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Johnstown Pitt Coverage

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BIGPanther

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Jul 10, 2001
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About a year ago, I stopped getting the Johnstown Tribune Democrat after we moved to a new house. I suspended service during the move, and just never felt a compelling reason to restart. Papers seem to be going the way of the dinosaur anyway. On Sunday, I was watching the Steelers game at my brother's house and decided to take a quick look to see what the Tribune had about the Duke game. There were no articles on the front page, and not even on the front page of the sports section. There was a story buried several pages into the sports section about Pitt beating a "struggling" Duke. There was however, a large article on the front page of the sports section about penn state's running back shattering freshman records.

I had already written off WJAC. Those dolts stand in front of a beaver stadium backdrop to do weather reports, but it's a shame not even the paper here will give Pitt much attention. Thought for a split second about complaining, then decided to just continue not buying the paper and let it die of natural causes on its own.
 
BIGPanther said:
About a year ago, I stopped getting the Johnstown Tribune Democrat after we moved to a new house. I suspended service during the move, and just never felt a compelling reason to restart. Papers seem to be going the way of the dinosaur anyway. On Sunday, I was watching the Steelers game at my brother's house and decided to take a quick look to see what the Tribune had about the Duke game. There were no articles on the front page, and not even on the front page of the sports section. There was a story buried several pages into the sports section about Pitt beating a "struggling" Duke. There was however, a large article on the front page of the sports section about penn state's running back shattering freshman records.

I had already written off WJAC. Those dolts stand in front of a beaver stadium backdrop to do weather reports, but it's a shame not even the paper here will give Pitt much attention. Thought for a split second about complaining, then decided to just continue not buying the paper and let it die of natural causes on its own.
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I'm with you big guy. The way WJAC shills for Ped State is pathetic. They actually send a camera man and a reporter to Ped State away games as if they were a real station. I have noticed ever since the Sandusky scandal broke that WJAC has tripled down trying to bury the scandal and boost the Nit image again. Shameful since Johnstown is pretty much mid way between Pittsburgh and State College.
 
wbrpanther said:
I'm with you big guy. The way WJAC shills for Ped State is pathetic. They actually send a camera man and a reporter to Ped State away games as if they were a real station. I have noticed ever since the Sandusky scandal broke that WJAC has tripled down trying to bury the scandal and boost the Nit image again. Shameful since Johnstown is pretty much mid way between Pittsburgh and State College.
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And Johnstown has a regional Pitt campus, UPJ.
 
I live in Johnstown; part of the problem is that WJAC and WTAJ (CBS Altoona) are constantly battling each other for viewership. You're as likely to see a story about Altoona/State College/Centre County on WJAC as you are Johnstown. And that's why I don't watch it.
 
BIGPanther said:
About a year ago, I stopped getting the Johnstown Tribune Democrat after we moved to a new house. I suspended service during the move, and just never felt a compelling reason to restart. Papers seem to be going the way of the dinosaur anyway. On Sunday, I was watching the Steelers game at my brother's house and decided to take a quick look to see what the Tribune had about the Duke game. There were no articles on the front page, and not even on the front page of the sports section. There was a story buried several pages into the sports section about Pitt beating a "struggling" Duke. There was however, a large article on the front page of the sports section about penn state's running back shattering freshman records.

I had already written off WJAC. Those dolts stand in front of a beaver stadium backdrop to do weather reports, but it's a shame not even the paper here will give Pitt much attention. Thought for a split second about complaining, then decided to just continue not buying the paper and let it die of natural causes on its own.
Click to expand...

I think the paper is pretty fair. There's an article in the paper today about Pitt. I know the sport's editor and he's a fan of all the local college teams.

One of the problems with a paper as small as this is getting enough writers to cover all of the games they see. There's a lot of local hs sports coverage. Sometimes they just can't be every where.

I do agree about WJAC.
 
steved71 said:
And Johnstown has a regional Pitt campus, UPJ.
Click to expand...
Basically why I became a Pitt fan. I went to UPJ mostly our of economic concerns from the ability to commute. My old man worked 42 years in the steel mill and hated all things Pittsburgh. Raiders fan actually. My guess is that it was the little brother syndrome of a town like Johnstown and actually rooted in some animosity towards Carnegie in the whole industrial snob crowd that caused the big flood. But I digress... However, there was one thing that he loved about Pittsburgh and did so with a passion...Pitt. The reason..Is that back in 1929 or so they took a chance and opened a branch campus (extremely rare back then and UPJ is one of the first in the nation) so that some of these mill rats might have a better future and this meant the world to him. He was also born in 1916 and lived through the heydays in the thirties. Also, thought Johnnie Saur was the greatest thing since sliced bread doing the color on Saturday afternoons. More importantly, his love of Pitt was only matched by his hatred of Penn State. "you lose, too bad Pizza Joe"... Don't know what is going on with the tribune or WJAC nowadays and the town now consists of very old people and derelicts but back in the day I could say and I knew there were a greater percentage of Pitt fans in Johnstown than in Pittsburgh.......
 
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I thought that the TD has had decent Pitt coverage. I noticed the same thing on Sunday as far as the Duke game coverage not making the front page of the sports section. But it did make the headlines on the front page. Today there is an article about Pitt football on the front page of the sports section. The articles are from the Associated Press so you can't really fault the TD for the quality. I have noticed that when both Pitt and Penn State play, Pitt gets equal if not more coverage.

WJAC on the other hand is a joke. I watch WTAE on the weekends. I like the interviews that they have with Bostick and Narduzzi on game day.
 
upj87 said:
Basically why I became a Pitt fan. I went to UPJ mostly our of economic concerns from the ability to commute. My old man worked 42 years in the steel mill and hated all things Pittsburgh. Raiders fan actually. My guess is that it was the little brother syndrome of a town like Johnstown and actually rooted in some animosity towards Carnegie in the whole industrial snob crowd that caused the big flood. But I digress... However, there was one thing that he loved about Pittsburgh and did so with a passion...Pitt. The reason..Is that back in 1929 or so they took a chance and opened a branch campus (extremely rare back then and UPJ is one of the first in the nation) so that some of these mill rats might have a better future and this meant the world to him. He was also born in 1916 and lived through the heydays in the thirties. Also, thought Johnnie Saur was the greatest thing since sliced bread doing the color on Saturday afternoons. More importantly, his love of Pitt was only matched by his hatred of Penn State. "you lose, too bad Pizza Joe"... Don't know what is going on with the tribune or WJAC nowadays and the town now consists of very old people and derelicts but back in the day I could say and I knew there were a greater percentage of Pitt fans in Johnstown than in Pittsburgh.......
Click to expand...

That was nice. Thanks for sharing.
 
It does seem odd what with no one in Cambria Co watching a Centre Co TV station and visa versa. I do consider Cambria Co part of the central part of the state though~
 
pittengineer75 said:
Why do Johnstown and Altoona have TV stations???
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When I lived in the area we got the Altoona station and when i watched the news I always got the feeling that the market was too small for its own station. Man, I gotta tell ya, the stuff they covered to fill time. There just ain't a whole lot happening around there.
 
The city of Johnstown's population is around 20K and Altoona is typically double that. The region purportedly served by the TV stations includes Cambria/Somerset counties at 220K, Blair County at 125K, and Centre County at 155K.
 
Not sure what WJAC's reach is but WTAJ covers clear up to St. Mary's. But they both sell out to PSU because I guess they view there primary viewers as PSU fans.

So far as the paper is concerned, Ron Musselman is one of the writers for the Johnstown paper. He's a PSU grad and leans towards the football team. That said, he's taken a lot of heat from the PSU crowd for being right down the middle in his coverage, including the whole Paterno scandal.
 
LVram81 said:
Not to be a horses ass, but why wouldn't they? They sell advertising and everything!
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Just completely tiny towns. Wonder how many other TV stations there are for towns that have populations under 40k/20k? Have to imagine most of their advertising is local things to the area...that and Sheetz.
 
pittengineer75 said:
Just completely tiny towns. Wonder how many other TV stations there are for towns that have populations under 40k/20k? Have to imagine most of their advertising is local things to the area...that and Sheetz.
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I'm certainly no expert, but I don't know of other network affiliates between Pittsburgh and Harrisburg. I believe there are some network affiliates in Wilkes-Berre/Scranton (filling the void between H'burg and Philly). I wouldn't be surprised if the networks provide some financial assistance to those smaller market in-fill stations.
 
pittengineer75 said:
Being completely serious and honest. Do either have populations even over 50k? Combined? Just shocked that either (and especially both) would have TV stations.
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Altoona's population is 46,320, an urban area of ~100K, and a metro area of 127K. Altoona was closer to 80K during WWII, and over 50K until the last decade. Johnstown has a population of 20,402 with an urban area of 69,014 and a metro area of 140,499.

Altoona's TV station essentially serves as the primary TV station for both Altoona and State College, while also overlapping with Johnstown. It really covers a large swath of the region.
 
CrazyPaco said:
Altoona's population is 46,320, an urban area of ~100K, and a metro area of 127K. Altoona was closer to 80K during WWII, and over 50K until the last decade. Johnstown has a population of 20,402 with an urban area of 69,014 and a metro area of 140,499.

Altoona's TV station essentially serves as the primary TV station for both Altoona and State College, while also overlapping with Johnstown. It really covers a large swath of the region.
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Johnstown's SMSA has always been a little larger than Altoona. Most live outside the city of Johnstown as Bethlehem Steel plant was mostly in the city proper. I think at one time the plant employed at least 12,000 people.

Also, I think Johnstown is closer to Pittsburgh, 60-65 miles from Oakland. Johnstown to State College is probably about 90 miles. When I grew up there, the primary language was Yinzer.

ChooChoo
 
CrazyPaco said:
Altoona's population is 46,320, an urban area of ~100K, and a metro area of 127K. Altoona was closer to 80K during WWII, and over 50K until the last decade. Johnstown has a population of 20,402 with an urban area of 69,014 and a metro area of 140,499.

Altoona's TV station essentially serves as the primary TV station for both Altoona and State College, while also overlapping with Johnstown. It really covers a large swath of the region.
Click to expand...
When I was younger we had a hunting camp in Tionesta, where WJAC was pretty much the only station that we could get.
 
BIGPanther said:
About a year ago, I stopped getting the Johnstown Tribune Democrat after we moved to a new house. I suspended service during the move, and just never felt a compelling reason to restart. Papers seem to be going the way of the dinosaur anyway. On Sunday, I was watching the Steelers game at my brother's house and decided to take a quick look to see what the Tribune had about the Duke game. There were no articles on the front page, and not even on the front page of the sports section. There was a story buried several pages into the sports section about Pitt beating a "struggling" Duke. There was however, a large article on the front page of the sports section about penn state's running back shattering freshman records.

I had already written off WJAC. Those dolts stand in front of a beaver stadium backdrop to do weather reports, but it's a shame not even the paper here will give Pitt much attention. Thought for a split second about complaining, then decided to just continue not buying the paper and let it die of natural causes on its own.
Click to expand...
I work in Westmont section of Jtown. The downtown area of Jtown is really bad. Old decaying mills take up landscape. Mostly baby momma's hanging out in park. Closed up store fronts. Reminds me of Homestead where I grew up in the 60's. The decent jobs in town are government contractors for the most part in the Richland school district area of Jtown. Then there's the drug problem. The issue wit blighted homes that there is no money to deal with. I wish there was some way to re energize the region. Re: the original question, Pitt has had many more players come thru their system over the years, but PSU gets the air time. Last Jtown kid to "play" at PSU that I cam recall was Bradley nephew named Kanuch from Westmont circa 2002-2005. Before that I think Matt Bradley in the mid 70's might have been the last kid. I'm sure Windber might know more. Three Bradley boys played at PSU. They all went to Bishop McCort where Jack Ham went and Steve Smear in the mid 60's. Their Dad was a local physician who was a Pitt grad.
 
upj87 said:
lose
Click to expand...
pittengineer75 said:
Being completely serious and honest. Do either have populations even over 50k? Combined? Just shocked that either (and especially both) would have TV stations.
Click to expand...
Why does a city like Pittsburgh with a population of around 300,000 have three professional sports teams? Johnstown has a massive suburban area that goes beyond the town's population. Just kidding of course but the area does have suburbs with decent homes and entire counties Cambria, Bedford, Indiana Somerset etc. that are served by these tv outlets...Johnstown also serves as the major medical provider for these regions and this is the only thing keeping it from fading into oblivion.
 
upj87 said:
Why does a city like Pittsburgh with a population of around 300,000 have three professional sports teams? Johnstown has a massive suburban area that goes beyond the town's population. Just kidding of course but the area does have suburbs with decent homes and entire counties Cambria, Bedford, Indiana Somerset etc. that are served by these tv outlets...Johnstown also serves as the major medical provider for these regions and this is the only thing keeping it from fading into oblivion.
Click to expand...

Don't let the corporate scumbags restore South Fork, either.
 
upj87 said:
Why does a city like Pittsburgh with a population of around 300,000 have three professional sports teams? Johnstown has a massive suburban area that goes beyond the town's population. Just kidding of course but the area does have suburbs with decent homes and entire counties Cambria, Bedford, Indiana Somerset etc. that are served by these tv outlets...Johnstown also serves as the major medical provider for these regions and this is the only thing keeping it from fading into oblivion.
Click to expand...

Because the population of 300,000 is one of the most misleading numbers you can imagine.
300,000 is what is in Pittsburgh's tiny city limits.
The "Pittsburgh Region" as defined as Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland counties, population is around 2.4 million.

For example, Monroeville is 9-10 miles from the point and has 30k residents. What about the massive North and South hills?

Many cities when looking at population ARE the region. When we have "Pittsburghers" living in Irwin 30 minutes away....

It's all about how it's defined.
 
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pittengineer75 said:
Being completely serious and honest. Do either have populations even over 50k? Combined? Just shocked that either (and especially both) would have TV stations.
Click to expand...

They have had successful TV stations dating back to the early 50s when both towns had much bigger populations. Altoona at one time had the largest high school in the state with over 1000 students in their senior class. I've grown up having those stations in my life so I never really gave the subject any thought.
 
JoeScaz said:
Because the population of 300,000 is one of the most misleading numbers you can imagine.
300,000 is what is in Pittsburgh's tiny city limits.
The "Pittsburgh Region" as defined as Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland counties, population is around 2.4 million.

For example, Monroeville is 9-10 miles from the point and has 30k residents. What about the massive North and South hills?

Many cities when looking at population ARE the region. When we have "Pittsburghers" living in Irwin 30 minutes away....

It's all about how it's defined.
Click to expand...
yes, just like Johnstown! A small city with a downtown nestled between two rivers that meet at a point next to a stadium with an incline plane (world's steepest in the case of Johnstown and not the weak Mt. Washington variety) surrounded by suburbs...They have places like Westmont, Windber, Richland, Dale, Paint(yes, that is a place), Lower AND Upper Yoder, and Mine 42 (and yes, that is also a place) surrounding it.....same thing, pretty much!
 
upj87 said:
yes, just like Johnstown! A small city with a downtown nestled between two rivers that meet at a point next to a stadium with an incline plane (world's steepest in the case of Johnstown and not the weak Mt. Washington variety) surrounded by suburbs...They have places like Westmont, Windber, Richland, Dale, Paint(yes, that is a place), Lower AND Upper Yoder, and Mine 42 (and yes, that is also a place) surrounding it.....same thing, pretty much!
Click to expand...

You have Paint Township and Paint Borough with Scalp Level in between. Not making this up.
 
I know most of the guys that are worth anything football wise in the area. There just aren't many kids from Altoona or Johnstown or anywhere in between that had any college level talent at all that ended up at PSU. There have been some huge misses too with kids that played at lower levels and ended up playing Arena 1 that were easily capable of playing big time D1 football. It's always surprised me.
 
Somerset Panther said:
I work in Westmont section of Jtown. The downtown area of Jtown is really bad. Old decaying mills take up landscape. Mostly baby momma's hanging out in park. Closed up store fronts. Reminds me of Homestead where I grew up in the 60's. The decent jobs in town are government contractors for the most part in the Richland school district area of Jtown. Then there's the drug problem. The issue wit blighted homes that there is no money to deal with. I wish there was some way to re energize the region. Re: the original question, Pitt has had many more players come thru their system over the years, but PSU gets the air time. Last Jtown kid to "play" at PSU that I cam recall was Bradley nephew named Kanuch from Westmont circa 2002-2005. Before that I think Matt Bradley in the mid 70's might have been the last kid. I'm sure Windber might know more. Three Bradley boys played at PSU. They all went to Bishop McCort where Jack Ham went and Steve Smear in the mid 60's. Their Dad was a local physician who was a Pitt grad.
Click to expand...
Good post Somerset but Kanuch played wide receiver at Uconn.
ChooChoo
 
BIGPanther said:
About a year ago, I stopped getting the Johnstown Tribune Democrat after we moved to a new house. I suspended service during the move, and just never felt a compelling reason to restart. Papers seem to be going the way of the dinosaur anyway. On Sunday, I was watching the Steelers game at my brother's house and decided to take a quick look to see what the Tribune had about the Duke game. There were no articles on the front page, and not even on the front page of the sports section. There was a story buried several pages into the sports section about Pitt beating a "struggling" Duke. There was however, a large article on the front page of the sports section about penn state's running back shattering freshman records.

I had already written off WJAC. Those dolts stand in front of a beaver stadium backdrop to do weather reports, but it's a shame not even the paper here will give Pitt much attention. Thought for a split second about complaining, then decided to just continue not buying the paper and let it die of natural causes on its own.
Click to expand...

Move.
 
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