Ploeger leaving WTAE
January 9, 2009
The on-air staff at WTAE-TV (4) just keeps dwindling. Jake Ploeger will be leaving the station in a few weeks on his own choice. He will be leaving to work for his in-laws at P.J. Dick, Trumbull Corp. & Lindy Paving. Construction? Yes. “For the first couple of years I’ll be learning the business and get acclimated in the construction world,” Ploeger told the Post-Gazette, “Hopefully in the next few years I’ll move into more of a management role.”
Ploeger joined WTAE in 2000 as a sports anchor before moving over to news in 2002. He was offered the seat recently vacated by Jon Burton, but turned it down. The decision to leave wasn’t difficult. “While the work [in TV news] is fun, it’s not always conducive to a normal life per se,” he said. Ploeger is anchoring the sports segments in his final weeks and it is likely that he’ll be there through the Super Bowl.
