| Topic Name: |
Altoona, PA Market |
| Message Name: |
Excellent Insight... |
| Date Posted: |
05/16/2005 |
| In Reply To: |
First be warned this is a spread out market.. Johnstown is 45 minutes from Altoona, State College is 45 minutes from Altoona/an hour and a half from J-town.
That said it's not a bad small market. Big stories do happen here. JAC and TAJ are in a great competition. Both stations have Sat trucks, several bureaus.
JAC has been going through some tough times. A few years ago it swept the ratings during a May book. Since that time it has been falling more and more behind TAJ. Insiders blame former News Director for chasing out people who knew what they were doing, hiring those who didn't. He was fired. Word is the new news director is under a lot of pressure to turn things around, but that hasn't been easy. Station has tried doing things differently.. reporters only fronting live vo/sots, few pkgs.. playing up breaking news (even when it's not breaking).. and other bells and whistles. May not work in such a conservative market.
TAJ seems to enjoy it's position as market leader...although it has a stale product. Set is around a decade old, so are the graphics. Word here is that main male anchor is jumping ship... speculation is an insider will take the job. 10 benefits from it's location. More people in market relate to Altoona than out-of the way Johnstown.
As far as the three cities are concerned, State College is a great town.. Altoona isn't bad. Johnstown is pretty rough. |
| Message: |
I agree nearly 100% with "jtowner" and the information he/she posted.
I've never worked in that market, but I lived in State College for several years in the mid-late 1990s. I get back there every now and then, and get a chance to view each station to see how they're doing.
First thing I noticed -- WTAJ hasn't changed a bit. Stale certainly is an appropriate word. Definitely time for a fresh coat of paint. New or updated set & graphics are beyond necessary. And what's the deal with solo anchors at 5:00 and 5:30? The evening news block is where all the resources are directed -- why not have traditional co-anchored newscasts? Those shows would be more watchable if that were the case.
WJAC seems to have been "Cox-ified" during the past few years -- meaning that some of the cookie-cutter Cox newscast policies made their way to WJAC. Many of those directives don't work in the "folksy" small market setting (such as no weather tosses or chat). The newscasts are not very friendly. I did enjoy seeing Marty Radovanic continuing to anchor -- he's the market's best, in my opinion, and is a nice familiar face to see whenever I return.
And finally, WWCP/WATM. I could write a novel on everything that is visibly wrong with these stations' newscasts. Someone really needs to do these stations a favor by coming in and teaching the staff how to put on a respectable news product. I realize this is market 95, but come on -- the product should really be better. But perhaps I'm expecting to much from these stations -- they were painful to watch 10 years ago, and they're just as painful to watch now.
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