Harold Ballard’s career in broadcasting began in 1968, at the age of 16, working weekends at WGTL, Kannapolis, and then from 1969-1970, he did afternoons at WRKB, also in Kannapolis, before attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in pursuit of a degree in Radio, Television, and Motion Pictures. In 1974, he attended Elkins Institute in Atlanta, earning a First Class FCC license.  He has worked in radio on air and in engineering at stations in Fairmont, Hickory, Sylva, Lenoir, and Salisbury, as well as Chester, Dillon and North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. In 1992, he transitioned to television master control and engineering, joining the staff of WPDE-TV, Florence-Myrtle Beach.

In 1995, he accepted a position on the master control staff of WRAL-TV, Raleigh, becoming a Society of Broadcast Engineers certified television operator, and was part of the first newscast to be done in total high definition. In 2001, Harold joined the University of North Carolina Center For Public Television, and was part of the team that established a digital program control center for the statewide network, made possible by the 2000 University Improvement Bonds.

In 2005, he joined the startup team of Discovery Communication’s digital program control and distribution facility in Sterling, Virginia, just outside Washington, DC. In 2008, Harold returned to North Carolina to become part of the management team for Raycom’s master control hub, the control center for WBTV, Charlotte, WCSC, Charleston, WWBT, Richmond, and WMBF, Myrtle Beach. After the hub was discontinued in 2012, he joined the WBTV master control and media ingest staff until retiring in June, 2018.

Following retirement, he continued a long-time passion, the recognition and preservation of history, founding and administrating the North Carolina Broadcasting History Project Facebook group. Harold and his wife of thirty-seven years, Marilyn, a retired career educator, live in   North Myrtle Beach.