Melting Down the Minutes to the 06 Olympic Games

NMG's Dave Sweeney snaps a selfie with the WRAL Rio ice sculpture.

Capitol Broadcasting is so excited about the start of the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio, we wanted to do something extra-special to countdown the final hours to the Opening Ceremonies. So, WRAL-TV designed an Olympic-themed ice sculpture and unveiled it at 6am on Thursday, August 4, the day before the big event.

Viewers were invited to guess how long it would take to melt. CBC staffers took photos of, and with, the sculpture and posted on Social Media, tagged with #WRALinRio2016. Some WRAL fans stopped by for photos as well. Viewers far and wide could also watch a live feed online at WRAL.com to monitor the meltage all day and night long.

This is no ordinary ice block. Check out some of the fun facts about the sculpture.

9 blocks total

each block is 40x20x10

300 pounds per block

total of 2700 pounds

40 gallons per block of water

360 gallons of water used

4 day freeze time of blocks, and we can freeze 18 at one time

the color in the logo is made with color sand

1 1/2 days to complete the job

Todd Dawson of Ice Occasions of NC put together this masterful work.

Here are some fun photos that CBC'ers snagged throughout the first half of the day:

WRAL-FMs Casey Tate stopped by station early to get one of the first glimpses of the Rio ice sculpture.

How long will the WRAL Rio ice sculpture last?

WRAL-TVs Miriam Melvin with the WRAL Rio ice sculpture

WRAL-TVs Wendy Gatlin with the WRAL Rio ice sculpture

WRAL-TVs Wendy Gatlin with the WRAL Rio ice sculpture

WRAL.com had a live cam in place to watch the melting of the WRAL Rio ice sculpture.

NMGs Dave Sweeney snaps a selfie with the WRAL Rio ice sculpture.

99.9 The Fans Joe Ovies (left), WRAL-TVs Brian Shrader & Elizabeth Gardner with the WRAL Rio ice sculpture

WRAL-TVs Joe Ovies captured this pic of WRAL-TVs Jay Yovanovich (r to l) getting promo pix of Bill Leslie & Brian Shrader at the WRAL fountain.

The WRAL-TV Sales Asssistants with the WRAL Rio ice sculpture

WRAL-TVs Kathryn Brown gets a pic with her twin daughters at the WRAL Rio ice sculpture

The twin daughters of WRAL-TVs Kathryn Brown have fun in the growing puddle at the base of the WRAL Rio ice sculpture.

WRAL-TVs Jay Jennings captured the melting progress midday.

Keep up with the latest on NBC and WRAL-TV's coverage of the 2016 Summer Olympics on WRALSportsFan.com and tune in to WRAL each evening at 7:30pm for a local focus on the games before the NBC primetime coverage begins. And listen for coverage on 99.9 The Fan on your radio dial.

Thanks to the CBC'ers in these photos for allowing Capcom to re-post them.

LINK:	http://www.capitolbroadcasting.com/2016/08/05/melting-down-the-minutes...
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