By Steffen Klenk
For nearly 50 years, TV 40 served the South Jersey community, carrying local news, sports, weather and entertainment reports to a growing population. During its tenure as an affiliate of the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), the station was a hub for programming and information you couldn’t find anywhere else.
As the only television station dedicated solely to serving Atlantic, Cape May and Cumberland counties, WMGM-TV quickly became a vital source for local news, weather and sports. It was also the only network television station licensed in the state of New Jersey. Viewers became acquainted with the many names and faces that appeared on screen during its evening newscasts.
Credit: John Kosich
It first hit the airwaves as WCMC-TV on Jan. 25, 1966. Howard Green purchased the station in the late 1970s, and oversaw its transition from black-and-white to color, while also giving it new call letters as WAAT. Green owned several radio stations in the region, including WOND and WMGM-FM, along with an ABC affiliate in Elmira, N.Y. He hired the expertise of Jane Stark, who began her career at the station as sales manager, working her way up to general manager.
Shortly thereafter, the station presented its first news broadcast, presented by the late Michael Schurman, TV 40’s first news director and anchor for WOND Radio. Around the same time, the station settled on a permanent set of call letters, WMGM-TV. Its studios were first located in a building along Avalon Boulevard, with an office on Shore Road in Linwood.
In 1990, the station saw several on-air changes, including a new office and studio facility on New Road in Linwood. By 2002, Joe Jingoli oversaw the construction of a new news set, one that would include new on-air graphics and a continued passion for delivering local news.
When the station closed its news department at the end of 2014, many of its former staff moved on to new and exciting opportunities. Here at Shore Local, we wanted to check in to see where some of the familiar names are today.
Many who watched TV 40 between 1999 and 2014 will likely remember Michelle Dawn Mooney, lead anchor for the 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts. Following her departure from the station, the former Miss New Jersey contestant went back to her roots, hosting and producing a midday radio show featuring conversations with national and local celebrities.
In recent years, she started her own podcast called “Michelle Dawn Mooney Conversations,” interviewing celebrities from all walks of life. Recently, Mooney has relaunched her website and is starting a trek into communication coaching. “My goal is to help people learn, love, give and live their best life,” she states on her website. Her podcast is also slated to relaunch this summer, with more details to follow.
Nor’easter Nick Pittman is no stranger to South Jersey. He found his passion for weather at a young age. While attending Brigantine Elementary School at 6 years old, he would present the weather in front of his classmates. “I remember begging my computer lab teacher to print out a doppler radar map so I could talk about something every day.”
In 2003, he won the CBS 3 Kidcaster competition, an experience which solidified his path to broadcast meteorology. About a year later, Pittman invited Dan Skeldon for a tour of his school’s studio. It was during this encounter that he was given the title, “Nor’easterNick,” a name that would become Nick’s brand identity for the next 20 years.
In 2010, while in his junior year at Hammonton High School, Pittman’s media teachers, Mr. Josey and Mr. Joseph, informed him of a job opening at NBC 40. “I didn’t think I had a chance, but they believed in me,” Pittman said. He created a demo reel and sent it to the station. Within a few days, he received a call from Skeldon asking him to come in for an interview.
At the age of 17, Nick made his debut as one of the youngest on-air personalities at WMGM-TV. He began forecasting during a very active winter season in 2010.
“I had a lot of snowstorms to cover, and I learned a lot in the process.” Pittman learned a great deal in just a few years at NBC 40, picking up new methods as a professional forecaster. “It was a baptism by fire. I think the most valuable lesson I learned was how to ad-lib and think quick on my feet.”
Shortly after NBC 40’s closure, Pittman led the weather department at SNJ Today News for nearly four years. Upon its demise, he had already grown a loyal following on social media and launched his own hyperlocal weather platform, NorCast Media.
Today, the company operates three branches. The Norcast Weather platform consists of daily reports online, via Facebook, and an around-the-clock streaming channel. The company also provides video production services, along with weather consulting for businesses and entertainment venues. You can also hear Nor’easter Nick’s around-the-clock weather updates on several local radio stations.
What Nor’easter Nick enjoys the most about forecasting is the challenge, noting that our South Jersey weather is fickle and can change in an instant. “We see everything from nor’easters, hurricanes, strong thunderstorms, to derechos, blizzards, droughts and wildfires, etc. You have to be well versed in many different areas of meteorology.”
Meteorologist Dan Skeldon was a regular fixture on evening newscasts for over a decade. He found he was passionate about weather when he was growing up in Rhode Island.
After briefly forecasting the weather in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and Vermont, Skeldon was brought on to WMGM-TV by late news director Harvey Cox. He quickly filled the role of chief meteorologist. During his tenure with NBC 40, he became accustomed to forecasting our local weather conditions. “It’s challenging to forecast with sea breezes, and fog and clouds, but I entered South Jersey in a quieter couple of years weather-wise.”
But that would change later in the decade when our region was impacted by three blizzards over a 12-month period. This was followed by Hurricane Irene in 2011, and a very active year of weather in 2012, which included a derecho and, most notably, Hurricane Sandy, a span of events which tested the limits of meteorology and the community. Following the events of Sandy, viewers of NBC 40 filled 14 box trucks with food and supplies for residents in need. “It gave me a new respect for the science of meteorology, and it also grew my love of the South Jersey community that was home at the time to me,” Skeldon said.
Since 2015, Skeldon has continued to report on regional weather for WFMZ-TV, a station based in Allentown, Pa. He is currently the station’s chief meteorologist and can be seen on weeknights forecasting conditions for the Lehigh Valley and Berks County, Pa.
Jeff Whitaker maintained a long career at WMGM-TV. His broadcast journey started on the radio, interning in the news department at WOND. He took an opening at Channel 40 as cameraman, worked up to the 6 o’clock news and became news director in 1986. He left the station in 1997, but returned to anchor Sunday night newscasts, and eventually working Saturdays from the mid-2000s until 2014.
For Whitaker, working in South Jersey enabled him to interview some of the biggest names that came through our region. “I had the opportunity to cover big city stories in a small-town atmosphere.” Today, he specializes in leadership and communication training, and is a member of Maxwell Leadership.
Ted Greenberg began working at WMGM-TV as a 17-year-old intern. Over the span of five years, he worked his way up to the anchor desk and served many roles from assignment editor to radio anchor, reporter and producer.
He recalled one memory that stood out during his time at the station during a major coastal storm. “I thought it might be a good idea to go outside on Route 9 and read the school closings live in the middle of a blizzard.” With high winds and snow blowing around, it didn’t quite go as expected. “The papers I was holding in my hands, with the information on it, basically melted in the snow.”
Greenberg left TV 40 in 1997 to work in Rochester, N.Y., and Hartford, Conn. He eventually returned for a brief period in 2002 to serve as news director and anchor the 6 p.m. news. Today he continues to report on local headlines as Jersey Shore Bureau reporter for NBC 10 in Philadelphia and News 4 New York (WNBC-TV).
An alumnus of the University of Pennsylvania, Lisa Johnson began an internship as assignment editor at KYW-TV during the station’s NBC affiliation. The longtime South Jersey resident and Mainland Regional High School grad decided to switch gears and wanted to be on camera. “I was living in Cherry Hill at the time and heard about this station in Atlantic City.” Johnson applied for the job and was interviewed by Mary McGinnis, former Miss New Jersey, at the station’s office on Shore Road.
Johnson started out as news reporter and anchor before briefly leaving to do PR for an Atlantic City casino. She served as news director and anchor for NBC 40 during the 1990s, later becoming news anchor and reporter for CBS station KLAS-TV in Las Vegas before returning to South Jersey, where she hosted the “Casino Connection,” a regular feature updating viewers on headlines in the casino industry. Today she is the president of Lisa Johnson Communications, a media and public relations agency representing clients and entertainers throughout the country.
Throughout the week, many would tune in to watch “Health Today,” a weekly 30-minute program that featured discussions on important health-related issues. This, alongside regular Health Update segments, was hosted by Robin Stoloff. “I had just graduated from Villanova and it was my first job.”
She recalls the pre-internet technology used while starting at the station in the mid-1980s. “Back then we used three-quarter-inch tape, so when you wanted to run something, you had to run the tapes back and forth between the studio and the office.”
Today, she is the host of “Living Well with Robin Stoloff,” a podcast that empowers people to live a healthier life. The program can be found on your favorite podcast platform, and on Lite 96.9 WFPG Sunday mornings.
Whitney Ullman was another familiar face on News 40. Beginning in 2009, she regularly broadcast the entertainment segment on Saturdays and Sundays. Today she is the founder and owner of The City Pulse, an entertainment, leisure and lifestyle website and social media platform. Since News 40 went off air in 2014, Whitney has done thousands of live celebrity interviews and is a regular contributor on FOX News.
John Kosich grew up in Philadelphia with an interest in television news. While vacationing in Ocean City, he would always watch Michael Schurman on Channel 40. Kosich got the opportunity of a lifetime to see the station as a senior in high school. He called the station and was invited by Howard Green to sit in during the evening news and knew instantly that he would return to work for the station.
After graduating from Temple University, Kosich returned to the shore to launch his broadcast career, anchoring the 11 p.m. newscast from 1990 to 1994. He covered a plethora of stories, interviewing names such as Merv Griffin, Tony Bennett, Andrew Dice Clay. Today, Kosich is an Emmy-winning reporter for ABC station WEWS-TV in Cleveland.
“I grew up in Camden County watching Philly news,” said Phaedra Laird, who started at NBC 40 in 2003. “To come down and see this NBC station covering hyperlocal stories was so interesting and appealing to me.”
Phaedra Laird held several responsibilities, including, but not limited to, assignment editor and assistant news director. She shared many stories that highlighted what makes South Jersey most unique. “To be able to tell those stories was not just fun and interesting, it was also special.”
Laird recalled working at NBC 40 during major weather events, ones that not only knocked out power to thousands of residents, but even the station. “I came into work after a blizzard. Myself, the chief photographer Ben Parsons, and Dan came in and we decided to do a show that was all-weather related. I know that the public appreciated it.” Today, Laird is a member of Laura Bishop Communications.
The station helped launch the careers of many aspiring reporters, including local sports anchor Mike Frankel, who is now a contributor for Jersey Sports Zone, a website devoted to covering high school athletics. Veronica Dudo is the host of a program called “South Jersey In Focus,” which can be seen via On New Jersey (ONNJ), an online streaming platform.
And that’s just scratching the surface; many anchors and reporters have gone on to have bright careers in other television markets, working in cities such as New York, Boston, Baltimore, Shreveport, and Sioux Falls, just to name a few.
Some have ventured into other career paths. Jacqueline Loder, present-day owner of Brig Chic boutique in Brigantine, produced the evening newscast on NBC 40, eventually transitioning to entertainment reporter and morning show producer. She described her experience being behind-the-scenes on the morning of New Year’s Eve.
The final morning broadcast didn’t go quite as planned. “We’re about to go on air and I’m looking at the live TV and nothing was showing up, and I was the only person there that day that could run the whole show. I had to sprint from the control room to the other control room to hit this big red button to get us on air.”
Former general manager Jane Stark is still a South Jersey resident and serves as executive director of the Sam Azeez Museum of Woodbine Heritage.
And then there are the familiar names that have left us, including Michael Schurman, who came back to NBC 40 in the mid-2000s to anchor the Saturday night newscast while serving as Atlantic County highway safety director prior to his passing, and longtime South Jersey resident and radio host Pinky Kravitz presented a weekly talk show titled, “WMGM-TV Presents Pinky.” And then there was “Curtain Call with David Spatz,” a celebrity interview series hosted by the longtime entertainment columnist which produced over 200 episodes.
The station’s longtime owner Howard Green passed away in 2002, after which followed a series of ownership changes. Following the loss of its NBC affiliation, WMGM-TV closed its news department on Dec. 31, 2014. Nor’easter Nick describes being in the studio as the lights went down on TV 40’s final newscast. “Earlier in the week we all recorded our goodbye and thank you messages; it was emotional to see them run live on the air.” In 2017, the WMGM-TV signal was purchased by the owners of the Spanish-language channel Univision.
While so much has changed in the last decade, the station’s legacy, and the impact it had on South Jersey remains strong to this day. It doesn’t just resonate from the staff who worked in front of and behind the camera each day, but it also lives on with the viewers who made it their station of choice.
“I was at an event and these people came over and said how much they miss TV 40, and that’s all I ever hear. Decades later, people will still recognize me from that role,” Johnson recalled.
Although technology has come a long way, Skeldon said there will always be a need for hyperlocal weather. “NBC 40 was a smaller station. We did not have a fancy weather system with satellites, radars and moving maps,” said Skeldon. “I look back at it now and think, ‘How did I ever make that work?’ But we could keep it local despite the technology.”
Behind-the-scenes, you had a dedicated crew, from photographers to technicians, working hard to keep the station on-the-air. “Frank Polisano, the chief engineer, kept our equipment up and running,” Laird recalls. “It may have been held together with bubblegum and paper clips, but somehow we made it work.”
After 30 years in the journalism field, Ted Greenberg finished his degree at Stockton University last year. He expressed his profound thanks to the people of TV 40 for making his dreams come true. “I am beyond grateful to Jeff Whitaker and Jane Stark for giving me a chance there; without them, I don’t think I would be where I am.”
Whether you tuned in to watch the nightly news reports, primetime programs, weekly public affairs shows such as “Forum 40,” or seasonal specials like the “Christmas Chorale,” TV 40 still holds a special place in many hearts and minds throughout South Jersey. “To have your own specific local station was really special,” Laird said, “and that was something that I took great pride in and was very conscious of, this responsibility of keeping people informed in your own backyard.”
For those interested in a trip down memory lane, check out NewsCenter 40: The Stories Behind the Station on YouTube. The hour-long documentary features many clips and interviews with many of its most notable staff.
Steffen Klenk is a photographer and multimedia journalist who enjoys capturing the eclectic moments of shore life. You may contact Steffen at shorelocalsteffen@gmail.com.
