WMAR-TV
Encyclopedia
WMAR-TV, channel 2, is the ABC
affiliate television station in Baltimore, Maryland, owned by the broadcasting division of the E.W. Scripps Company. WMAR-TV's studios and offices are located on York Road
in the unincorporated community of Towson
(though with a Baltimore mailing address), north of the Baltimore City border, and its transmitter is on Television Hill in the Woodberry
neighborhood of Baltimore City. Syndicated programming on ABC 2 includes, The Doctors
, Rachael Ray
, Jeopardy, and Wheel of Fortune.
).
Channel 2 was originally an independent station, largely because at the time it was not clear whether Baltimore would be part of the Washington, D.C.
market. Baltimore is 45 minutes north of Washington, and most of the Washington stations decently cover Baltimore. In 1948, however, the Federal Communications Commission
made Baltimore a separate market. Soon afterward, WMAR-TV joined CBS
as the network's second affiliate. One of channel 2's early personalities was Jim McKay
, who later moved over to CBS before achieving greater fame on ABC as host of Wide World of Sports
and Olympics coverage. Another is Helen Delich Bentley
, who hosted The Port That Built A City in the 1950s, a weekly program presenting maritime and transportation-related news.
As a CBS affiliate, the station pre-empted an hour of the network's weekday morning daytime schedule, as well as CBS's late night programming. However, this wasn't a problem for Baltimore-area viewers, as most of the area got a decent signal from WTOP-TV in Washington (now WUSA
). For many years, the station was co-owned with WBOC-TV
in Salisbury
.
In 1959, WMAR-TV teamed up with WBAL-TV
(channel 11) and WJZ-TV
(channel 13) to build the world's first three-antenna candelabra tower. The new 730-foot tower significantly improved the station's coverage in central Maryland. It is still in operation today, and can be seen from Interstate 83
in Baltimore.
During the 1970s, the FCC tightened its cross-ownership rules
, eventually barring common ownership between a newspaper and a television or radio station in the same city without a waiver. However, the combination of the Baltimore Sun and WMAR-TV was one of several combinations to be "grandfathered
" under these rules.
In March 1981 CBS informed channel 2 that it would be moving its affiliation in Baltimore to WBAL-TV, the market's NBC
station. Among its reasons for making the switch, CBS cited WMAR-TV's weak newscast ratings and heavy pre-emptions of network programs. Channel 2 quickly cut a deal with NBC, and Baltimore's first affiliation switch took place on August 30, 1981. For much of its time as an NBC station, however, channel 2 also pre-empted as much as two hours of the network's daytime programming. The station also pre-empted the Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for several years in the middle 1980s, choosing to air sitcom reruns instead. Both Tonight and pre-empted daytime programs were aired on then-independent station WBFF
(channel 45), though Baltimore viewers could also watch the entire NBC lineup on network-owned WRC-TV
in Washington.
On March 1, 1982, after negotiations between WMAR-TV management and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists
(AFTRA) failed, all of the station's on-air talent, except one, went on strike.http://archives.ubalt.edu/wmar/1982_mar.htm AFTRA members, joined by the Teamsters
, the Communication Workers of America and other local unions, picketed the station's offices on York Road and later its parent company's (A.S. Abell) offices at the Sunpapers building. When television color announcer Brooks Robinson
refused to cross the picket line at the start of the baseball season, the strike ended. The following day both news anchors, Tom Sweeney and Curt Anderson
, were fired; there has never been another strike by on air talent in the Baltimore market since.
On October 27, 1986, the A.S. Abell Company was purchased by the Los Angeles
-based Times-Mirror Company. With the loss of the grandfathered protection between the former Abell media properties, Times-Mirror opted to keep the Baltimore Sun and sell WMAR-TV together with WRLH-TV
in Richmond, Virginia
to Gillett Communications
three days after the merger was consummated. After filing for bankruptcy some time later, Gillett restructured its television holdings into SCI Television, and in the early 1990s SCI put WMAR-TV back on the market.
In early 1991, WBFF's owners, the Sinclair Broadcast Group
, made an offer to buy WMAR-TV's channel 2 allocation. This deal would have resulted in the entire WBFF intellectual unit (including its Fox
network affiliation) moving from channel 45 to channel 2, which would have made WBFF a VHF station. WBFF's existing channel 45 allocation then would have been sold to would-have-been new owners of the WMAR-TV intellectual unit, which would have made WMAR-TV a UHF station. In effect, the two stations would have swapped analog channel assignments. In the end, however, the Sinclair purchase of the channel 2 allocation never materialized and WMAR-TV was instead sold to the E.W. Scripps Company (who decided to keep the station on channel 2, forcing WBFF to remain on channel 45) in May 1991. The station continued as an NBC affiliate, and by then it didn't pre-empt much programming.
In 1994, E.W. Scripps and ABC announced a longterm affiliation deal, which called for four Scripps-owned stations switching to ABC. WMAR-TV was included in the deal, and channel 2 would displace Baltimore's longtime ABC longtime affiliate, Westinghouse Broadcasting
-owned WJZ-TV. ABC agreed to the deal as a condition of keeping its affiliation on Scripps' two biggest stations, WXYZ-TV
in Detroit and WEWS in Cleveland. Both of those stations had been heavily wooed by CBS, which was about to lose its longtime Detroit and Cleveland affiliates to Fox.
Locally, it triggered Baltimore's second network affiliation swap, which saw WMAR-TV switch to ABC, WBAL-TV reuniting with NBC and CBS moving to WJZ-TV which later became a CBS owned and operated station. The second switch occurred on January 2, 1995. As a result, channel 2 became one of the few stations in the country to have been a primary affiliate with all of the "Big Three" networks.
In 1996, a year after the affiliation change, station management opted not to renew channel 2's carriage of The Oprah Winfrey Show
, deciding instead to take a chance on the new The Rosie O'Donnell Show
. The move proved costly in the long term, as market leader WBAL-TV picked up Oprah, and Rosie lasted only seven years. Since the switch, WMAR-TV has seen a drastic drop in viewership for its 5:00-6:30 p.m. news block, while WBAL-TV has thrived in that time slot.
As an ABC affiliate, WMAR-TV now usually runs the network's entire lineup. The station was Baltimore's home to the annual Jerry Lewis
/MDA
Labor Day Telethon for nearly three decades until it moved to WNUV-TV (channel 54). From 1979 to 1993, channel 2 was the over-the-air flagship station of the Baltimore Orioles
.
Digital channels>
Channels
Programming
2.1
Main WMAR-TV programming / ABC
2.2
Live Well Network
. The station moved its digital broadcasts to channel 38 using PSIP
to display WMAR-TV's virtual channel
as 2.
However, WMAR formerly boasted one of the most respected sports departments in the region, thanks in large part to the presence of longtime anchor and former Baltimore Ravens
radio play-by-play announcer Scott Garceau. Garceau has since left to host a show on WJZ-FM
and sports director Rob Carlin now works for MSG Network
, meaning WMAR's newscasts no longer have a separate sports anchor. Despite this, the station lays claim to the market's most aggressive coverage of local college and high school lacrosse
, arguably the most popular sport in the area among young athletes. WMAR works in partnership with ESPNU
to produce the ABC 2 Lacrosse Game of the Week during the college season, featuring prime matchups involving one or more Maryland lacrosse powerhouses, including Johns Hopkins University
, Loyola College in Maryland
, Towson University
, the University of Maryland, College Park
, and the U.S. Naval Academy. Garceau continues to do play-by-play for the station's lacrosse telecasts. Quint Kessenich
, four-time lacrosse All-American with Johns Hopkins, is a major contributor to lacrosse coverage and appears sporadically as a fill-in anchor, host of the station's Baltimore Blast
show and field reporter for select Ravens games.
All WMAR newscasts as well as other WMAR produced programming are streamed live on the station's website. WMAR is also one of ten television stations that airs the "Don't Waste Your Money" series of consumer reports from John Matarese, based at sister station WCPO-TV
in Cincinnati.
On October 4, 2010, WMAR-TV became the last station in the market and the last Scripps-owned station to air newscasts in high definition.
WMAR operates a 24-hour local weather channel known as ABC 2 WeatherNet Digital. It can be see via streaming live video on the station's website, over-the-air on WMAR-DT3, and on Comcast
digital channel 204.
On April 18, 2011 WMAR became Baltimore's first TV station to expand its local news to 4:30 a.m.
ABC2 Storm Team
Reporters
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
affiliate television station in Baltimore, Maryland, owned by the broadcasting division of the E.W. Scripps Company. WMAR-TV's studios and offices are located on York Road
Maryland Route 45
Maryland Route 45 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. Known for most of its length as York Road, the state highway runs from U.S. Route 1 in Baltimore north to the Pennsylvania state line in Maryland Line, where the highway continues as SR 3001...
in the unincorporated community of Towson
Towson, Maryland
Towson is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. The population was 55,197 at the 2010 census...
(though with a Baltimore mailing address), north of the Baltimore City border, and its transmitter is on Television Hill in the Woodberry
Woodberry, Baltimore
Woodberry is a neighborhood located in the north-central area of Baltimore, Maryland, USA. A largely residential, middle-class area, Woodberry is a historic community bordered on the north by Cold Spring Lane, on the south by Druid Hill Park, on the west by Greenspring Avenue, and on the east by...
neighborhood of Baltimore City. Syndicated programming on ABC 2 includes, The Doctors
The Doctors
The Doctors is a soap opera which aired on NBC Daytime from April 1, 1963, to December 31, 1982. There were 5280 episodes produced, with the 5000th episode airing in November 1981...
, Rachael Ray
Rachael Ray
Rachael Domenica Ray is an American television personality, businesswoman, celebrity chef and author. She hosts the syndicated talk and lifestyle program Rachael Ray and three Food Network series, 30 Minute Meals, Rachael Ray's Tasty Travels and $40 a Day...
, Jeopardy, and Wheel of Fortune.
History
WMAR-TV first began broadcasting on October 27, 1947. It was the eleventh television station in the United States, and the first in Maryland. It was owned by the A.S. Abell Company, publisher of the Baltimore Sun, along with the original WMAR-FM (97.9 MHz, now WIYYWIYY
WIYY is a radio station in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, owned by the Hearst Corporation. WIYY broadcasts an Mainstream Rock format that mixes music popular in the modern rock, heavy metal and classic rock genres...
).
Channel 2 was originally an independent station, largely because at the time it was not clear whether Baltimore would be part of the Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
market. Baltimore is 45 minutes north of Washington, and most of the Washington stations decently cover Baltimore. In 1948, however, the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
made Baltimore a separate market. Soon afterward, WMAR-TV joined CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
as the network's second affiliate. One of channel 2's early personalities was Jim McKay
Jim McKay
James Kenneth McManus , better known by his professional name of Jim McKay, was an American television sports journalist....
, who later moved over to CBS before achieving greater fame on ABC as host of Wide World of Sports
Wide World of Sports (US TV series)
ABC's Wide World of Sports is a sports anthology series on American television that ran from 1961 to 1998 and was originally hosted by Jim McKay. The title continued to be used for general sports programs until 2006...
and Olympics coverage. Another is Helen Delich Bentley
Helen Delich Bentley
Helen Delich Bentley is an American politician and a former Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from the State of Maryland .-Life and career:...
, who hosted The Port That Built A City in the 1950s, a weekly program presenting maritime and transportation-related news.
As a CBS affiliate, the station pre-empted an hour of the network's weekday morning daytime schedule, as well as CBS's late night programming. However, this wasn't a problem for Baltimore-area viewers, as most of the area got a decent signal from WTOP-TV in Washington (now WUSA
WUSA (TV)
WUSA is a television station broadcasting on channel 9 in Washington, D.C.. Owned by the Gannett Company, WUSA is an affiliate of the CBS television network, and the longest-tenured affiliate of that network...
). For many years, the station was co-owned with WBOC-TV
WBOC-TV
WBOC-TV, channel 16 , is a CBS affiliate based in Salisbury, Maryland, USA. WBOC-TV is owned by the Draper Holdings Business Trust, with its main studios in Salisbury, secondary studios/office facilities in Dover and Milton, Delaware, and transmitter in Laurel, Delaware...
in Salisbury
Salisbury, Maryland
-Demographics:Salisbury is the principal city of the Salisbury-Ocean Pines CSA, a Combined Statistical Area that includes the Salisbury metropolitan area and the Ocean Pines micropolitan area , which had a combined population of 176,657 at the 2010 census.As of the census of 2000, there were...
.
In 1959, WMAR-TV teamed up with WBAL-TV
WBAL-TV
WBAL-TV is the NBC-affiliated television station in Baltimore, Maryland. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 11. It is one of the flagship stations of Hearst Television, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Hearst Corporation, which also owns sister radio stations WBAL and...
(channel 11) and WJZ-TV
WJZ-TV
WJZ-TV, channel 13, is an owned and operated television station of the CBS Television Network, located in Baltimore, Maryland. WJZ-TV's studios and offices are located on Television Hill in the Woodberry section of Baltimore, adjacent to the transmission tower it shares with four other Baltimore...
(channel 13) to build the world's first three-antenna candelabra tower. The new 730-foot tower significantly improved the station's coverage in central Maryland. It is still in operation today, and can be seen from Interstate 83
Interstate 83
Interstate 83 is an Interstate Highway in the eastern United States. Its southern terminus is in Baltimore, Maryland at the Fayette Street exit; its northern terminus is in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania at Interstate 81....
in Baltimore.
During the 1970s, the FCC tightened its cross-ownership rules
Concentration of media ownership
Concentration of media ownership refers to a process whereby progressively fewer individuals or organizations control increasing shares of the mass media...
, eventually barring common ownership between a newspaper and a television or radio station in the same city without a waiver. However, the combination of the Baltimore Sun and WMAR-TV was one of several combinations to be "grandfathered
Grandfather clause
Grandfather clause is a legal term used to describe a situation in which an old rule continues to apply to some existing situations, while a new rule will apply to all future situations. It is often used as a verb: to grandfather means to grant such an exemption...
" under these rules.
In March 1981 CBS informed channel 2 that it would be moving its affiliation in Baltimore to WBAL-TV, the market's NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
station. Among its reasons for making the switch, CBS cited WMAR-TV's weak newscast ratings and heavy pre-emptions of network programs. Channel 2 quickly cut a deal with NBC, and Baltimore's first affiliation switch took place on August 30, 1981. For much of its time as an NBC station, however, channel 2 also pre-empted as much as two hours of the network's daytime programming. The station also pre-empted the Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for several years in the middle 1980s, choosing to air sitcom reruns instead. Both Tonight and pre-empted daytime programs were aired on then-independent station WBFF
WBFF
WBFF, channel 45, is a Fox-affiliated television station located in Baltimore, Maryland. WBFF is the flagship station of the Sinclair Broadcast Group, which also operates Baltimore's CW affiliate, WNUV-TV , through a local marketing agreement...
(channel 45), though Baltimore viewers could also watch the entire NBC lineup on network-owned WRC-TV
WRC-TV
WRC-TV, channel 4, is an owned and operated television station of the NBC television network, located in the American capital city of Washington, D.C...
in Washington.
American Federation of Television and Radio Artists
The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists is a performers' union that represents a wide variety of talent, including actors in radio and television, as well as radio and television announcers and newspersons, singers and recording artists , promo and voice-over announcers and other...
(AFTRA) failed, all of the station's on-air talent, except one, went on strike.http://archives.ubalt.edu/wmar/1982_mar.htm AFTRA members, joined by the Teamsters
Teamsters
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters is a labor union in the United States and Canada. Formed in 1903 by the merger of several local and regional locals of teamsters, the union now represents a diverse membership of blue-collar and professional workers in both the public and private sectors....
, the Communication Workers of America and other local unions, picketed the station's offices on York Road and later its parent company's (A.S. Abell) offices at the Sunpapers building. When television color announcer Brooks Robinson
Brooks Robinson
Brooks Calbert Robinson, Jr. is a former American professional baseball player. He played his entire 23-year major league career for the Baltimore Orioles . Nicknamed "The Human Vacuum Cleaner", he is generally acclaimed as the greatest defensive third-basemen in major league history...
refused to cross the picket line at the start of the baseball season, the strike ended. The following day both news anchors, Tom Sweeney and Curt Anderson
Curt Anderson
Curtis Stovall Anderson is an American politician, lawyer and former broadcast journalist. Anderson was first elected to the Maryland House of Delegates in 1983, is the chairman of the Baltimore City Delegation, and past chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland. After serving 12...
, were fired; there has never been another strike by on air talent in the Baltimore market since.
On October 27, 1986, the A.S. Abell Company was purchased by the Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
-based Times-Mirror Company. With the loss of the grandfathered protection between the former Abell media properties, Times-Mirror opted to keep the Baltimore Sun and sell WMAR-TV together with WRLH-TV
WRLH-TV
WRLH-TV is the Fox-affiliated television station for Richmond, Virginia. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 26 from a transmitter at the studios of PBS affiliates WCVE-TV/WCVW in Bon Air. The station can also be seen on Comcast and Verizon FiOS channel 11. There is a high...
in Richmond, Virginia
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
to Gillett Communications
George N. Gillett Jr.
-Biography:George Gillett graduated from Lake Forest Academy in 1956. He attended Amherst College and is a graduate of Dominican College in Racine, Wisconsin....
three days after the merger was consummated. After filing for bankruptcy some time later, Gillett restructured its television holdings into SCI Television, and in the early 1990s SCI put WMAR-TV back on the market.
In early 1991, WBFF's owners, the Sinclair Broadcast Group
Sinclair Broadcast Group
The Sinclair Broadcast Group is an American telecommunications company that operates the largest number of local television stations in the United States. Headquartered in Hunt Valley, Maryland, it owns a total of 57 stations across the country in 35 primarily small and medium markets, many of...
, made an offer to buy WMAR-TV's channel 2 allocation. This deal would have resulted in the entire WBFF intellectual unit (including its Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
network affiliation) moving from channel 45 to channel 2, which would have made WBFF a VHF station. WBFF's existing channel 45 allocation then would have been sold to would-have-been new owners of the WMAR-TV intellectual unit, which would have made WMAR-TV a UHF station. In effect, the two stations would have swapped analog channel assignments. In the end, however, the Sinclair purchase of the channel 2 allocation never materialized and WMAR-TV was instead sold to the E.W. Scripps Company (who decided to keep the station on channel 2, forcing WBFF to remain on channel 45) in May 1991. The station continued as an NBC affiliate, and by then it didn't pre-empt much programming.
In 1994, E.W. Scripps and ABC announced a longterm affiliation deal, which called for four Scripps-owned stations switching to ABC. WMAR-TV was included in the deal, and channel 2 would displace Baltimore's longtime ABC longtime affiliate, Westinghouse Broadcasting
Westinghouse Broadcasting
The Westinghouse Broadcasting Company, also known as Group W, was the broadcasting division of Westinghouse Electric Corporation. It owned several radio and television stations across the United States and distributed television shows for syndication....
-owned WJZ-TV. ABC agreed to the deal as a condition of keeping its affiliation on Scripps' two biggest stations, WXYZ-TV
WXYZ-TV
WXYZ-TV, channel 7, is an ABC-affiliated television station in Detroit, Michigan, USA. WXYZ-TV is owned by the E.W. Scripps Company, and is the media company's largest-market TV station property...
in Detroit and WEWS in Cleveland. Both of those stations had been heavily wooed by CBS, which was about to lose its longtime Detroit and Cleveland affiliates to Fox.
Locally, it triggered Baltimore's second network affiliation swap, which saw WMAR-TV switch to ABC, WBAL-TV reuniting with NBC and CBS moving to WJZ-TV which later became a CBS owned and operated station. The second switch occurred on January 2, 1995. As a result, channel 2 became one of the few stations in the country to have been a primary affiliate with all of the "Big Three" networks.
In 1996, a year after the affiliation change, station management opted not to renew channel 2's carriage of The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show is an American syndicated talk show hosted and produced by its namesake Oprah Winfrey. It ran nationally for 25 seasons beginning in 1986, before concluding in 2011. It is the highest-rated talk show in American television history....
, deciding instead to take a chance on the new The Rosie O'Donnell Show
The Rosie O'Donnell Show
The Rosie O'Donnell Show is an Emmy Award-winning American daytime television talk show hosted and produced by actress and comedian Rosie O'Donnell. It aired for six seasons from 1996 to 2002...
. The move proved costly in the long term, as market leader WBAL-TV picked up Oprah, and Rosie lasted only seven years. Since the switch, WMAR-TV has seen a drastic drop in viewership for its 5:00-6:30 p.m. news block, while WBAL-TV has thrived in that time slot.
As an ABC affiliate, WMAR-TV now usually runs the network's entire lineup. The station was Baltimore's home to the annual Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis is an American comedian, actor, singer, film producer, screenwriter and film director. He is best known for his slapstick humor in film, television, stage and radio. He was originally paired up with Dean Martin in 1946, forming the famed comedy team of Martin and Lewis...
/MDA
Muscular Dystrophy Association
The Muscular Dystrophy Association is an American organization which combats muscular dystrophy and diseases of the nervous system and muscular system in general by funding research, providing medical and community services, and educating health professionals and the general public...
Labor Day Telethon for nearly three decades until it moved to WNUV-TV (channel 54). From 1979 to 1993, channel 2 was the over-the-air flagship station of the Baltimore Orioles
Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles are a professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland in the United States. They are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's American League. One of the American League's eight charter franchises in 1901, it spent its first year as a major league...
.
Digital television
The station's digital signal on UHF 38 is multiplexed:Analog-to-digital conversion
WMAR-TV shut down its analog signal on June 12, 2009 , as part of the DTV transition in the United StatesDTV transition in the United States
The DTV transition in the United States was the switchover from analog to exclusively digital broadcasting of free over-the-air television programming...
. The station moved its digital broadcasts to channel 38 using PSIP
Program and System Information Protocol
The Program and System Information Protocol is the protocol used in the ATSC digital television system for carrying metadata about each channel in the broadcast MPEG transport stream of a TV station and for publishing information about television programs so that viewers can select what to watch...
to display WMAR-TV's virtual channel
Virtual channel
In telecommunications, a logical channel number , also known as virtual channel, is a channel designation which differs from that of the actual radio channel on which the signal travels....
as 2.
News operation
Despite its newspaper roots, WMAR's newscasts have been in last place among Baltimore's "Big Three" network affiliates since the early 1960s, and the station has not been a significant factor in the news ratings in over 30 years. It lags behind both WBAL-TV and WJZ-TV in the ratings by a wide margin, and has even trailed WBFF in some timeslots. It is currently one of ABC's weakest affiliates, especially in a top-50 market. By contrast, WJZ-TV dominated the ratings in the Baltimore market when it was affiliated with ABC before it switched to CBS.However, WMAR formerly boasted one of the most respected sports departments in the region, thanks in large part to the presence of longtime anchor and former Baltimore Ravens
Baltimore Ravens
The Baltimore Ravens are a professional football franchise based in Baltimore, Maryland.The Baltimore Ravens are officially a quasi-expansion franchise, having originated in 1995 with the Cleveland Browns relocation controversy after Art Modell, then owner of the Cleveland Browns, announced his...
radio play-by-play announcer Scott Garceau. Garceau has since left to host a show on WJZ-FM
WJZ-FM
WJZ-FM is a radio station licensed to Catonsville, Maryland, and broadcasting from studios in suburban Towson, Maryland. The station is owned by CBS Radio.-History of the WJZ-FM callsign:...
and sports director Rob Carlin now works for MSG Network
MSG Network
The MSG Network, now shortened to simply MSG, is a regional cable television and radio network serving the Mid-Atlantic United States. It is focused on New York City sports teams...
, meaning WMAR's newscasts no longer have a separate sports anchor. Despite this, the station lays claim to the market's most aggressive coverage of local college and high school lacrosse
Lacrosse
Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...
, arguably the most popular sport in the area among young athletes. WMAR works in partnership with ESPNU
ESPNU
ESPNU is a television channel that specializes in college sports, and is produced by, affiliated with and owned by parent network ESPN. ESPNU originates out of ESPN Regional Television's ESPNU (often referred to as The U) is a television channel that specializes in college sports, and is produced...
to produce the ABC 2 Lacrosse Game of the Week during the college season, featuring prime matchups involving one or more Maryland lacrosse powerhouses, including Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
, Loyola College in Maryland
Loyola College in Maryland
Loyola University Maryland is a Roman Catholic, Jesuit private university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Established as Loyola College in Maryland by John Early and eight other members of the Society of Jesus in 1852, it is one of 28 member institutions of the Association of Jesuit Colleges...
, Towson University
Towson University
Towson University, often referred to as TU or simply Towson for short, is a public university located in Towson in Baltimore County, Maryland, U.S...
, the University of Maryland, College Park
University of Maryland, College Park
The University of Maryland, College Park is a top-ranked public research university located in the city of College Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C...
, and the U.S. Naval Academy. Garceau continues to do play-by-play for the station's lacrosse telecasts. Quint Kessenich
Quint Kessenich
Quint Elroy Kessenich is an American sportscaster for ESPN and ABC television covering lacrosse, basketball, football, wrestling, and horse racing. He is a former All-American lacrosse goalkeeper. He attended the Johns Hopkins University from 1987 to 1990, where he was a two-time winner of the...
, four-time lacrosse All-American with Johns Hopkins, is a major contributor to lacrosse coverage and appears sporadically as a fill-in anchor, host of the station's Baltimore Blast
Baltimore Blast (current)
Baltimore Blast is an American professional indoor soccer team based in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Founded in 1992, the team plays in the Major Indoor Soccer League....
show and field reporter for select Ravens games.
All WMAR newscasts as well as other WMAR produced programming are streamed live on the station's website. WMAR is also one of ten television stations that airs the "Don't Waste Your Money" series of consumer reports from John Matarese, based at sister station WCPO-TV
WCPO-TV
WCPO-TV, virtual channel 9 , is an ABC-affiliated television station in Cincinnati, Ohio. WCPO's studio is located in the Mount Adams neighborhood of Cincinnati, just outside of Eden Park. Its transmitter is located along Symmes Street, just south of East McMillan Street in Cincinnati.The station...
in Cincinnati.
On October 4, 2010, WMAR-TV became the last station in the market and the last Scripps-owned station to air newscasts in high definition.
Comcast
Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...
digital channel 204.
On April 18, 2011 WMAR became Baltimore's first TV station to expand its local news to 4:30 a.m.
News team
Current on-air staff
Anchors- Jamie Costello - Monday-Thursdays at 6, and Sunday-Thursdays at 11 p.m.
- Charles Crowson - weekday mornings "Good Morning Maryland" (4:30-7 a.m.)
- Roosevelt Leftwich - Fridays at 5 and 6, Saturdays at 6:30, and Friday-Saturdays at 11 p.m.
- Megan Pringle - weekday mornings "Good Morning Maryland" (4:30-7 a.m.)
- Kelly Swoope - Monday-Thursdays at 5 and 6, and Sunday-Thursdays at 11 p.m.
- Joce Sterman - Sundays at 6:30 p.m.; also investigative reporter ("ABC2 Investigators")
ABC2 Storm Team
- Wyatt Everhart (AMS Seal of Approval) - chief meteorologist; weeknights at 5, 5:30, 6 and 11 p.m.
- Justin Berk - (AMSAmerican Meteorological SocietyThe American Meteorological Society promotes the development and dissemination of information and education on the atmospheric and related oceanic and hydrologic sciences and the advancement of their professional applications. Founded in 1919, the American Meteorological Society has a membership...
Certified Broadcast MeteorologistCertified Broadcast MeteorologistCertified Broadcast Meteorologist is a rating for meteorologists given by the American Meteorological Society.The Certified Broadcast Meteorologist program was established to raise the professional standard in broadcast meteorology and encourage a broader range of scientific understanding,...
Seal of Approval) - meteorologist; weekday mornings "Good Morning Maryland" (4:30-7 a.m.) - Lynette Charles (AMS Seal of Approval) - meteorologist; weekends at 6:30 and 11 p.m.
Reporters
- Christian Schaffer - 11 p.m. reporter
- Cheryl Conner - multimedia journalist
- Bill Fink - multimedia journalist/photographer
- Jeff Hager - multimedia journalist
- Don Harrison - multimedia journalist/photographer
- Paul Jaffey - multimedia journalist/photographer
- Sherrie Johnson - "Good Morning Maryland" Reporter
- Brian Kuebler - investigative reporter ("ABC2 Investigators")
- Managua 'Manny' P Locke Jr. - multimedia journalist/photographer
- Tony Marsala - multimedia journalist/photographer
- John Matarese - consumer reporter (based out of WCPO in Cincinnati)
- Preston Mitchum Jr.- multimedia journalist/photographer
- Pete O'Neal - multimedia journalist/photographer
- Tim Rutherford - multimedia journalist/photographer
- Fred Slade - multimedia journalist/photographer
- Linda So - health reporter
- Wheelock Winspear - multimedia journalist/photographer
- Lamont Williams - multimedia journalist/photographer
Former on-air staff
- Curt AndersonCurt AndersonCurtis Stovall Anderson is an American politician, lawyer and former broadcast journalist. Anderson was first elected to the Maryland House of Delegates in 1983, is the chairman of the Baltimore City Delegation, and past chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland. After serving 12...
(currently in the Maryland General AssemblyMaryland General AssemblyThe Maryland General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland. It is a bicameral body. The upper chamber, the Maryland State Senate, has 47 representatives and the lower chamber, the Maryland House of Delegates, has 141 representatives...
)http://www.delegatecurtanderson.com - Andy BarthAndy BarthAndy Barth is a former newscaster for WMAR-TV in Baltimore, Maryland.Barth was born into a political family in Washington, D.C. His father was an editorialist for the Washington Post. He attended law school after graduating from Johns Hopkins University in 1968. He soon worked as a reporter for...
(left WMAR to pursue a political career, his 2006 bid for Congress failed, now reporter for WTTGWTTGWTTG, channel 5, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Fox Broadcasting Company, located in the American capital city of Washington, D.C...
in Washington, D.C.) - Jack Bowden (1967-1988; worked at WJLA-TV in Washington, D.C. from 1990-1998; retired)
- Beverly Burke (now with XM Satellite Radio)
- Scott Broom (now at WUSA-TV in Washington, D.C.)
- Rob Carlin
- Jack Dawson - sports director/anchor (1960s-1992)
- Denise Dory
- Victoria Gaither (now at MTAMaryland Transit AdministrationThe Maryland Transit Administration is a state-operated mass transit administration in Maryland, and is part of the Maryland Department of Transportation. It is better known as MTA Maryland to avoid confusion with other cities' transit agencies who share the initials MTA. The MTA operates a...
) - Delia Goncalves (moved to WUSA-TV in Washington, D.C. in 2010)
- Brittney Gordon
- Emily Gracey (now at WBFF-TV)
- Doug Hall
- Michael Hill (last at WGNO-TV in New Orleans, now runs his own media company)
- Stephen Hill
- Horace Holmes (now with WJLA-TVWJLA-TVWJLA-TV, channel 7, is the ABC affiliated television station in Washington, D.C.. It is the flagship station of the Allbritton Communications Company, which also operates local cable station NewsChannel 8. The two stations share broadcast facilities in the Rosslyn section of Arlington, Virginia...
in Washington, D.C.)http://news.wjla.com/talent/horaceholmes.html - Jesse Jones (now with KING-TVKING-TVKING-TV, virtual channel 5, is a television station in Seattle, Washington, affiliated with the NBC network. Owned by Belo Corporation, it broadcasts on UHF digital channel 48. Its offices and broadcasting center are located just east of Seattle Center...
in SeattleSeattle, WashingtonSeattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
) - Norm Lewis
- Wayne Lynch (now news director of NWCNNorthwest Cable NewsNorthwest Cable News is a regional 24-hour cable news network based in Seattle, Washington, U.S. It is similar to New England Cable News, which operates out of Boston and covers the New England area....
in Seattle, and author of Season of the 76ers) - Stu KerrStu KerrThomas Stewart Kerr, more familiarly known to audiences as Stu Kerr , was a Baltimore, Maryland, television personality who developed and hosted a number of programs on Baltimore television from 1952 through the 1980s...
(d. 1994) - Tom MarrTom MarrTom Marr is an American talk radio host on WCBM in Baltimore, Maryland known for his conservative political views. His radio career spans close to 45 years, mostly in Baltimore, although he has worked in other major markets during that same period of time.In the Talkers Magazine list for 2010 he...
(former Orioles broadcaster; currently on WCBM Radio in Baltimore) - Mary Beth Marsden (took station buyout, now with WBAL Radio)
- Ken Matz (1985 - 1990; died of cancer in 2010)
- Patrick McGrath - Annapolis Bureau Chief (formerly at WTTGWTTGWTTG, channel 5, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Fox Broadcasting Company, located in the American capital city of Washington, D.C...
in Washington D.C.; retired as of 2009) - Jim McKayJim McKayJames Kenneth McManus , better known by his professional name of Jim McKay, was an American television sports journalist....
(went on to ABC'sAmerican Broadcasting CompanyThe American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
Wide World of Sports, died in 2008) - Keith Mills (now with WBAL Radio)http://www.wbaltv.com/news/6440854/detail.html -
- Ron Olsen - anchor/reporter (left in 1982 to work for KABC-TVKABC-TVKABC-TV, channel 7, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, licensed to Los Angeles, California. KABC-TV's studios are located in Glendale, California...
in Los Angeles, now reporter at KTLAKTLAKTLA, virtual channel 5, is a television station in Los Angeles, California, USA. Owned by the Tribune Company, KTLA is an affiliate of the CW Television Network. KTLA's studios are on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, and its transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson...
) - Terry Owens (now MTAMaryland Transit AdministrationThe Maryland Transit Administration is a state-operated mass transit administration in Maryland, and is part of the Maryland Department of Transportation. It is better known as MTA Maryland to avoid confusion with other cities' transit agencies who share the initials MTA. The MTA operates a...
spokesperson) - Uma Pemmaraju (now an anchor with Fox News ChannelFox News ChannelFox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation...
) - John Saunders (now with ESPNESPNEntertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
) - Debroah Sherman
- Stan Stovall (now anchor at WBAL-TVWBAL-TVWBAL-TV is the NBC-affiliated television station in Baltimore, Maryland. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 11. It is one of the flagship stations of Hearst Television, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Hearst Corporation, which also owns sister radio stations WBAL and...
) - Sally ThornerSally ThornerSally Thorner is a retired television news journalist who was a reporter and an anchor for several different markets over the course of 30 years. Although she worked in both Springfield, Massachusetts and Wichita, Kansas, Thorner is primarily known as an anchor in Baltimore, Maryland where she was...
(went on to anchor at WJZ-TVWJZ-TVWJZ-TV, channel 13, is an owned and operated television station of the CBS Television Network, located in Baltimore, Maryland. WJZ-TV's studios and offices are located on Television Hill in the Woodberry section of Baltimore, adjacent to the transmission tower it shares with four other Baltimore...
, now retired) - Susan White-Bowden (1967-1989; resigned and formed production company with husband Jack, she has also written six books)
- Vicki Williams (left WMAR-TV to join The Weather ChannelThe Weather ChannelThe Weather Channel is a US cable and satellite television network since May 2, 1982, that broadcasts weather forecasts and weather-related news, along with entertainment programming related to weather 24 hours a day...
in 1982) - Brian WoodBrian Wood (journalist)Brian Wood is a television news anchor, reporter and managing editor.-Biography:Brian Wood is currently anchor and reporter for KATU-TV in Portland, OR...
(now at KATUKATUKATU, virtual channel 2, also known as K2, is an ABC-affiliated television station broadcasting on digital channel 43 in Portland, Oregon, USA. It has been owned by Fisher Communications of Seattle, Washington, which has been the owner of the Seattle's ABC affiliate KOMO-TV, ever since it began...
in Portland, Oregon)