Ray Wilkinson (April 14, 1925 – December 4, 2004) was a long-time agricultural

news anchor A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster (short for "news broadcaster"), anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news program on TV, radio or the Internet. ...

and reporter for

Capitol Broadcasting Company The Capitol Broadcasting Company, Inc. (CBC) is an American media company based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Capitol owns three television stations and nine radio stations in the Raleigh–Durham and Wilmington areas of North Carolina and the Du ...

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the List of North Carolina county seats, seat of Wake County, North Carolina, Wake County in the United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most ...

. Wilkinson was born in Lombard, Illinois. Wilkinson served in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and briefly did a radio stint in

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Br ...

before moving to North Carolina. Wilkinson first came to North Carolina in 1948, where he worked for several radio stations in

Rocky Mount, North Carolina Rocky Mount is a city in Edgecombe County, North Carolina, Edgecombe and Nash County, North Carolina, Nash counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The city's population was 54,341 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it ...

. He then moved to Raleigh in 1963 to work for Capitol Broadcasting, the parent owner of

WRAL-TV WRAL-TV (channel 5) is a television station licensed to Raleigh, North Carolina, United States, serving as the NBC affiliate for the Research Triangle area. It is the flagship station of the locally based Capitol Broadcasting Company, which h ...

. He was responsible for covering farm news and all things agricultural and was well known for his intensive coverage of agricultural markets. Working in both television and radio at Capitol, he was the general manager of the

Tobacco Radio Network Tobacco Radio Network was a radio network owned and operated by Capitol Broadcasting Company of Raleigh, North Carolina. Begun in 1942, the network was dedicated to educating and keeping farmers informed of the latest agricultural news, stories, an ...

. Wilkinson was responsible for taking the Tobacco Radio Network from a small local radio broadcast to one that was broadcast from Virginia to Florida. Wilkinson is probably best known for his Cecil and Leonard jokes. The jokes were centered on the lives and happenings of Cecil and Leonard, two fictional country friends in eastern North Carolina. He was known for his dedicated support of the revitalization efforts of historic Halifax, North Carolina. Wilkinson died December 4, 2004, in

, from complications of

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

at the age of 79.

External links

Bio at CBC
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilkinson, Ray 1925 births 2004 deaths Neurological disease deaths in North Carolina Deaths from Parkinson's disease American television news anchors