This won't be the situation at Republic, based on current conditions. You will work close to every day of reserve. Some times you will know your assignment days in advance, which will be nice. Other times, your reserve period will start at 3am with 90 minutes allowed to get to the airport. Luckily, because of this schedule, you will most likely break the guarantee of 75 hrs monthly pay.

They don't have a system which allows pilots to pick trips to fly. Pilots are assigned trips at scheduling's discretion "in reverse seniority order, as long as all other factors are equal and taking into account operational requirements for the specific type and base. (which means they can do what they want)" Nobody at Republic has any control of their lives on reserve, the motto there is that scheduling "uses and abuses" reserve holders. But the upside of this is that the grinding reserve (and ubiquitous reassignment practices) are so efficient that I think they have less need for reserve than other airlines.

To the OP: If you're young and without commitment (or debt), why are you so set on living and working where you are right now (EWR and PHL)? Why not pack up all your stuff and move somewhere completely different? If you plan to stay in aviation for any long periods of time, you need to come to terms with the fact that you don't find 'local flying jobs.' You have to move to where the operation is. I'm 28 and graduated flying school when I was 21, so far I've lived in CA, AZ, FL, IN. Oh, and I commuted for a very short period CA to LGA. No sense shopping for bases at this point in your life.