Raleigh TV station WRAL's news division has had a foot in the music business since at least the 1970s, when John Tesh got his start there before finding later fame as a new-age pianist (and "Entertainment Tonight" anchor). The tradition continues with two new releases from WRAL newscasters.

First up is Bill Leslie, who was Tesh's roommate in Raleigh way back when and nowadays plays Celtic-flavored guitar when he's not reading the news on-camera. Leslie has a new instrumental album out titled "Simple Beauty," and it's picking up a fair amount of radio airplay. The album checks in at No. 1 on the latest ZoneMusicReporter chart for new-age music.

Then there's Pam Saulsby, who goes the jazz-diva route on her first album "The Full Measure of a Woman" -- which has genre standards including "Fever" and "Fly Me to the Moon," but also a jazzy reading of "California Dreamin'." You can hear Salusby sing it live Saturday at Maggiano's Little Italy at Durham's Streets at Southpoint. She also has dates scheduled at The Mint in Raleigh Nov. 13 and at The Umstead in Cary Nov. 20.

ADDENDUM (11/5/10): Well, this is embarrassing. A note from WTVD's Larry Stogner:

[John Tesh] never worked at WRAL. He was at WTVD. I know because I was at WRAL then and Bill Leslie was at WKIX radio.

On The Beat deeply regrets the error.

Last night's episode of "Criminal Minds" was preempted by severe weather coverage on WRAL, and today, fans are asking how they can see the episode.

WRAL posted this notice on their website today, explaining the tough decisions they have to make when severe weather happens in primetime. And we get it. But I'm a little slow today and needed it spelled out for me, so I hounded some folks at WRAL: "Will 'Criminal Minds' air again for those who missed it?" The answer is no.

Disclaimer: We are referring to the "serious, subdued" definition of the word "sober," and not at all implying that Wake Superior Court Judge Howard Manning was intoxicated today yesterday when he did the wacky "Hey Ma, look at me!" wave behind WRAL's Amanda Lamb as she reported on the trial of a mother accused of murdering her child. Oops!

Judge Manning's moment is really pretty funny, though the subject of Lamb's report is most definitely not. More over at Raleigh Report. 

Officials with the Triangle's largest pay-TV provider and most-watched station need a little more time to hammer out a new contract.

Time Warner Cable's contract with Raleigh-based Capitol Broadcasting, owner of WRAL-TV, was set to expire June 30. But the two sides couldn't agree on terms by the deadline, so they extended their existing contract an extra 30 days.

If the two media titans can't reach a deal by the end of July, it could lead to programming interruptions for cable viewers. Time Warner Cable has about 2.1 million customers in the Carolinas, including 830,000 in its region that stretches from Raleigh to the coast.

"We've had a good relationship with Capitol for a long time and I'm sure we'll ultimately reach a fair agreement," said Time Warner Cable spokesman Keith Poston. "We just needed some more time."

"Survivor" fans got a little hot Sunday night when WRAL pre-empted about 17 minutes of the show's big finale because of a possible tornado in the Fayetteville area.

According to WRAL's general manager Steve Hammel, the station received hundreds of complaints. Hammel addressed those complaints in a blog post on the station's website, pointing out, among other things, the station's obligation to warn viewers about severe weather.

According to the WarmTV recap, fans missed the elimination of Colby, but not the final action that revealed the million dollar winner, Sandra Diaz-Twine of Fayetteville.

I was watching "Celebrity Apprentice" live last night instead of "Desperate Housewives" so I didn't realize that WTVD's weather coverage went almost 40 minutes past 9pm before resuming regular programming.

That means most of the episode about the Fairview Strangler was missed by "Desperate Housewives" viewers.

Last night's episode of "The Amazing Race" was pre-empted locally because of news coverage of severe weather in the area, but WRAL has received permission from CBS to rebroadcast the show tonight.

Legendary WRAL anchor Charlie Gaddy makes his television acting debut tomorrow in the locally produced "The Rusty Bucket Kids" television series.

"The Rusty Bucket Kids" is an educational entertainment program about two kids who travel back in history on a train called Steamy (The New Hope Valley Railway Steam Locomotive No. 17 and Caboose No. 308) and visit famous people of American history, who are still in their teenage years.

The show is produced in Apex, and the town also serves as the setting (the town in the show is called Peak City).

The N&O and WRAL are offering to pay the cost of relocating today's Wake County school board meeting while supporters of the diversity policy are hurling accusations that the board is violating the spirit and letter of the state Open Meeting Law.

In a letter delivered this afternoon to school board chairman Ron Margiotta, N&O Publisher Orage Quarles said both media outlets will pay for the meeting to be held at to the Fletcher Theater at the Progress Energy Performing Arts Center so that more members of the public can attend.  

Quarles letter says a staff member with the City of Raleigh has assured him that the theater is available for use.

SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST

If you want to watch any of the CBS dramas preempted by ACC Tournament games Thursday night and tonight, let's hope you have plenty of DVR space (especially if you're recording in HD).

"CSI," "The Mentalist," "Ghost Whisper," "Medium," and "Numb3rs" will all air Saturday night after midnight. WRAL recommends you set your DVR or TIVO to record from 11:30pm Saturday to 6am on Sunday.

There's a good chance tonight's "Numb3rs" season finale could also be a series finale. The show isn't doing great in key demographics and show star Rob Morrow has joined ABC's new legal pilot “The Whole Truth." CBS says no definite decision has been made yet.