WTAJ-TV
| WTAJ-TV | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Altoona, Pennsylvania | |
| Branding | 10 News |
| Slogan | Live, Local, Late Breaking |
| Channels | Analog: 10 (VHF) Digital: 32 (UHF) |
| Affiliations | CBS |
| Owner | Nexstar Broadcasting Group |
| Founded | March 1, 1953 |
| Call letters meaning | We're Television for Altoona and Johnstown |
| Former callsigns | WFBG-TV (1953-73) |
| Former affiliations | ABC (secondary) |
| Transmitter Power | 231 kW/335 m (analog) 883 kW/305.2 m (digital) |
| Website | www.wearecentralpa.com |
WTAJ-TV is the CBS affiliate in Altoona, Pennsylvania. It transmits its analog signal on VHF channel 10 and its digital signal on UHF channel 32. It is owned by Nexstar Broadcasting Group.
History
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. In those early days, all programs were produced and transmitted live from the studios on Wopsononock Mountain in Altoona. At that time channel 10 was one of the strongest stations in the entire country, utilizing over 300,000 watts to serve the community.
In 1955, WFBG affiliated with CBS. Throughout the 1950s and into the early 1960s, it also carried a secondary affiliation with ABC, although ABC had a fullime affiliation with WOPC (the predecessor of WATM), whose coverge was sub-par and signal challenged, during that tenure.
In 1956, WFBG was sold to the Annenberg family's Triangle Publications. Triangle, after selling off most of its media properties between 1969 and 1971, sold WFBG to Gateway Communications in 1973. Gateway changed the station's call letters to the present-day WTAJ-TV (which stands for We're Television for Altoona and Johnstown). The station also reached eastern parts of the Pittsburgh market and was on cable systems in that market. This was necessary because Pittsburgh's CBS affiliate, KDKA-TV, preempted a decent amount of CBS shows and most of the preempted shows aired on WTAJ.
Prior to 1982, Johnstown and Altoona-State College were separate markets. Although Johnstown had a CBS affiliate of its own, WJNL-TV (channel 19), Johnstown viewers actually got a stronger signal from channel 10. After the Altoona-State College and Johnstown DMAs were collapsed into a single market that year, WTAJ became the exclusive CBS affiliate for the enlarged market. WJNL's signal was marginal at best in the eastern part of the market; it barely reached Altoona and just missed State College. WJNL (which changed its calls to WFAT) 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 transferred WTAJ's license to its subsidiary Television Station Group License Subsidiary, LLC in 2004. SJL changed its name to Montecito Broadcast Group in 2005. Montecito put WTAJ and two of its other stations in the Northeast--Binghamton, New York's WBNG-TV and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania's WLYH-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.
In late May 2007, WTAJ launched a redesigned website.
WTAJ cameras were some of the first on the scene of the crash of Flight 93 near Shanksville, PA, on September 11, 2001.
Trivia
- In the 1977 film Slap Shot, a microphone bearing the mike flag of WTAJ (who at the time, had a logo that featured a "10" in a circle) can be seen before the championship game in the film. 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 before the big game. Slap Shot was filmed in Johnstown, which represented the fictitious city of Charlestown.
Talent
Anchors
- John Clay - 5:30, 6, and 11 P.M.
- Carolyn Donaldson - 5, 6, and 11 P.M.
- Amy Mearkle - Morning/Noon Anchor
- Patrick Schurr - Morning/Noon Anchor
Weather
- "Storm Tracker 10"
- Regina Miller - Weekend Weather
- Joe Murgo - Evening Weather
- Brian Schroeder - Morning Weather
Sports
- "10 Sports"
- Mike Fink
- Kellie Goodman - Sports Director
- Mike Mueller - Sports Reporter
Reporters
- Charlotte Ames - Health Reporter
- Adam Paluka - State College Bureau Reporter
- Chris Cekot - State College Bureau Reporter
- Kevin Flanigan
- Megan Gilliland - Bedford Bureau Reporter
- Andrew Capasso - Clearfield Bureau Chief
- Allison Schroeder
Notable Former Personalities
- Brandon Brooks - anchor - now at KYW newsradio in Philadelphia
- David Briemhurst - anchor - now goes by David Henry; a reporter at WPVI in Philadelphia
- Larry Mendte - anchor - now an anchor at KYW-TV in Philadelphia
- Patrick Van Horn - anchor - now an actor in Hollywood
- John Riley - weathercaster (1959-1982) - known for the Big John Riley Basketball Classic and the Big John Riley
Scholarship. Deceased.
- David Venable - anchor - Joined the QVC home shopping network in 1993
- Tim Boyles - Courts and Crime reporter - now owner of successful photography business in Florida
- Craig Demchak - long term anchor - now special projects manager for TV station in Columbus, OH
External links
- WTAJ-TV website
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WTAJ-TV
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WTAJ-TV
| Broadcast television in the Johnstown / Altoona / State College market (Nielsen DMA #99) |
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Local television stations Significantly Viewed Out-of-Market Broadcast Stations |
| See Also: List of television stations in North America by media market |
| CBS Network Affiliates in the state of Pennsylvania |
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| See also: ABC, CW, Fox, MyNetworkTV, NBC, PBS, and Other stations in Pennsylvania |
| Nexstar Broadcasting Group, Inc. |
|---|
|
Corporate Staff: Perry A. Sook (President & CEO) · Matt Devine
(CFO) · Duane A. Lammers (COO) · Timothy Busch ·
Brian Jones · Shirley E.
Green · Susana G.
Schuler-Willingham · Richard
Stolpe · Paul Greeley · Blake R. Battaglia · Erik Brooks ·
Jay M. Grossman · Brent
Stone · Royce Yudkoff · Geoff Armstrong ·
Michael Donovan · I. Martin
Pompadur |
| Annual Revenue: $226.1 million USD (2005) · Employees: Unknown at this time. · Stock Symbol: NASDAQ: NXST · Website: www.nexstarbroadcasting.com |
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