WWCP news team still at work
January 7, 2008
With only a week remaining before management pulls the plug on them, reporters, editors and anchors at Fox affiliate WWCP-TV (8) in Johnstown are continuing to put out the best broadcast they can, reports the Altoona Mirror.
News Director Jim Penna calls it “a test of your professional mettle.”
“My obligation is to produce the product, and we will do that until we are done,” he says.
WWCP shares a news department with sister station and ABC affiliate WATM-TV (23). The station’s owners announced in November that they would contract all news functions to crosstown rival and NBC affiliate WJAC-TV (6), beginning Jan. 14.
Penn State communications professor Matt Jackson tells the Mirror that although local news is important, stations are no longer willing to support newscasts that don’t generate revenue.
The stations will not hold personnel to the non-compete clauses in their contracts, though several admit they will probably have to leave either central Pennsylvania or broadcasting to find work.
