still had a problem attracting Altoona viewers due to the mountainous terrain separating the two cities, resulting in marginal reception at best on the eastern side of the market. Crosby addressed this by signing on a VHF translator (W12BR) in Altoona. The changes did little to improve the station's fortunes, largely because the major Pittsburgh independents had long been available on cable. While WFAT now had a fairly decent signal in most of the market, it had comparatively little to offer. At the time of the change, WJNL-TV had a mixture of independent and religious programs; the relaunch saw it extend its broadcast day from 8 hours to 13. It was one of the few stations, even in small markets, that still used art cards rather than CGI technology. Its character generator had been in service for over three decades, dating to when the station was WARD-TV. Its microphones were second-class. Crosby's formula of turning weak stations around by producing local shows with young creative talent was no longer viable for WFAT-TV, as such shows were losing ground to syndicators now offering much cheaper alternatives that could be tailor-made for specific markets. The very few locally produced programs WFAT now had left were limited to discussion-based talk shows on simple, undecorated sets with little more than chairs and carpet. David Smith and Lee Mack (the former had been program director of WJNL radio) served as the station's booth announcers. Decline and bankruptcy (1986–1990) WFAT's fortunes suffered a crippling blow in 1986, when the owners of the construction permit for WWCP-TV (channel 8) were allowed to move the license from Pittsburgh to Johnstown. WWCP signed on in 1987 and took most of WFAT's stronger shows due to having the advantage of a stronger VHF signal. The station changed calls to WPTJ in 1988 and moved its studios to Allen Bill Drive in the Johnstown Industrial Park, but saw no change in its fortunes. Frequent transmitter problems often left the station off-the-air for extended periods of time. Crosby filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1988, and in January 1990, the bankruptcy court ordered its conversion to a Chapter 7 liquidation. WPTJ remained on the air for almost five months after the conversion. However, on May 1, all of the station's staffers except assistant general manager Ron Patcher quit after not being paid for four weeks. Patcher spent the next five days keeping