Just across from the Nittany Mall on College Avenue sits WHVL, State College’s only locally-owned television station.
In a back office, John Stroh, director of programming and production, pours over next week’s schedule. It’s filled with local shows like “For the Record,” “The Centre of It All” and “Pit Pass.” There are also Philadelphia Phillies games as well popular syndicated shows like “House,” “Friends,” “American Dad” and “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” just to name a few.
In addition to making sure everything runs smoothly from the programming end of things, Stroh is also looking over spreadsheets as he tries to put together the high school football schedule for the coming fall. WHVL broadcasts tape-delayed high school football on Friday nights throughout the season. The station also broadcasts high school wrestling and basketball in the winter.
“It’s pretty challenging,” Stroh said. “There’s a lot going on. The fall is just crazy. We’re working 65, 70 hours a week. We’re lining up interviews, production crews, meals, project plans. It can be a really daunting gig.”
Stroh loves what he does, though. While it may be a challenge, he enjoys every second of it. His favorite time of the year — Friday nights, of course. After all, there’s nothing quite like Friday night lights in central Pennsylvania.
“I really like producing, being in the truck,” Stroh said. “It’s a lot of fun. It’s a lot of pressure, too. It’s pretty fast paced.”
But, hey, that’s just life at WHVL. A closer look at some of the people who make the station what it is:
The General Manager
Ted Swanson is the general manager of WHVL. He oversees the entire operation of the station, which is affiliated with My Network TV and America One Television.
According to Swanson, WHVL has found a niche in the community by focusing on local programming.
“I think for us, it’s everything,” Swanson said of covering the community. “Being on the eastern side of the designated market area, we really have a totally different area to serve. So it’s really important to us that when we select new programs, we’re doing something that we feel serves the entire DMA but also serves people who aren’t being served as well by some of the other entities.”
WHVL is a little different than its competition, namely WJAC in Johnstown and WTAJ in Altoona. WHVL is not affiliated with a network, which gives it a plethora of options as far as programming is concerned.
“Network television has different demands than independent stations,” Swanson said. “Independent stations have a lot more freedom to go out and do more community-based type stuff. We’re always looking for more opportunities to do that.”
According to Swanson, one of the most popular programming decisions was the choice to air entire high school football games. While most stations simply give a score or short highlight clips, WHVL goes all in — from kickoff until the final seconds tick away. Fans can go to the game on Friday night, then watch it on delay.
Popular? You bet.
“We get calls from moms and dads from Altoona, Johnstown and State College,” Swanson said. “They’re thrilled with the coverage. Our goal when we put the schedule together is to serve as many schools as possible.”
They can only air one game a week, obviously, so they try to pick one of the best the area has to offer.
“We want the game to be the total experience. That means running through halftime so that people can experience the entire game. It’s an expensive endeavor, but it’s something that’s important to us,” Swanson said.
But as Swanson pointed out, WHVL is much more than high school football. Shows like “The Centre Of It All” gives the station a chance to find some of those stories that have slipped through the cracks — stories that the larger stations don’t have time for.
“What we’re looking for are people, events, special things that are happening in the community,” he said. “Then we give them a little more depth and put a visual presentation behind it. We feel that the magazine-type format and doing that sort of service to the community fills in where news lets off.”
If you’re looking for coverage of car accidents and crime, keep flipping through the channels. That’s not what WHVL is about, according to Swanson.
“There are plenty of people out there chasing ambulances,” Swanson said. “There are people out there reading crime logs. We would prefer to say, ‘there are people out there doing good things, positive things.’”
WHVL is a relative newcomer to the game. In its sixth year, it is on 15 different systems in the Altoona-Johnstown-State College market.
“We are a young station, so we do have the advantage of putting together a business model,” he said. “It’s a bit different than the stations that are 60 years old that can’t leave their model. We see the television industry coming toward our model. We’re just going to continue to expand into that.”
The Talent
It’s Friday and production assistant/reporter Alex Rabb stood in front of a green screen and filmed ins and outs for “The Centre Of It All,” a lifestyles and entertainment show that she hosts.
She sipped from a bottle of water between takes. She explained that the local shows like “For the Record” and “The Centre Of It All” are the lifeblood of WHVL.
“Those shows are our priority, first and foremost,” Rabb said. “For those shows, we’ll go out and we’ll shoot. We’ll come back and ingest it and edit it and get it ready for air. Our main shows, those are what we have to tackle first.”
Rabb, a Penn State broadcast journalism graduate, is comfortable in front of the camera, though she’s worked in radio as well.
“I think television is amazing because you are challenged to show the story,” Rabb said.
Rabb enjoys working in both fields.
“I really love both,” she said. “I love what I’m doing right now, I really do. I’m out there every day … I’m either writing, shooting or editing.”
While the staff is small, Rabb enjoys the atmosphere at WHVL.
“We’re not an affiliate of any major network,” Rabb said. “Everything you see, it’s all us. We don’t do live news … we want to get community events. We’re more positive than a typical news station.”
The Director of Programming
When you meet Stroh, one thing is certain: The guy is a sports fan. He’s got a Sidney Crosby hockey puck sitting on his desk. His office is littered with sports memorabilia — there’s a batting helmet, some bobbleheads and a mini football in various spots.
It’s easy to see why the WHVL schedule is filled with sports. According to Stroh, it’s the station’s sports coverage that has helped it get recognized in the community.
“I think we’ve had pretty positive feedback,” Stroh said. “I think we’re pretty well-received. The problem is, we need more people tuning into us, more people checking us out. We’re still struggling with name recognition amidst WTAJ, WJAC and those guys … but those guys have a 40-year head start.”
However, by broadcasting high school football, wrestling and basketball, Stroh has seen a rise in the popularity of the station.
“I think our high school stuff, our sports stuff has been driving us. That’s one of our things. It’s one of the great things about us — we can do it. Our parent network is fine with us moving the schedule. They’ll say ‘if you’ve got a high school game, run it.’ We have that flexibility that some of the other stations don’t have,” he said.
WHVL also airs a plethora of Philadelphia Phillies games. That fills a void. For many years, Pittsburgh Pirates’ fans could watch ROOT Sports. The Phillies fans had nowhere to turn. WHVL changed all that.
“From the Philadelphia perspective, we definitely fill a void,” Stroh said. “There are a ton of kids coming up here from Philadelphia. In April and May, August and September, that Phillies programming keeps them in tune with the team. It gives them a little bit of home. We’re definitely helping to fill a niche.”
Like any business, WHVL faces its share of challenges. Stroh likes that.
“We’ve got all sorts of big challenges,” he said. “One of the biggest thing is getting this place staffed. When we’re going out to do a high school football game, there aren’t many guys who want to work on a Friday night. We’ve been fortunate. We’ve had a pretty good run of talent.”
