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Line 63: By 1975, though it had outlived the original channel 28, the Everetts were running out of money and wanted out. Realizing that the station was on the verge of shutting down, the family began to look for a new owner.<ref name="Firm May Buy WRDU">{{cite news |last1=Guillory |first1=Ferrell |title=Firm May Buy WRDU |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/86646156/firm-may-buy-wrdu/ |access-date=October 9, 2021 |work=The News & Observer |date=May 19, 1977 |location=Raleigh, NC |page=26}}</ref> Despite WRDU's ratings struggles, at least three large media groups saw enough promise in the station to consider buying it, among them [[E. W. Scripps Company|Scripps–Howard Broadcasting]].<ref name="Hera760814">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/92402852/wrdu-tv-not-soldyet/|date=August 14, 1976|page=1-B|first=William M.|last=Smith|title=WRDU-TV Not Sold—Yet|newspaper=Durham Morning Herald|location=Durham, North Carolina|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=January 12, 2022}}</ref><!-- Sat --> After two years of negotiations,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50910295/negotiations-under-way-for-purchase-of/|title=Negotiations Underway For Purchase of WRDU|page=10|work=The News & Observer|date=March 5, 1975|accessdate=February 24, 2021}}</ref> the Durham Life Insurance Company—which owned [[WPTF]] (680 AM), the Triangle's oldest radio station, and [[WQDR-FM]] (94.5, now 94.7)—bought WRDU-TV from the Everetts in May 1977 and changed its call sign to WPTF-TV on August 14, 1978.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1976/1976-12-06-BC.pdf|title=In brief|work=Broadcasting|date=December 6, 1976|page=22|access-date=May 20, 2020}}</ref> This was Durham Life's second attempt to get into television. It was one of two applicants for channel 5 in the 1950s Durham Life had far more financial resources than Triangle Telecasters could have ever managed and invested a considerable amount of money into its new purchase. It built a new {{convert|1300|ft|m|adj=on|sp=us}} transmitter tower near [[Apex, North Carolina|Apex]] that gave the renamed WPTF-TV a coverage area comparable to those of WRAL-TV and WTVD.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1977/BC-1977-07-25.pdf|title=Under new management|work=Broadcasting|date=July 25, 1977|page=80|access-date=May 20, 2020}}</ref><ref name="makes">{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50910657/|title=Ch. 28 makes its move|first=Bill|last=Morrison|work=The News & Observer|date=August 13, 1978|access-date=May 22, 2020|pages=1, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50910694/ 10]}}</ref> It also started a full news department—[[Woody Durham]], the play-by-play voice of [[North Carolina Tar Heels]] sports, served as sports director<ref name="Hera790401">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/92409885/ratings-war-to-escalate-next-monday/|date=April 1, 1979|page=TV World 1|title=Ratings War To Escalate Next Monday|newspaper=Durham Morning Herald|location=Durham, North Carolina|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=January 12, 2022}}</ref><!-- Sun -->—and purchased $500,000 in new equipment. It also added a weekday children's show entitled ''Barney's Army'', which was hosted by the namesake Aniforms puppet and ran from 1979 to 1983, long after the genre had disappeared from most other American stations.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.wral.com/entertainment/blogpost/1863187/|title=Remembering the First "Barney"|work=[[WRAL.com]]|date=September 26, 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110116032951/https://www.wral.com/entertainment/blogpost/1863187/|archive-date=January 16, 2011}}</ref> The show consisted of short interstitials between cartoons and other children's shows, a viewer call-in game called ''[[TV Powww|TV Pow]]'' along with local musical acts and educational segments. This youth-centered daytime schedule came at the expense of the NBC soap opera ''Another World'', which did not air on the station during its 90-minute expansion from 1979 to 1980; a station representative argued the syndicated shows were more profitable. The preemption of ''Another World'' came amid vehement opposition from the network and angry calls and letters from viewers who had actually watched the show on WPTF. Meanwhile, the next closest stations still playing the show in its regular time slot were [[WECT]] in Wilmington, WITN-TV in Greenville, and [[WAVY-TV]] in [[Portsmouth, Virginia]], all of which were VHF stations.<ref name="AW absent from WPTF while 90 minutes">{{cite web |last1=Morrison |first1=Bill |title='Another World' is elsewhere |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/84753020/another-world-is-elsewhere/ |publisher=The News & Observer |access-date=September 7, 2021 |location=Raleigh, NC |page=TV Observer 3 |language=English |date=April 17, 1979 |archive-date=September 7, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210907082103/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/84753020/another-world-is-elsewhere/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Likewise, the station's removal of ''[[Texas (TV series)|Texas]]'' prompted viewer outrage;<ref>{{cite news |title=Texas Fans Unite |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85560414/texas-fans-unite/ |access-date=October 6, 2021 |work=The Daily Tar Heel |date=January 22, 1982 |location=Chapel Hill, NC |page=2 |language=English |archive-date=October 6, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211006230133/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85560414/texas-fans-unite/ |url-status=live }}</ref> less than a year later, the station added the show back when the network moved it to a mid-morning time slot,<ref name="Texas timeslot change">{{cite news |last1=Deeb |first1=Gary |title=Daytime shakeup at NBC |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/84756205/daytime-shakeup-at-nbc/ |access-date=October 6, 2021 |work=The News & Observer |agency=Field Newspaper Syndicate |date=March 28, 1982 |location=Raleigh, NC |page=6E |language=English |archive-date=October 6, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211006230135/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/84756205/daytime-shakeup-at-nbc/ |url-status=live }}</ref> NBC canceled it along with ''The Doctors'': WPTF was the only NBC affiliate in North Carolina that still aired the latter show.<ref name="The Doctors cancellation">{{cite news |last1=Hirsch |first1=Lynda |title=Daytime dial: Surgery didn't save 'Doctors' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/87963896/daytime-dial-surgery-didnt-save-docto/ |access-date=October 29, 2021 |work=The News and Observer |agency=Field Newspaper Syndicate |date=December 14, 1982 |location=Raleigh, NC |page=TV Observer 2 |language=English}}</ref> | |||