Tim Rigby was the 5 and 6 co-anchor and 11 PM solo anchor for WJAC-TV in

Johnstown, Pennsylvania Johnstown is the largest city in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 18,411 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located east of Pittsburgh, it is the principal city of the Metropolitan statistical area ...

for the station's 5, 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts. He had previously been the long-serving sportscaster from 1981 to 2011.

Biography

Rigby joined WJAC in May 1981 as a reporter and weekend sports anchor. In November 1981, he began anchoring the weekday sports segments at 11 p.m. On December 11, 1996, he briefly left WJAC to take a non-broadcasting job in

, but returned three weeks later. In 1994, Rigby was voted the top

play-by-play In Broadcasting of sports events, sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as a sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real time (media), real-time live commentary of a game or event, traditionally delivered in the present t ...

man in Pennsylvania from the Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters and the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

for his coverage of the All-American Amateur Baseball Association tournament. He also reported play-by-play for the

Johnstown Chiefs The Johnstown Chiefs were a minor league ice hockey team located in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, that played in the ECHL. The team was founded in 1987 in the All-American Hockey League, and moved to the East Coast Hockey League (now ECHL) when th ...

and for other local events. Rigby left WJAC on November 10, 2011 after his contract was not renewed. He returned as a fill-in sports anchor. On Wednesday, March 25, 2015, Rigby returned as WJAC's 6 News at Sunrise co-anchor with Lindsay Ward and Jim Burton, who both left the station. On March 1, 2018, he moved back to the 5, 6, and 11 p.m. newscast with Jen Johnson after Marty Radovanic retired in October 2017. In September of 2021, Rigby became the first broadcaster from WJAC to be inducted into the Silver Circle Society by the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. The award recognizes significant contributions made by selected individuals who have been in television news for 25 years or more. Rigby retired from WJAC on August 4, 2022.

Later years

Rigby has suffered a series of health problems. In February 2005, he was diagnosed with

kidney disease Kidney disease, or renal disease, technically referred to as nephropathy, is damage to or disease of a kidney. Nephritis is an Inflammation, inflammatory kidney disease and has several types according to the location of the inflammation. Infla ...

and underwent a

kidney transplant Kidney transplant or renal transplant is the organ transplant of a kidney into a patient with end-stage kidney disease (ESRD). Kidney transplant is typically classified as deceased-donor (formerly known as cadaveric) or living-donor transplantat ...

. A year and a half later, in October 2006, he was diagnosed with

Anaplastic Anaplasia () is a condition of cells with poor cellular differentiation, losing the morphological characteristics of mature cells and their orientation with respect to each other and to endothelial cells. The term also refers to a group of mor ...

Lymphoma Lymphoma is a group of blood and lymph tumors that develop from lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). The name typically refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enlarged lymph node ...

. Following

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated chemo, sometimes CTX and CTx) is the type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (list of chemotherapeutic agents, chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) in a standard chemotherapy re ...

, he returned to work on April 23, 2007. In December 2021, Rigby announced that he would be undergoing a second kidney transplant; his donor was Pennsylvania State Representative Jim Rigby.

References

"An Anchor's Holiday Blessing" By: Mike Mastovich The Tribune Democrat 12-24-06"End of an era for local sports anchor" By: Mike Mastovich The Tribune Democrat 11-10-11

External links

Tim Rigby WJAC Bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rigby, Tim American television journalists American sports announcers People from Johnstown, Pennsylvania Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American male journalists