TV Q&A: Why can’t Pittsburgh TV stations keep young anchors? (2025)

Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen answers reader questions every Wednesday at TribLive.com in a column that also appears in the Sunday Tribune-Review.

Q: Why do you suppose Pittsburgh’s TV stations simply can’t keep the young upstarts? WTAE-TV’s Chris Lovingood is the latest in a growing list of fine young reporters and anchors who simply bolt after a few years. I thought the Brennan sisters would be here forever (aren’t they natives?) and very few stay long term. Pay? Working conditions? Pittsburgh isn’t as big as it was even 31 years ago when I moved here after college. It’s still a nice place to live. … Why the constant turnover?

— Thomas via Facebook

Rob: There is no one-size-fits-all answer. But change is a constant in the TV news business. Pittsburgh is not a Top 10 or Top 20 TV market, so it’s unrealistic to expect young people to stay. Pittsburgh is a stepping-stone market. I think to some degree, Pittsburgh viewers were lulled by the stability of the market for the past 25 years with major changes to Monday-Friday evening anchor teams only coming recently and in quick succession.

As to why young people leave, the reasons vary.

For Chris Lovingood, who departs WTAE later this month for WRAL-TV in Raleigh, N.C., it was an opportunity for advancement (he’ll move from a weekend shift to weekdays).

WTAE weekend forecaster Cam Tran left for a job at WTAE’s sister-station in Orlando, Fla.

Departed WPXI meteorologist Danielle Dozier still hasn’t said where she’s going.

For WTAE weekend anchor Brittany Hoke, it seems like she encountered some turbulence at WTAE and wanted out of a business that can have its share of egos and screamers for a better quality of work life.

Let’s remember, there has always been turnover when it comes to weekend anchors in the 23 years I’ve covered the Pittsburgh market. Young people are often in a phase of life where landing the better job is more important than the location. Sure, some will choose to stay and put down roots, but most will not, and that’s about them and their choices, not a slight against Pittsburgh or local viewers.

Q: Why do newsreaders/reporters refer to covid vaccine as shot in arm? Any other time they abbreviate a topic when they can, now they add two more words. I guess they think it sounds soooo cool when they actually sound silly.

— George, Greensburg

Rob: With so many news stories about shootings using handguns, “a shot in the arm” may be an effort to distinguish one kind of “shot” from another. Or perhaps it’s just a colloquialism.

Q: Channel 22 The Point has the syndicated show “Law & Crime Daily” on Tuesday-Saturday mornings at 3:30 a.m. I was just wondering why they don’t put this program in a more attractive time slot?

— Jeff via email

Rob: The vagaries of contemporary TV syndication are somewhat murky, but with a syndicated show like “Law Crime Daily” that is not fronted by marquee talent (e.g., Kelly Clarkson, Ellen DeGeneres), stations probably have more discretion on where to program these shows.

In this case, though, the whys and wherefores are moot: The 3:30 a.m. telecast is a second run. The show has its first run at 7:30 a.m. weekdays.

Q: Do you think that AppleTV+ will ever come to Comcast? Also, have you heard any word on when discovery+ will be coming to Comcast? They have their usual message that it will be “coming soon” — for like months now!

— Patrick via Facebook

Rob: Ah, yes, the dreaded Comcast “coming soon,” which stretches the meaning of the term beyond its breaking point. Discovery+ was available on Comcast’s Flex in early April, but there’s still no launch date for the X1 platform beyond “summer.”

Apple has not gone after making deals with cable companies, so my guess is there will be no plans to add Apple TV+ to Comcast, but the service is, of course, available to Comcast customers via Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Google TV or apps on smart TVs (Samsung, LG, Vizio, Sony).