Count On It: WJAC marks 75 years serving region (2025)

Tim Rigby (left), Marty Radovanic and Jen Johnson pose for a photo at the WJAC news desk. WJAC will celebrate 75 years in September.Courtesy photo

ill Brown, who worked at WJAC from 1982 to 2015, speaks during an on-air segment.Courtesy photo

Gary Sinderson appears during his early years at WJAC-TV.Courtesy photo

WJAC-TV anchor Jen Johnson delivers a report during her early years at the station.Courtesy photo

Marty Radovanic and Jen Johnson pose for a photo during WJAC’s Your Town series.Courtesy photo

Jen Johnson and other members of the WJAC news team pose for a photo in the control room.Courtesy photo

WJAC first began its broadcasting operations on Sept. 15, 1949, originally owned by the Johnstown Automotive Company along with WJAC Radio. At the time, it was the third-smallest television station in the country market-wise to be granted a commercial license.

In the 1960s, Johnstown Automotive sold the stations to the estate of Anderson H. Walters, the owner of The Tribune-Democrat, who held them until 1984 when tightened Federal Communications Commission cross-ownership regulations forced the newspaper to sell off radio stations it owned. The Walters estate held on to Channel 6 until 1997 when it was sold to Sunrise Television, ending local ownership.

WJAC and a sister station were sold to Cox Enterprises in 2000 and Cox sold the station to current owner, Sinclair Broadcast Group, in 2013.

Longtime employees enjoyed their time working at WJAC-TV.

ill Brown, who worked at WJAC from 1982 to 2015, speaks during an on-air segment.Courtesy photo

“I was given opportunities to grow, I grew relationships with the community, people who I worked with and with co-workers. I never thought about leaving. My husband said I bleed WJAC,” said anchor Jen Johnson, who started at WJAC as a photographer in July 1992. “I am not joking when I say when I pull into the parking lot and wonder what do I have to do today. It is a responsibility, you never know what is ahead and what the day holds. I love to have that adventure.”

Marty Radovanic started at WJAC in 1974 and spent 43½ years there before retiring in 2017. He came out of retirement to join WTAJ-TV in 2023.

“When I started, it was a smaller company. It was more of a family atmosphere, we were owned by the company that owned the Tribune-Democrat. It was one of Johnstown’s best-known employers and it was like a family. Everyone felt a kinship, people stayed there a long time, they felt secure and they could stay as long as they wanted,” Radovanic said. “I met some incredible people and worked with many young people and some are still in the business across the country.”

Landing a job at WJAC-TV was the dream job for Bill Brown, who worked at the station from 1982 to 2015.

“It was exciting, it was something I wanted to do, I watched it as a kid. I was fortunate to work with Bill Wilson, Ron Stephenson and Ron Lorence. I went to college for broadcast journalism. This was the first place I applied to, it was close to home,” Brown said. “I worked for several newspapers for 7-8 years, I just kept trying and finally in 1982 got hired.”

Gary Sinderson appears during his early years at WJAC-TV.Courtesy photo

Local news and programming have been very important in making WJAC-TV a successful operation. Brown said breaking news is the “bread and butter” for the station.

“Local news is what we care about, news is the most important thing and we want to do it well and have pride in what we put on the air,” Brown said.

“Over the years we have never failed to deliver on a major story or weather event. People turn us on, we have what they want to see, we have the information,” said chief engineer, engineering director Rob Abele, who has worked at the station since June 1971.

“It is a service to our community, it is a responsibility to bring them the information objectively and accurately, the facts, images and sounds,”

Johnson said.

WJAC-TV anchor Jen Johnson delivers a report during her early years at the station.Courtesy photo

The way news is gathered and presented has changed drastically over the years.

The era of the internet has led to some changes where lots of information, not always true, is posted. Radovanic said it’s more important than ever to make sure the news is correct before putting it out there for the public to see, even though there is now more pressure to pump out content.

“I like to be first, but it is much more important to be right,” Radovanic said. “Today it is all about clicks, but you need to maintain your integrity before you put it on the air. It is still important to the people they are reporting about to double check things.”

Abele said when he started, the news was shot on 16 mm film.

“It was developed here with a processor, edited by cutting film, and sticking the pieces together,” Abele said.

Marty Radovanic and Jen Johnson pose for a photo during WJAC’s Your Town series.Courtesy photo

Another big change was the transition to a digital format.

“One of my fondest memories was putting on a digital broadcast that is nearly perfect. It is a thrill to deliver a nearly perfect picture,” Abele said.

Today, reporters have tools such as drones and LiveU, which enables reporters to take a camera and mic with them to do a live broadcast.

“The technology is the biggest component. What we do as a journalist is the same but the difference is the tools we have to do it,” Johnson said.

WJAC-TV has covered numerous stories over its 75 years. Radovanic said he was fortunate to be involved in covering three “international” stories — the Johnstown flood of 1977, the Flight 93 crash near Shanksville in 2001 and the Quecreek Mine Rescue in 2002.

Jen Johnson and other members of the WJAC news team pose for a photo in the control room.Courtesy photo

“Any one of them would have been a career-defining story. I was blessed to be a part of all three of them,” Radovanic said.

Johnson and Brown also remember covering the Quecreek rescue.

“I was on site for 77 hours. Marty was anchoring. Marty said, ‘Hey kid, you need to tone it down, we don’t know what will happen.’ I said, ‘You are not here, you do not understand,'” Johnson said.

“The thing I was most impressed with was Governor (Mark) Schweiker was there, he made a lot of points with people, he was there the whole time. It was strange, there were TV stations everywhere, big trucks everywhere. It was difficult, you were just waiting for something,” Brown said.

Tim Rigby worked at the station from 1981 to 2022. He started in sports under Bill Wilson. Rigby later became a news anchor when Brown retired in 2015.

Rigby said his biggest moment was in 1990 when he broke the story that Penn State was going to join the Big Ten Conference.

“This was before social media, I was tipped off, I called all of the athletic directors and they didn’t know what I was talking about. I called the Big Ten Conference and went up the food chain and talked to Illinois President Stanley Ikenberry, who was head of the Council of Ten. He said yes,” Rigby said. “On the national scale that was easily the biggest story I broke. We didn’t have the cable like today with Fox Sports, ESPN and talk shows. It was one of those things, I was tipped off and it was true. No one saw it coming.”

For years, WJAC’s slogan was “Serving Millions from Atop the Alleghenies.” Today it is “News You Can Count On.”

People have been the key to success and survival of WJAC-TV.

“Success and survival, and having an impact for 75 years has largely depended on employees who are dedicated in consistently providing talent and individual expertise. Fortunately we’ve had people in place who are willing to work hard and adapt, along with having a vision, in how best to get the job done,” said Gary Sinderson, who has worked for WJAC for more than 40 years, and has been a bureau chief in State College covering stories such as the disappearance of District Attorney Ray Gricar, the Jerry Sandusky scandal and the Timothy Piazza/Penn State fraternity hazing case.

“We’ve had a lot of people go on to other stations and do well,” Brown said.

Rigby is optimistic about the future of WJAC-TV and said it needs to continue to focus on local news.

“Ultimately, you have to stay focused on local programming. We now cover a 10-county area. Technology has allowed us to expand our coverage area,” Rigby said. “If you lose local news and content, that is when you start to lose the viewer.”

A celebration of the 75th anniversary is planned for Sept. 15.

“We will be honoring the future and the past with a WJAC Past and Present event on the front lawn. We will honor some of our recent retirees at the event. We will invite anyone who has worked here for that celebration to honor the past,” said General Manager Jason Chavis. “We want to promote a team and family for the future. We were JAC — Johnstown Automotive Company — a family dealership. We want to promote that type of culture. I want to make it a team of family culture.”

Mirror Staff Writer Walt Frank is at 814-946-7467.