WTAJ-TV is the CBS-affiliated television station for the Allegheny area of Pennsylvania that is licensed to Altoona, Pennsylvania. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 32. It is owned by Nexstar Broadcasting Group. Syndicated programming on the station includes Inside Edition, Rachael Ray, and The 700 Club.

Digital programming[link]

The station's digital channel is not multiplexed. After the analog television shutdown and digital conversion on June 12, 2009, WTAJ-TV remained on its pre-transition channel number, 32. However, through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel number as 10.

History[link]

The station signed on March 1, 1953 as WFBG-TV. The call letters came from the initials of the station's founder, William F. B. Gable, owner of Gable's Department Store in Altoona. Gable also owned WFBG radio (AM 1290 and 98.1 FM, now WFGY). In those early days, all programs were produced and transmitted live from the studios on Wopsononock Mountain in Altoona. Channel 10 was one of the strongest stations in the entire country, utilizing over 300,000 watts to serve its coverage area (most of which is a very rugged dissected plateau). The station could be seen as far west as Pittsburgh and as far east as State College.

At its sign-on, WFBG-TV aired selected programming from all four television networks of the time: ABC, CBS, NBC and the long-defunct DuMont Television Network.^[1] In 1955, when DuMont ceased most network operations, WFBG became a primary CBS affiliate although it continued to carry a secondary affiliation with ABC until the early 1970s, usually carrying some of ABC's higher-rated shows. While ABC had an affiliate in the area, WOPC-TV (channel 38, now WATM-TV on channel 23), its signal was hit-or-miss even in Altoona itself.

In 1956, WFBG-AM-FM-TV was sold to the Annenberg family's Triangle Publications. In 1969, then-Governor of Pennsylvania Milton J. Shapp accused Triangle of using its three Pennsylvania television stations--WFBG-TV, WFIL-TV in Philadelphia (now WPVI-TV) and WLYH-TV in Lebanon--to conduct a smear campaign against him. The FCC found that the charges were true, and forced Triangle to unload all of its broadcasting properties. WFBG-TV was among the last to be sold, going to Gateway Communications in October 1972 along with sister station WLYH. The radio stations weren't included in the sale because the FCC had barred common ownership of radio and television stations in all but a few cases a few months before the Shapp case. Accordingly, Gateway changed channel 10's call letters to the present-day WTAJ-TV (which stands for We're Television for Altoona and Johnstown). The new calls were chosen to acknowledge channel 10's large viewership in Johnstown. Until 1982, Johnstown and Altoona/State College were separate markets. Although Johnstown had a CBS affiliate of its own, WJNL-TV (channel 19), channel 10 had long claimed Johnstown as part of its primary coverage area; it provided a strong city-grade signal to almost the entire Johnstown market. Until the mid-1980s, it was also available on many cable systems in the Pittsburgh area because Pittsburgh's CBS affiliate, KDKA-TV, preempted a decent amount of CBS shows and most of the preempted shows aired on WTAJ.

In 1982, the Altoona/State College and Johnstown markets were collapsed into a single market. WTAJ became the exclusive CBS affiliate for the enlarged market. It was never really a contest, since WJNL's signal had always been marginal at best even in Johnstown and could not be seen at all in most of the eastern portion of the market. Its over-the-air signal barely reached Altoona and just missed State College. WJNL changed its calls to WFAT, and struggled as a low-rated independent station for a decade before going dark in 1991; it eventually returned to the air and is now Pittsburgh CW station WPCW.

Gateway Communications merged with SJL Broadcasting in December 2000. SJL changed its name to Montecito Broadcast Group in 2005. Montecito put WTAJ and two of its other stations in the Northeast--WLYH and Binghamton, New York's WBNG-TV--up for sale shortly after it purchased four television stations (KHON-TV in Honolulu, Hawaii; KOIN in Portland, Oregon; KSNT in Topeka, Kansas and KSNW in Wichita, Kansas) from Emmis Communications. Granite Broadcasting has since purchased WBNG, and on July 26, 2006, Nexstar Broadcasting Group purchased WTAJ and WLYH for $56 million. Nexstar's acquisition was completed on December 29, 2006.

Out-of-market coverage[link]

WTAJ-TV is carried on various cable systems in several counties that are located outside of the Johnstown-Altoona market. These counties include Armstrong, Clarion and Indiana.^{[2] [3]} In Maryland, WTAJ-TV is carried in Cumberland and Hancock, which are both part of the Washington, DC market.

News operation[link]

WTAJ's news operation has seen a lot of changes through its more than five and a half decades, both in personnel and technology. Early personalities anchoring news, sports and weather in the 1950s and 1960s included Ted Reinhart, Charlie Ritchey, Big John Riley, Ted Johnson, Charlie Flynn, Bob James, Dick Richards, Jon Schwartz, Wes Maley, just to name a few. In September 1972 just shortly before the station was sold to Gateway Communications, Vice President and General Manager John Stilli stepped down and was succeeded by Ian K. Harrower, who would lead the station into its transition from WFBG to WTAJ. A news director and anchorman moved to Altoona from Washington, D.C. named Bob Moore, as well as the first female news correspondent from Penn State University Pam Jenkins. John Riley, Wes Maley and Ted Johnson stayed on board after the change, but eventually John Riley would be the lone survivor of the on-the-air personalities.

In December 1973, Pam Jenkins left to get married and relocate and in January 1974, Bob Moore left to return to Washington, D.C. as a journalist. This began a new area of "Action News" when the station over the next few months hired five new young people: anchorman Tim Fritz, reporters and weekend anchors Eric Rabe and Karen Nash, Sports Director George McKenzie and reporter Jon McClintock. Out of these five, Eric and McClintock became the veterans. They both stayed until October 1979 when Eric (who succeeded Tim Fritz as news director/anchorman in January 1976) moved on to field reporting in Philadelphia and Jon McClintock simultaneously left to create and head up the Blair County Bureau at WJAC-TV (channel 6) in Johnstown.

Vice President and General Manager Ian K. Harrower said he would hire a news director and an anchorman rather than give both jobs to one man. He hired news director Jim Thompson and anchorman Patrick Van Horn, both subsequently moved on and were succeeded by a number of different people over the next three decades. General Manager Ian Harrower left in February 1980 and was succeeded by J. Thomas Conners. That position has had several men come and go over the past three decades, also. The station suffered a devastating loss in early December 1982 when veteran weatherman John Riley suffered a brain aneurism from which he never recovered; he remained in a coma for over three years and eventually died in April 1986. The station has had many anchors and reporters come and go, some of whom are listed below on this page.

In late May 2007, WTAJ launched a redesigned website. On January 28, 2008, the station unveiled a new logo, slogan, and a re-designed set to replace the old set that had been used since 1995. The station also announced plans to enlarge its coverage in Johnstown since WWCP-TV and WATM have shut down their news department. Plans include a new Cambria County newsroom.

On September 12, 2011, WTAJ debuted an hour-long 4 p.m. newscast called Central PA Live. The program is the Johnstown-Altoona-State College market’s first 4 p.m. newscast. The program features topics pertaining to various news stories, along with lifestyle content; it utilizes social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter to allow viewer discussions.^[4]

On November 9, 2011, WTAJ was in the national spotlight when one of its news trucks was flipped over by Penn State University students (along with its windshield getting smashed), as it was covering the riots on the PSU campus following the firing of head football coach Joe Paterno due to the Jerry Sandusky child molestation scandal. ^[5]

News/station presentation[link]

Newscast titles[link]

• Tele-Mirror (March 1953-?)^[6]
• City Desk/Civic Calendar (1953)^[7]
• News Roundup (1953–1960s)
• Night Beat (1960s–1974 & 1980s as 11pm newscast name)
• Action News (1974–1995)^[8]
• 10 News (1995–2007)
• WTAJ 10 News (2007-2008)
• WTAJ News (2008–present)

Station slogans[link]

• TV-10 (late 1970s-early 1990s)
• Live. Local. Latebreaking. (late 1990s–2008)
• Your News Leader (2008–present)
• Your Weather Authority (weather slogan; 2008–present)

This film, television or video-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it with reliably sourced additions.

[edit] News team^[9]

Anchors

• John Clay - managing editor; weeknights at 5, 5:30, 6 and 11 p.m.
• Carolyn Donaldson - weeknights at 5, 5:30, 6 and 11 p.m.
• Ben Manning - weekend evenings; also weekday reporter
• Dawn Pellas - weekdays at 4 p.m. on Central PA Live
• Angie Koehle - weekday mornings and noon
• Patrick Schurr - weekday mornings and noon
• Sarah Swistak - weekdays at 4 p.m. on Central PA Live

Stormtracker Weather

• Joe Murgo (AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist and NWA Seal of Approval) - chief meteorologist; weeknights at 5, 5:30, 6 and 11 p.m.
• Regina Miller - meteorologist; (NWA Seal of Approval) weekday mornings and noon
• Brian Thompson - meteorologist; weekend evenings
• Caryn Dean - meteorologist; fill-in

Sports team

• Nick Foley - sports director; weeknights at 6 and 11 p.m.
• K.C. Kantz - sports anchor; weekend evenings
• Sara Eckert - sports reporter

Reporters

• Lynn Adler - general assignment reporter
• Charlotte Ames - health reporter
• Kevin Flanigan - Blair County and business reporter
• Leah Kirstein - DuBois bureau reporter
• Danielle Krout - general assignment reporter
• Jeff Preval - Centre County reporter

Former News Teams[link]

Former on-air staff[link]

• David Price - 1995-1999 - Started as a reporter. Becamse 10 NEWS This Morning (5 AM- 7 AM) and 10 NEWS at Noon Co-Anchor in 1996.
• Amy Mearkle - Formerly anchored weekday mornings and noon until 2011, as she now works at Delgrosso's as an advertising manager
• Ron Klink - former announcer, later turned weather anchor (1976-1978; moved on to KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh until he was elected to Congress in 1992, where he served until he retired)
• Larry Mendte - anchor (was anchor at KYW-TV in Philadelphia until June 2008)
• Big John Riley - staff announcer/on-air personality (carried the station from black and white into color; long loved by the community)
• Mike Schneider - former sports anchor/weekend news anchor (1975-1976; spent several years at WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh, was working at WABC-TV in New York City when he became co-anchor of "ABC World News This Morning" as well as news reader for "Good Morning America" in 1989; moved from there to NBC's Saturday "Today Show" until he ran for Congress in the 1990s)
• Patrick Van Horn - anchor (now an actor in Hollywood)
• David Venable - anchor (now a host for the home shopping network "QVC")

Trivia[link]

• In the 1977 film Slap Shot, a microphone bearing the mike flag of WTAJ (which at the time had a logo that featured a "10" in a circle) can be seen before the championship game. In this scene, sports anchor Jim Carr (Andrew Duncan) used a WTAJ mike when he interviewed one of the Charlestown Chiefs' players in the lockerroom. Slap Shot was filmed in Johnstown, which represented the fictitious city of Charlestown.
• During the 1950s, the station carried a number of programs from the now-defunct DuMont Television Network. According to The Daily News, dating from July 30, 1954, the station showed Rocky King, Inside Detective, and Marge and Jeff. WFBG also aired Captain Video, The Goldbergs, and the Army-McCarthy Hearings that year.^[1]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WTAJ-TV
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WTAJ-TV