WTAJ-TV
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Altoona - Johnstown - State College - Dubois, Pennsylvania United States |
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| 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 (Secondary through 1974) |
| Owner |
Nexstar Media Group (Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc.) |
| First air date | March 1, 1953 |
| Call letters' meaning |
W Television for Altoona and Johnstown |
| Former callsigns | WFBG-TV (1953–1972) |
| Former channel number(s) | 10 (VHF, analog, 1953–2009) |
| Former affiliations |
ABC (1953–1974) DuMont (1953–1955) both secondary |
| 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 |
| 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 the Nexstar Media Group, and has studios located on 6th Avenue in downtown Altoona and transmitter based in neighboring Logan Township.
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.
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. 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 (now WXBU) 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, Triangle sold its remaining outlets, including the WFBG stations, to Gateway Communications in December 1971. The sale was finalized in September 1972, 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.
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