TV Q&A: Where did WPXI reporter Jillian Hartmann go?

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: Can you tell us what happened to Jillian Hartmann on WPXI’s news team?

— Jim, Uniontown

Rob: In April, we reported that Hartmann exited Channel 11 to take a reporter job with the Fox affiliate in Houston, Texas.

Q: On July 20, why did Bob Pompeani host KDKA’s Sunday “Sports Showdown” but was not on the evening news or “Nightly Sports Call”? It’s always been whoever is on the evening news that night will be on the “NSC” and “Showdown” as well.

— Zach, via email

Rob: We’ve addressed the occasional wonkiness of sports anchor schedules in the past. My understanding in this case is Pompeani was busy with sports coverage and that sometimes necessitates splitting day duties when the station is covering multiple sporting events.

Q: Why can I no longer get WOSC?

— Cheryl, Jefferson Hills

Rob: WOSC is a low-power TV station, so its signal may not carry as far as full-power stations like WPXI, WTAE, etc.

But this is the second question I received in a week on over-the-air Channel 61, so I checked in with Ron Bruno, who runs WOSC.

“We were on [a] backup transmitter during a week of routine maintenance,” he said, explaining that the backup is slightly lower powered than the regular low-power transmitter. “But apparently [that] makes a huge difference. We are now rethinking that before the next maintenance.”

WOSC returned to its primary transmitter, but viewers may need to rescan to get the signal again.

Q: For my money — and for thousands of other Pittsburgh-area people who grew up in the ‘60s — CBS should put up reruns of Bill Cardille’s “Chiller Theater” in place of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” if they exist.

— Dave, Scott Twp.

Rob: While that would be a great option for Pittsburgh viewers, the 1963-84 late-night series is owned by WPXI, so it’s not available to air on KDKA-TV. In addition, KDKA, as a CBS-owned station, has little ability to act independently when it comes to overriding national programming. Most likely, they’ll have to pass through whatever CBS decides to put in the 11:35 p.m. weekday time slot.

Q: What is going on with “GMA3”? They keep changing hosts and never have the same people on. It’s a different program than when it started and it should go back to the way it used to be.

— Kathy, Blairsville

Rob: To save money, production of “GMA3” was folded in with the morning “GMA” show in March, following a spate of layoffs. To better connect the shows and burnish the overall “GMA” brand, more of the morning show personnel started to appear on “GMA3” earlier this year in what turned out to be preparation for the departures of “GMA3” hosts Eva Pilgrim and DeMarco Morgan. With them gone, ABC saves on two anchor salaries and gets more work out of the morning “GMA” hosts who are now rotating through as “GMA3” hosts.