market has cooled off recently but still expensive. Airport is pretty decent, with all the majors plus Southwest.
More things to do in recent years. Art museum hosted the Rodan exhibit a couple of years ago and has been getting good stuff. Museum of Life and Science is really cool, interactive and fun. The other museums aren't world class, pretty typical of state run programs. Schools are hit and miss. Wake County has a pretty good magnet program, Durham County has a bad rep. Private schools are all religious based. Charter schools still in experimental stage. Three world class universities in the area, plus 5 other colleges.
Mountains of NC are beautiful and only 3 hours away. Not Colorado, but what is? If you ski, you will be disappointed. If you don't, you'll love it. Beach is 2 hours. I-40 dumps you right into Wrightsville Beach, great trip on mental health days. Weather in Raleigh varies: more ice than snow, more humid than dry, occasional tornadoes, no earthquakes. Hurricane season is fun time, several major hits in the last few years. August is pretty miserable hot and humid wise, January is cold and wet. To quote another poster, “The air quality is generally poor, the result of all the traffic that bottlenecks every day as a result of the area's irresponsible growth plans. There's a chronic haze most of the year. When it snows everyone panics. When it's hot everyone acts silly and whines like it's the end of the world.â€
WRAL - privately owned company, CBS affil, also run the Fox station in Durham. Slowly veering toward sensationalism but still does real news. Deep commitment to local and HDTV.
WTVD - ABC O&O. Used to be a dumping/starting ground for the network, but the style is returning to the old days. Constantly fights the perception that it focuses only on Durham. Good news, but weather and sports suffer perception problem from rotating chairs. ABC hasn't forgotten about them, but the support level from above not there.
WNCN - NBC O&O. Disaster. I think they only show up in the ratings because some people don't have remotes and are too lazy to get up to change the channel. No support from the network until something goes wrong on air. Like the rapping weather guys. Management not respected at all.
WLFL - Sinclair. Converted to News Central a little while ago.
WKFT just went Univision.
TW News 14 - 24 hour cable. Just turned 1. Big fanfare launch, don't know about ratings. I personally don't like their wheel format, but it must work for some people.
