The LuLac Edition #3027, September 14th, 2015

MEDIA MATTERS

NOLAN JOHANNES

Johannes with co anchor Jackie Boulden in a promotional piece. (Photo: Carl Abraham)

Johannes with the staff at WKBW in Buffalo. He is on the right, front row. (Photo: staffanouncer.com)

Nolan Johannes the way most people remember him. (Photo: Citizen's Voice).

Nolan Johannes long time anchor of WNEP TV news passed away today at the 81. Johannes was a main stay on WNEP for years. From what I was told people tell me he was great to work with and was a very steady and professional presence in the WNEP TV Newsroom.
Johannes is part of the legendary WNEP TV story in this market. In 1976 WNEP was pretty much an also ran in the news department. Oh, there were good reporters and a very functional anchor in the person of the late John Foster. But it took the leadership of Eldon Hale as well as the cooperation of the owners of ‘NEP at the time, the Shelbournes to heavily invest in promotion, talent recruitment and news coverage of their total viewership. Slogans like “Still The One” and “We’re Everywhere” gave viewers the connection and little old fashioned pizzazz that NEPA had not seen before.
Subsequently WNEP became the News Leader and garnered nearly half of the viewing audience in record time.
Johannes came on board from WKBW in Buffalo when initial anchor Gary Essex left. His style was a tad different than the previous anchor but it blended well with NEPA viewers. Johannes was the mainstay as a series of co anchors came and went. It seemed like Johannes complimented any personality type he was asked to work with. He started at WNEP in 1982 and retired in 1996. But he was around for weekend news recap shows, the vaunted Jerry Lewis MDA telethon which WNEP was a huge part of as well as other station events.
The success of Nolan Johannes was simply this. The viewers liked and trusted him. My friend former Mayor Jim McNulty always says that “people want to be validated”. In his broadcast skills Johannes was calm, reassuring and made the impression to viewers that they mattered. He validated the viewers of WNEP TV by being the steady hand on the till for the 80s and 90s. If you wonder why WNEP TV is such a powerhouse, all you need to do is look to the late Nolan Johannes.