dubois pennsylvania united states city altoona pennsylvania branding wtaj general wtaj news newscasts slogan your news leader channels digital 32 uhf virtual 10 psip subchannels 10.1 cbs 10.2 escape 10.3 laff affiliations cbs owner nexstar broadcasting group nexstar broadcasting inc. first air date march 1 1953 ; 63 years ago 1953 03 01 call letters meaning w television for altoona and johnstown former callsigns wfbg tv 1953 1972 former channel number s analog 10 1953 2009 former affiliations both secondary abc 1953 1974 dumont 1953 1955 transmitter power 883 kw height 305.2 m facility id 23341 transmitter coordinates 40 34 1.1 n 78 26 28.1 w 40.566972 n 78.441139 w 40.566972 ; 78.441139 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website 4 wtaj tv channel 10 is a cbs affiliated television station licensed to altoona pennsylvania usa . wtaj tv is owned by nexstar broadcasting group and has studios located on 6th avenue in downtown altoona and transmitter based in neighboring logan township . contents 1 history 1.1 out of market coverage 1.2 60th anniversary 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 news operation 4 in popular culture 5 references 6 external links history edit 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 1290 am and 98.1 fm now wfgy . in the station s early days all programs were produced and transmitted live from the studios on wopsononock mountain in altoona ; the wfbg stations moved in 1959 to a new studio facility on 6th avenue where channel 10 continues to operate from today . 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 . the last logo used by wfbg tv before the station was renamed in 1972 . 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 . 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 now wpvi tv in philadelphia and wlyh tv in lebanon to conduct a smear campaign against him . the federal communications commission fcc found that the charges were true and forced triangle to unload all of its broadcasting properties . following a large divestiture of stations to capital cities communications in early 1971 2 triangle sold its remaining outlets including the wfbg stations to gateway communications in december 1971 . 3 the sale was finalized in september 1972 4 5 with the radio stations spun off to its general manager in accordance with fcc s cross ownership policy and channel 10 being renamed as wtaj tv ; the new call letters were chosen to acknowledge the station 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 . wtaj tv s logo used from 1972 until 1995 . other stations owned by gateway communications also employed a similarly styled logo . when altoona state college and johnstown were collapsed into a single market in 1982 wtaj became the exclusive cbs affiliate for the newly enlarged market . the battle between channels 10 and 19 was not even close as 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 ; the frequency was eventually reallocated to the pittsburgh area and is now home to that market s cw outlet wpcw . former channel 10 logo used from 1995 until 2008 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 edit 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 all part of the pittsburgh dma . 6 7 wtaj is also carried in mifflin part of the harrisburg dma clinton part of the scranton wilkes barre dma and in portions of mckean part of the buffalo dma . in maryland wtaj tv is carried in cumberland and hancock which are both part of the washington dc market . 60th anniversary edit on march 1 2013 wtaj kicked off its 60th anniversary with a celebration from the altoona location of wolf furniture . 8 the special included archival clips from wfbg wtaj and a look back at their first 60 years . special segments continued throughout the year . 9 digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital signal is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 10 10.1 1080i 16 9 wtaj hd main wtaj tv programming cbs 10.2 480i 4 3 escape 10.3 laff on june 15 2016 nexstar announced that it has entered into an affiliation agreement with katz broadcasting for the escape laff grit and bounce tv networks the last one of which is owned by bounce media llc whose coo jonathan katz is president ceo of katz broadcasting bringing one or more of the four networks to 81 stations owned and or operated by nexstar including wtaj tv . grit is already available in johnstown on wjac dt4 . 11 analog to digital conversion edit wtaj tv shut down its analog signal over vhf channel 10 on june 12 2009 the official date in which full power television stations in the united states transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate . the station s digital signal remained on its pre transition uhf channel 32 . 12 through the use of psip digital television receivers display the station s virtual channel as its former vhf analog channel 10 . news operation edit tv 10 action news night beat opening from 1986 wtaj s news operation has seen many 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 and wes maley . in september 1972 just shortly before the sale of the station to gateway communications was finalized 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 named bob moore moved to altoona from washington d.c. also joining tv 10 news was pam jenkins the first female news correspondent from penn state university . 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 rabe and mcclintock became the veterans . they both stayed until october 1979 when rabe 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 . in the intervening years the station has had many anchors and reporters come and go . wtaj s logo from january 28 2008 through january 31 2013 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 . 13 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 . 14 wtaj tv began broadcasting its newscasts in high definition on january 31 2013 . as part of the conversion the station built a new set and introduced a new logo . 15 16 in popular culture edit 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