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WTAJ-TV
Image:Wtajtv.gif
Altoona, Pennsylvania <tr><th style="vertical-align: top; text-align: right;">Branding</th><td style="text-align: left;">10 News</td></tr><tr><th style="vertical-align: top; text-align: right;">Slogan</th><td style="text-align: left;">Live....Local.....Late Breaking</td></tr>
Channels	10 (VHF) analog, 32 (UHF) digital
Affiliations	CBS
Owner	Television Station Group License Subsidiary, LLC (sale to Nexstar Broadcasting Group near completion)
Founded	March 1, 1953 <tr><th style="vertical-align: top; text-align: right;">Call letters meaning</th><td style="text-align: left;">We're Television for Altoona and Johnstown</td></tr><tr><th style="vertical-align: top; text-align: right;">Former callsigns</th><td style="text-align: left;">WFBG-TV (1953-73)</td></tr><tr><th style="vertical-align: top; text-align: right;">Former affiliations</th><td style="text-align: left;">ABC (secondary)</td></tr><tr><th style="vertical-align: top; text-align: right;">Transmitter Power</th><td style="text-align: left;">231 kW/335 m (analog) 883 kW/305.2 m (digital)</td></tr> <tr><th style="vertical-align: top; text-align: right;">Website</th><td style="text-align: left;">www.wtajtv.com</td></tr>

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 Television Station Group License Subsidiary, LLC but is in the process of being sold to Nexstar Broadcasting Group.

Contents 1 History 2 Trivia 3 Talent 4 External links

[edit] 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.

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 WTAJ. 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. 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 put all three stations licensed to Television Station Group License Subsidiary, LLC (WTAJ, plus Binghamton, New York's WBNG-TV and Lebanon, Pennsylvania's WLYH-TV) up for sale shortly after its newly-created subsidiary Montecito Broadcast Group 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 the license for WLYH for $56 million. [1] Nexstar's acquisition of these two stations is slated to be completed in late November or during December.

[edit] 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 ficticious city of Charlestown.

[edit] Talent

Below is a list of current WTAJ on-air personalities:

John Clay - Main Anchor at 5:30, 6, and 11
Carolyn Donaldson - Main Anchor at 5, 6, and 11
Patrick Schurr - Morning/Noon Anchor
Amy Mearkle - Morning/Noon Anchor
Jennifer Goodwin - Weekend Evening Anchor / Reporter

Joe Murgo - Weather
Brian Schroeder - Morning Weather
Tom Casey - Weekend Weather

Kellie Goodman - Sports Director
John Dabkovich - Sports
Andy Siegel - Sports Reporter

Kevin Flaningan - Reporter
Charlotte Ames - Health Reporter
Allison Schroeder - Reporter
Kristina Rohall - Reporter

Steve Harmic - Clearfield Bureau Chief
Megan Gilliland - Bedford Bureau Reporter
Chris Cekot - State College Bureau Reporter
Michelle Toth - Cambria Bureau Reporter
Allison Bybee - State College Bureau Reporter

Some Notable Former WTAJ News People:

Brandon Brooks, former anchor now at KYW newsradio in Philadelphia
David Briemhurst, former anchor now goes by David Henry, a reporter at WPVI in Philadelphia
Larry Mendte, former anchor now an anchor at KYW-TV in Philadelphia
Patrick Van Horn, former anchor now an actor in Hollywood
Big John Riley, weatherman 1959-1982. Also known for the Big John Riley Basketball Classic and the Big John Riley Scholarship. Deceased.
David Venable, former anchor. Joined the QVC home shopping network in 1993.

[edit] External links

• WTAJ-TV10 Station History
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WTAJ
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information about Television Station WTAJ