Before he ever picked up a microphone professionally, TAHS Class of 2020 graduate Keegan Raabe was filing stories for the Eagle Eye. After earning a degree from Waynesburg University, Raabe returned to the area and now reports for WTAJ out of its DuBois bureau.
WTAJ News Director Melinda Skrbin first met Raabe at Waynesburg University, where she taught in the school’s communication department.
“I taught courses in videography, broadcast journalism, and media law [at Waynesburg]. I also oversaw the campus TV station. Keegan took several of my courses and was very involved with our student television programs,” Skrbin said.
Skrbin said Raabe brings both personality and professionalism to the newsroom.
“Keegan is a character and likes to make people smile, but he knows when to be serious too,” she said.
She added that Raabe has proven he can handle a wide range of assignments, from feature stories and school events to breaking news coverage and more complex political reporting.
But Skrbin said his enthusiasm is strongest when he’s covering his hometown.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever met someone fonder of his alma mater,” she said. “He’s so proud to have graduated from Tyrone, and he’s always rooting for the Golden Eagles, especially during football season.”
Raabe’s hometown pride often shows up in his reporting. Some recent local stories produced by Raabe were about Tyrone Area High School’s annual community service day, and the rededication of the memorial to the Walter L Main Circus train wreck.
He has also tapped into his local connections for larger regional stories. In a recent piece about Indiana University football head coach Curt Cignetti, Raabe interviewed fellow TAHS alum Johnny Franco, who played and coached under Cignetti at IUP.
Eagle Eye adviser Todd Cammarata said he is proud of Raabe and appreciative of the time he has taken to give back to his alma mater.
“Keegan has been kind enough to come into class several times now and share his knowledge with our students,” Cammarata said. “I’m looking forward to having him back as often as he has time for. It’s great for our students to have someone with professional experience come in and work with them.”
Raabe’s introduction to journalism and media began at Tyrone Area High School. During his COVID-shortened senior year, he joined the Eagle Eye and wrote sports stories, mainly soccer and basketball. He also worked part-time for the Tyrone Daily Herald, helping with basketball coverage.
Growing up, Raabe was always into sports, participating in football, soccer, swimming, and tennis in high school, but sports journalism wasn’t initially on his radar as a career goal.
He planned to attend Penn State Altoona to play soccer and major in early childhood education, but when a college football recruiter came to the school during his senior year, it opened a new opportunity.
“We had a football recruiter from Waynesburg come in, and I sat in Mr. Rhoades’ office talking to this football recruiter, and he said, ‘You know, Lanny Frattere is a professor at Waynesburg who will teach you sports announcing.’”
A baseball fan, Raabe was familiar with Frattere, who spent 33 years as the play-by-play voice of the Pittsburgh Pirates. The idea of learning from a major league broadcaster and turning his love of sports into a career was enough to sell Raabe on both the college and the major.
Raabe ended up going to Waynesburg, where Frattere became his academic advisor and mentor.
“I went to school with [Frattere’s] grandson, so it was a pretty neat experience,” Raabe said. “And probably the fall of my senior year, once they told me he’s who I’m going to be learning under, that’s kind of when I decided that [sports media] could be a career.”
Raabe also played football for three seasons at Waynesburg and went out for the tennis team during his junior and senior years. As the placekicker for the Yellow Jackets, he was named second-team All-PAC as a junior. On the tennis court, he appeared in all 13 matches as a senior, starting at No. 3 singles and No. 2 doubles.
In addition to playing two sports, he worked at the campus TV station, Waynesburg Sports Network, and the campus radio station, WYCJ-FM.
“[Football] was like a full-time job, so I was already getting used to waking up super early for lifting throughout the year, going to practice, then going to classes, then meeting for positions. This really helped me to kind of know what to expect after college,” Raabe said.
In the summer of 2023, Raabe interned with the Altoona Curve, taking on multiple roles within the press box and production team.
“I’ve made a lot of really good connections [at the Altoona Curve]. I still help out every once in a while at the Curve, and I think those connections will last a while and can definitely help me down the road,” Raabe said.
In December 2023, Raabe was hired by Skrbin to work as a part-time producer at WTAJ while completing his final semester at Waynesburg. He graduated in May 2024 and moved into a full-time news reporter role in June.
“Whenever I was in college, I thought for sure I was going to be a sports announcer, or like a PA announcer for sports. I had no intention to be a news reporter until my junior year, when I had an actual reporting class, and I was like, ‘wow. I like this.’ I like putting together videos. I like being in front of the camera, talking, doing interviews, and meeting new people,” Raabe said.
Raabe said he enjoys the fast-paced nature of the job and the fact that no two days are the same.
“It’s always something new, and I’ve met a lot of cool people. I do a lot of stuff with Groundhog Day. I’ve talked to Phil’s handler many times,” Raabe said. “I’ve done things at the Clearfield County Fair where I’ve interviewed sea lion handlers, and I’ve had sea lions on my show, looking over my shoulder. Really cool stuff like that, I really enjoy.”
While he enjoys reporting on the news, Raabe hopes to cover more sports in the future and eventually become a full-time sports reporter.
“Keegan is very adaptable,” Skrbin said. “He has a keen interest in sports, but has proven that he can cover news as well. Since he’s also working in the same area where he grew up, it’s obvious that he feels a personal connection to the communities that we serve, and it shows in his commitment to our coverage.”
Raabe’s advice to students considering careers in media or journalism is to keep their options open.
“You never know what’s going to happen down the line,” he said. “Communication and journalism are huge fields. There’s a bunch of different things that you can do with it, and it’s always changing.”
Raabe has turned his passion for storytelling and his local roots into a career telling the stories of the people and communities he knows best, and bringing that experience back to the next generation of Tyrone students.
