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WMAR-TV (channel 2) is a
television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the ea ...
in
Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore wa ...
, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. The station's studios and offices are located on York Road (
Maryland Route 45 Maryland Route 45 (MD 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 Maryland, U.S. Route 1 (US 1) and U.S. Route 40 Truck (Baltimore, Maryland), U ...
) in
Towson Towson () is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. The population was 55,197 as of the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Baltimore County and the second-most populous unincorp ...
(though with a Baltimore City mailing address), north of the Baltimore City–
Baltimore County Baltimore County ( , locally: or ) is the third-most populous county in the U.S. state of Maryland and is part of the Baltimore metropolitan area. Baltimore County (which partially surrounds, though does not include, the independent City ...
border. Its transmitter and antenna, which is on the landmark three-pronged candelabra broadcast tower, is located on Television Hill in the Woodberry neighborhood of Baltimore.


History


Early years

WMAR first began broadcasting on October 27, 1947. It was the first television station in Maryland, and was the fourteenth commercial television station to sign on in the United States (another two stations were experimental). WMAR was founded by the A. S. Abell Company, publisher of the ''Sunpapers'' (''
The Baltimore Sun ''The Baltimore Sun'' is the largest general-circulation daily newspaper based in the U.S. state of Maryland and provides coverage of local and regional news, events, issues, people, and industries. Founded in 1837, it is currently owned by T ...
'' and its evening counterpart, ''The Evening Sun'') and was the first completed phase of the ''Sunpapers'' expansion into broadcasting; the newspapers also held construction permits for WMAR-FM, which signed-on at 97.9 MHz (frequency now occupied by
WIYY WIYY (97.9 FM, "98 Rock") is a commercial radio station in Baltimore, Maryland. It is owned by Hearst Communications and broadcasts a mainstream rock radio format. WIYY shares studios and offices with sister stations WBAL and WBAL-TV on T ...
) in January 1948 and a proposed WMAR (AM), which never made it to air (planned for 850, it eventually went on the air in 1955 as WAYE on 860). Channel 2's first broadcast was a pair of
horse races Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic p ...
emanating from
Pimlico Race Course Pimlico Race Course is a thoroughbred horse racetrack in Baltimore, Maryland, most famous for hosting the Preakness Stakes. Its name is derived from the 1660s when English settlers named the area where the facility currently stands in honor of Ol ...
. WMAR-TV's studios, offices, transmitter and tower were initially located at the present-day Bank of America Building in
downtown Baltimore Downtown Baltimore is the central business district of the city of Baltimore traditionally bounded by Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard to the west, Franklin Street to the north, President Street to the east and the Inner Harbor area to the ...
; the studios were later shifted into a larger space adjacent to the building. WMAR-TV moved into its present facility, known originally as "Television Park" on York Road, in May 1963. Channel 2 was an
independent station An independent station is an independent radio or terrestrial television station which is independent in some way from broadcast networks. The definition of "independence" varies from country to country, reflecting governmental regulations, marke ...
at its launch, largely because at the time it was not clear whether Baltimore would be part of the Washington, D.C. market (Baltimore is 45 minutes northeast of Washington, and most of the Washington stations decently cover the Baltimore area for major news stories and weather reports). In 1948, however, the
Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...
(FCC) made Baltimore a separate media market. On March 29, 1948, WMAR-TV was announced as CBS' third full-time television affiliate, after
WCBS-TV WCBS-TV (channel 2) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside Riverhead, New York–licensed independent station W ...
in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
and
WCAU-TV WCAU (channel 10) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Mount Laurel, New Jerse ...
in
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...
. It also had secondary affiliations with ABC and DuMont for its early days, but it later lost both affiliations to upstart WAAM-TV (channel 13, now WJZ-TV) when the station signed on in November. One of WMAR's early local personalities was Jim McKay, who was the first voice heard when the station began its test broadcasts, and called the horse race program that inaugurated the station's official launch. McKay later moved over to CBS briefly before achieving greater fame on ABC as host of '' Wide World of Sports'' and Olympic coverage. Another was Helen Delich Bentley, a maritime editor for the ''Baltimore Sun'' who hosted ''The Port That Built a City'', a weekly review presenting maritime, shipping and transportation-related news. (Bentley later ran several times and was finally elected as the U.S. representative from Maryland, serving several terms as a Republican. By 2006, the
Port of Baltimore Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore is a shipping port along the tidal basins of the three branches of the Patapsco River in Baltimore, Maryland on the upper northwest shore of the Chesapeake Bay. It is the nation's largest port facilities fo ...
was renamed symbolically for her.) In 1959, WMAR-TV teamed up with
WBAL-TV WBAL-TV (channel 11) is a television station in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is the flagship property of Hearst Television, which has owned the station since its inception, and is sister to the company's sole r ...
(channel 11) and WJZ-TV to build the world's first three-antenna
candelabra tower A candelabra (plural candelabras) or candelabrum (plural candelabra or candelabrums) is a candle holder with multiple arms. Although electricity has relegated candleholders to decorative use, interior designers continue to model light fixtures ...
. The new tower was built on the newly named "Television Hill" (formerly known as "Malden Hill") in the Woodberry neighborhood of Baltimore, which significantly improved the station's signal coverage well beyond Central Maryland. 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 ''Sunpapers'' and WMAR-TV was one of several that were " grandfathered" under these rules.


Switch to NBC

On March 3, 1981, CBS announced that it would be moving its affiliation to WBAL-TV, Baltimore's NBC station. Among its reasons for making the switch, CBS cited WMAR-TV's poor newscast ratings and frequent preemptions of network shows for syndicated programs, local specials, and sports coverage. While the station briefly considered becoming independent once again, channel 2 quickly cut a deal with NBC that May to inherit that network's affiliation from WBAL-TV and Baltimore's first affiliation switch took place on August 30, 1981. The final CBS program to air on channel 2 before the switch was an NFL preseason game between the
Houston Oilers The Houston Oilers were a professional American football team that played in Houston from its founding in 1960 to 1996 before relocating to Memphis, and later Nashville, Tennessee becoming the Tennessee Titans. The Oilers began play in 1960 a ...
and the
Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divis ...
, airing live at 9:00 p.m.
Eastern Time The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and a small ...
on the night before the affiliation switch.


Strike

On March 1, 1982, after negotiations between WMAR-TV management and the
American Federation of Television and Radio Artists The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) was a performers' union that represented a wide variety of talent, including actors in radio and television, radio and television announcers and newspersons, singers and recording a ...
(AFTRA) failed, all of the station's on-air talent, except one, went on strike. AFTRA members, joined by the Teamsters, the
Communication Workers of America The Communications Workers of America (CWA) is the largest communications and media labor union in the United States, representing about 700,000 members in both the private and public sectors (also in Canada and Puerto Rico). The union has 27 ...
and other local unions, picketed the station's offices on York Road and Abell's offices at North Calvert and East Centre Streets. When color announcer (and long-time popular
Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...
third baseman)
Brooks Robinson Brooks Calbert Robinson Jr. (born May 18, 1937) is a former third baseman in Major League Baseball who played his entire career for the Baltimore Orioles from 1955 to 1977. Nicknamed "the Human Vacuum Cleaner" or "Mr. Hoover", he is generally co ...
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.


Ownership changes

On May 28, 1986, the A. S. Abell Company was purchased by the
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...
-based
Times Mirror Company The Times Mirror Company was an American newspaper and print media publisher from 1884 until 2000. History It had its roots in the Mirror Printing and Binding House, a commercial printing company founded in 1873, and the ''Los Angeles Times'' ...
, the then-publisher of the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...
''. With the loss of the grandfathered protection between the former Abell media properties, Times-Mirror opted to keep ''The Sunpapers'' and sold WMAR-TV (and WRLH-TV in
Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, Californi ...
) to
Gillett Communications George Nield Gillett Jr. (born October 22, 1938) is an American businessman. Originally from Wisconsin, he lives in Vail, Colorado. Biography Gillett graduated from Lake Forest Academy in 1956. He attended Amherst College and is a 1961 graduat ...
in July 1986. After filing for
bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debto ...
sometime later, Gillett restructured its television holdings into SCI Television, and in the early 1990s, SCI put WMAR-TV back on the market. The
Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line w ...
-based E. W. Scripps Company announced its purchase of the station in the summer of 1990, but in February 1991 the transfer was canceled after Scripps accused Gillett of misreporting WMAR's financial statements. Gillett then took legal action against Scripps, but both sides settled and the sale went forward. Scripps took control of the station in the spring of 1991. Then, in September,
Sinclair Broadcast Group Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (SBG) is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb of Cockeysville, Maryland, ...
, the owner of WBFF (channel 45), took the bold step of challenging WMAR-TV's pending license renewal and filing its own competing application for a new station on channel 2. Sinclair argued that out-of-town ownership could not effectively serve the city's public interest and the valuable channel allocation — a channel 2 analog signal traveled a very long distance under normal conditions — should be granted to Sinclair, an established local broadcaster, instead. The gambit did not work, and WMAR-TV remained on channel 2.


ABC affiliation

In June 1994, Scripps and ABC announced a long-term affiliation deal, which resulted in three Scripps-owned stations switching to ABC. WMAR-TV was included in the deal, and Channel 2 would displace Baltimore's longtime ABC affiliate,
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 syndicat ...
-owned WJZ-TV. ABC agreed to the deal as a condition of keeping its affiliation on Scripps' two biggest stations,
WXYZ-TV WXYZ-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside independent station WMYD (channel 20). Both stations share studios at Broadcast House on ...
in
Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...
and WEWS in
Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the United States, U.S. U.S. state, state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along ...
; both of those outlets had been heavily wooed by CBS, which was about to lose its longtime
Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...
and
Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the United States, U.S. U.S. state, state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along ...
affiliates (these two were sisters of WMAR-TV when it was under Gillett ownership) to Fox as part of that network's affiliation deal with
New World Communications New World Pictures (also known as New World Entertainment and New World Communications Group, Inc.) was an American independent production, distribution, and (in its final years as an autonomous entity) multimedia company. It was founded in 197 ...
. Locally, it triggered Baltimore's second network affiliation swap, which saw WMAR-TV switch to ABC, CBS move to WJZ-TV after concluding a groupwide affiliation deal with Westinghouse, and NBC return to WBAL-TV. NBC first approached WJZ about negotiating an affiliation deal, ultimately to be turned down by its then-owner Westinghouse Broadcasting. All ABC programs turned down by WJZ-TV would air on WMAR-TV instead, forcing all preempted NBC programs to air on WBAL-TV, and preempted CBS shows would air on WJZ-TV instead, as the contracts did not expire until January 1995. The second switch occurred on January 2, 1995, with the
FedEx Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935, making it, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, the second-oldest bowl game i ...
between the Miami Hurricanes and the
Nebraska Cornhuskers The Nebraska Cornhuskers (often abbreviated to Huskers) are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The university is a member of the Big Ten Conference, and the Cornhuskers compete in NCAA Divis ...
being the final NBC program to air on channel 2. As a result, channel 2 became one of the few stations in the country to have been a primary affiliate with each of the "Big Three" networks. ABC had been reluctant to drop its affiliation with WJZ-TV, which had been the highest-rated station in Baltimore for over a quarter-century and was one of the strongest ABC affiliates in the nation. In contrast, WMAR-TV had been a ratings also-ran for three decades. Indeed, ABC's ratings in Baltimore went into a steep decline after the switch, with a number of programs falling from first to third in the Baltimore ratings in one stroke. 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'', often referred to as ''The Oprah Show'' or simply ''Oprah'', is an American daytime syndicated talk show that aired nationally for 25 seasons from September 8, 1986, to May 25, 2011, in Chicago, Illinois. Produced ...
'', deciding instead to take a chance on the new '' Rosie O'Donnell Show''. The move proved costly in the long term, as market leader WBAL-TV picked up ''Oprah'' until its 2011 end, and ''Rosie'' (which moved to WJZ-TV in late 2000) lasted only seven years, ending in 2002. The switch resulted in a change of fortune between the two stations, with WBAL's 5:00–6:30 p.m. news block sustaining strong ratings, while WMAR suffered a steady decline in the same timeslot. On May 13, 2014, after a station security guard denied him entry into WMAR-TV's studio/offices, 28-year-old Vladimir Baptiste crashed into the building in a
pickup truck A pickup truck or pickup is a light-duty truck that has an enclosed cabin, and a back end made up of a cargo bed that is enclosed by three low walls with no roof (this cargo bed back end sometimes consists of a tailgate and removable covering) ...
, which had been stolen around 12:00 p.m. from a
Maryland State Highway Administration The Maryland State Highway Administration (abbreviated MDOT SHA or simply SHA) is the state transportation business unit responsible for maintaining Maryland's numbered highways outside Baltimore City. Formed originally under authority of the ...
subcontractor. All of the station's approximately 120 employees were evacuated and the building was placed on
lockdown A lockdown is a restriction policy for people, community or a country to stay where they are, usually due to specific risks (such as COVID-19) that could possibly harm the people if they move and interact freely. The term is used for a prison ...
as Baltimore County Police officers searched for the suspect. Channel 2 ran an automated feed of ABC programming for four hours, before going dark for about 1 hour and 20 minutes; a satellite relay with Phoenix sister station KNXV-TV was then established late that afternoon until WMAR
master control Master control is the technical hub of a broadcast operation common among most over-the-air television stations and television networks. It is distinct from a production control room (PCR) in television studios where the activities such as swi ...
operators were able to resume broadcasting from the studio. Police captured the man just after 4:30 p.m. that afternoon, as he was watching news coverage of the incident in one of the facility's offices. Officers found weapons in the truck, but there were no reports of gunshots being fired. No staffers inside the building were injured. Baptiste was taken to a hospital for a mental evaluation, and was later charged with three counts of attempted second degree murder. On April 16, 2018, WMAR changed its branding to "WMAR 2" to trade on the station's heritage as Maryland's first television station, and emphasize its "long-standing focus on Maryland and its people." It also adopted a modernized version of the stylized "2" logo it used in one form or another from 1975 to 1998.


Programming

Syndicated programs seen on WMAR-TV include '' Rachael Ray'', ''
Right This Minute ''Right This Minute'' (alternatively abbreviated as ''RTM'') was an American syndicated television program that debuted on September 12, 2011. Produced by MagicDust Television in conjunction with television station groups Cox Media Group, Gray ...
'', '' The Drew Barrymore Show'' and '' The Doctors'', among others. As an ABC affiliate, WMAR-TV now usually runs the network's entire lineup. The station was Baltimore's home to ''The
Jerry Lewis Jerry Lewis (born Joseph Levitch; March 16, 1926 – August 20, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, singer, filmmaker and humanitarian. As his contributions to comedy and charity made him a global figure in popular culture, pop culture ...
MDA Labor Day Telethon'' for nearly three decades until it moved to WNUV-TV (channel 54); in 2013, the telethon moved back to WMAR-TV, airing on ABC as a two-hour program titled the ''MDA Show of Strength'', for its final two years of its run. As a CBS affiliate, WMAR-TV preempted an hour of the network's weekday morning daytime schedule, as well as CBS' late night programming. However, this was not a problem for Baltimore area viewers, as most of the area got a decent signal from WTOP-TV in Washington (now WUSA). From 1961 until 1980, the station was also co-owned with fellow CBS affiliate WBOC-TV in
Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of ...
. Channel 2 continued to preempt network programming as an NBC affiliate. ''
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' was an American late-night talk show hosted by Johnny Carson on NBC, the third iteration of the ''Tonight Show'' franchise. The show debuted on October 1, 1962, and aired its final episode on May 22, ...
'' was not carried by WMAR-TV for several years in the mid-1980s as the station chose to air '' Thicke of the Night'', and later syndicated
sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...
reruns following the 11:00 p.m. newscast. Some of the network's daytime programming was preempted as well. Both ''Tonight'' and preempted daytime programs were aired on then-independent stations WBFF and WNUV, though Baltimore viewers could also watch the entire NBC lineup on network-owned WRC-TV in Washington, along with affiliate WGAL-TV from
Lancaster, Pennsylvania Lancaster, ( ; pdc, Lengeschder) is a city in and the county seat of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. It is one of the oldest inland cities in the United States. With a population at the 2020 census of 58,039, it ranks 11th in population amon ...
, whose signal was viewable in areas north of Baltimore County. When WMAR-TV joined ABC, the station tape delayed some of the network's daytime shows to late night, and preempted nearly half of its Saturday morning lineup. This was however fixed several years later, with '' The View'' airing in its recommended 11 a.m. timeslot, and adding one of the Saturday morning programs, while preempting non-E/I programs like '' The Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show''. Like many other ABC affiliates, Scripps-owned ABC stations (including WMAR-TV) preempted an airing of ''
Saving Private Ryan ''Saving Private Ryan'' is a 1998 American epic war film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Robert Rodat. Set during the Battle of Normandy in World War II, the film is known for its graphic portrayal of war, especially its depicti ...
'' in 2004. Until September 17, 2012 (upon the institution by Scripps of a company-wide effort at lower-cost original programming), ''
Jeopardy! ''Jeopardy!'' is an American game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead given genera ...
'' and ''
Wheel of Fortune The Wheel of Fortune or '' Rota Fortunae'' has been a concept and metaphor since ancient times referring to the capricious nature of Fate. Wheel of Fortune may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Art * ''The Wheel of Fortune'' (Burne-J ...
'' aired on channel 2 from the beginning of their runs in 1984 and 1983 respectively. The two shows immediately moved to Fox affiliate WBFF, where they remain.


Sports programming

WMAR formerly boasted one of the most respected sports departments in the region, going back to the 1950s when it was the
Baltimore Colts The Baltimore Colts were a professional American football team that played in Baltimore from its founding in 1953 to 1984. The team now plays in Indianapolis, as the Indianapolis Colts. The team was named for Baltimore's history of horse breed ...
' flagship station, with popular announcer Chuck Thompson. Its post-game show, ''Colt Wrap-Up'', was hosted by WMAR personality George Rogers with ex-Colt Joe Campanella. In later years, Scott Garceau was the longtime anchor and former
Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays its ...
radio play-by-play announcer. Garceau has since left to host a show on WJZ-FM and sports director Rob Carlin left for
MSG Network The MSG Network (MSG) is an American regional cable and satellite television network, and radio service owned by MSG Entertainment, Inc.—a spin-off of the main Madison Square Garden Company operation (itself a spin-off of local cable prov ...
, 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 is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...
, arguably the most popular sport in the area among young athletes. WMAR works in partnership with
ESPNU ESPNU is an American multinational digital cable and satellite sports television channel owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Disney Media Networks division of The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and the He ...
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 (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...
, Loyola College in Maryland, Towson University, the
University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of ...
, and the
U.S. Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy is ...
. Garceau continues to do play-by-play for the station's lacrosse telecasts.
Quint Kessenich Quint Elroy Kessenich ( ; born November 22, 1967) is an American sportscaster for ABC and ESPN television covering lacrosse, basketball, football, hockey, wrestling and horse racing since 1993. He is a former All-American lacrosse goalkeeper. He ...
, 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 The Baltimore Blast is an American professional indoor soccer team based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. The team is a part of the Major Arena Soccer League. The team has won 10 championships since it was founded in 1980. Beginning with ...
show and field reporter for select Ravens games. From 1979 to 1993, channel 2 was the over-the-air flagship station of the Baltimore Orioles—long after most " Big Three" stations dropped local regular season sports coverage. In addition to Orioles games broadcast in-house by channel 2, WMAR-TV also aired all Orioles games via NBC's MLB broadcast contract from 1982 to 1989. Channel 2 served as the then-Baltimore Colts' station of record (through NBC's AFC broadcast contract) for three seasons from 1981 to 1983, before the team's controversial move to Indianapolis. As a CBS station, WMAR-TV first aired Colts games in 1956, when CBS obtained the broadcast rights to the pre-merger NFL; all Colts games were broadcast exclusively on channel 2 until 1969. From 1970 to 1980, with the Colts' move to the American Football Conference upon the completion of the AFL/NFL merger, WMAR then broadcast all Colts games in which they played host to an NFC team (when CBS assumed the broadcast contract to the post-merger NFC).


News operation

WMAR-TV presently broadcasts 26 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with five hours each weekday and one hour on Sundays); with regards to the amount of news programming, it is the lowest output among Baltimore's television stations. Unlike most news-producing ABC affiliates that are located in the Eastern Time Zone, WMAR does not air a newscast in the weekday midday timeslot; it also holds the distinction of being the largest news-producing "Big Three" station by market size that does not air any local newscasts on Saturdays (although WMAR does produce local weather cut-ins that are shown during the weekend edition of ''
Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. ...
''). 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 Cincinnati sister station
WCPO-TV WCPO-TV (channel 9) is a television station in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is the flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer ...
. WMAR formerly operated a 24-hour local weather channel known as "ABC 2 WeatherNet Digital", which was also available on
Comcast Xfinity Comcast Cable Communications, LLC, doing business as Xfinity, is an American telecommunications company and division of Comcast Corporation used to market consumer cable television, internet, telephone, and wireless services provided by the com ...
digital cable Digital cable is the distribution of cable television using digital data and video compression. The technology was first developed by General Instrument. By 2000, most cable companies offered digital features, eventually replacing their previ ...
channel 204 and streamed on the station's website; until 2012, the channel was also broadcast on a third
digital subchannel In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compres ...
of WMAR's over-the-air signal. Despite its newspaper roots and its status as the oldest television station in Maryland, 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 since the late 1970s. For most of the last four decades, it has been the third station in what has essentially been a two-station market, trailing WJZ-TV and WBAL-TV by wide margins. This was the case even during the 1980s, with NBC's powerhouse prime time lineup as a lead-in. As such, it is currently one of ABC's weakest affiliates, especially in a top-50 market. By contrast, WJZ-TV had been one of ABC's strongest affiliates during its last quarter-century with the network. On occasion, WMAR-TV has even trailed WBFF in some timeslots. For the past decade, WMAR and WBFF have formed one tier of local newscast ratings—significantly lower than the tier that is occupied by WBAL and WJZ. On October 4, 2010, WMAR-TV became the last station in the market and the last Scripps-owned television station at the time to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition (Scripps has since acquired the television station group of
McGraw-Hill McGraw Hill is an American educational publishing company and one of the "big three" educational publishers that publishes educational content, software, and services for pre-K through postgraduate education. The company also publishes refere ...
; of those stations, one of them still produces its newscasts in
pillarbox The pillarbox effect occurs in widescreen video displays when black bars (mattes or masking) are placed on the sides of the image. It becomes necessary when film or video that was not originally designed for widescreen is shown on a widescree ...
ed 4:3 standard definition as of January 2012). On April 18, 2011, WMAR became the first television station in Baltimore to expand its weekday morning newscast to the 4:30 a.m. timeslot.


Notable former on-air staff

* Curt Anderson – news reporter (a graduate of local "
magnet A magnet is a material or object that produces a magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is responsible for the most notable property of a magnet: a force that pulls on other ferromagnetic materials, such as iron, steel, nicke ...
" academic premier public high school –
Baltimore City College Baltimore City College, known colloquially as City, City College, and B.C.C., is a college preparatory school with a liberal arts focus and selective admissions criteria located in Baltimore, Maryland. Opened in October 1839, B.C.C. is the thir ...
, currently in the General Assembly of Maryland in lower chamber of House of Delegates) * Andy Barth – left WMAR to pursue a political career, his 2006 bid for U.S. Congress failed; now reporter for
WTTG WTTG (channel 5) is a television station in Washington, D.C., airing programming from the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside MyNetworkTV outlet WDCA (channel 20). WTTG and WDCA sh ...
in Washington, D.C. *
Nelson Benton CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs ''CBS News Sunday Morning'', ''60 Minutes'', and '' 48 Hou ...
(1982–1983) former ''
CBS Evening News The ''CBS Evening News'' is the flagship evening television news program of CBS News, the news division of the CBS television network in the United States. The ''CBS Evening News'' is a daily evening broadcast featuring news reports, feature st ...
'' correspondent (died February 13, 1988) *
Keith Cate Keith Alvin Cate has been a main anchor for WFLA-TV (Channel 8) in Tampa, Florida since 2000. Cate has won 12 Emmy Awards from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences along with four Edward R. Murrow awards and other journalism-rela ...
(now at
WFLA-TV WFLA-TV (channel 8) is a television station licensed to Tampa, Florida, United States, serving as the NBC affiliate for the Tampa Bay area. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside St. Petersburg–licensed MyNetworkTV affiliate WTTA (ch ...
in
Tampa Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough C ...
/ St. Petersburg, Florida) *
Stu Kerr Thomas Stewart "Stu" Kerr (March 9, 1928 - July 17, 1994), was a Baltimore, Maryland, Baltimore television personality who developed and hosted a number of programs on Baltimore television from 1952 through the 1980s. Kerr was born in Yonkers, New ...
(1928–1994) – At station 1952–1981, longtime "public face" of the station, "jack-of-all-trades" from various hosts of early morning children's shows – a janitor on ''The Early Riser'', and comic roles as "Professor Kool" and " Bozo the Clown" to "Mr. Fortune" on ''Dialing for Dollars'' and weather forecaster. *
Tom Marr Thomas Aquinas Marr (October 17, 1942 – July 7, 2016) was an American talk radio host on WCBM (680-AM) in Baltimore, Maryland, known for his conservative political views. He spent nearly 20 years as a newsman and sportscaster, including ei ...
– WMAR weekend sports anchor from 1976 to 1979. Former morning news anchor, news director and regular ''Conference Call'' panelist at WFBR Radio (AM 1300); former sportscaster and field reporter for CBS Sports Radio; former
Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...
radio play-by-play broadcaster from 1979 to 1986; longtime talk show host on Talk Radio 680 WCBM in Baltimore. died in 2016. * Jim McKay – did early first broadcasts in late 1940s (went on to host ABC's '' Wide World of Sports'', died in 2008) *
Uma Pemmaraju Uma Devi Pemmaraju (31 March 1958 – 8 August 2022) was an Indian-American journalist and television anchor. She was one of the original hosts on the Fox News cable network at their 1996 premiere. Pemmaraju, who was born in India and raised in ...
(went on to be an anchor with
Fox News Channel The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is ...
, died in 2022) * John Saunders (went on to
ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
, died in 2016) * Sally Thorner (went on to anchor at competitor WJZ-TV channel 13, now retired) * Brian Wood (now at
KGW KGW (channel 8) is a television station in Portland, Oregon, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Tegna Inc. The station's studios are located on Jefferson Street in southwestern Portland, and its transmitter is located in the city' ...
in
Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous ...
)


Technical information


Subchannels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:


Analog-to-digital conversion

WMAR-TV shut down its analog signal, over
VHF Very high frequency (VHF) is the ITU designation for the range of radio frequency electromagnetic waves (radio waves) from 30 to 300 megahertz (MHz), with corresponding wavelengths of ten meters to one meter. Frequencies immediately below VHF ...
channel 2, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition
UHF Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter (on ...
channel 52, which was among the high band UHF channels (52–69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition, to UHF channel 38, using PSIP to display the station's
virtual channel In most telecommunications organizations, a virtual channel is a method of remapping the ''program number'' as used in H.222 Program Association Tables and Program Mapping Tables to a channel number that can be entered via digits on a receiver's ...
as its former VHF analog channel 2. As channel 38 was also removed from television use as a part of the repacking process following the 2016–2017 FCC incentive auction, WMAR-TV relocated to UHF channel 27 on July 2, 2020.


References


External links

*
View archival footage held by the University of Baltimore
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wmar-Tv 1947 establishments in Maryland ABC network affiliates Bounce TV affiliates Companies based in Baltimore County, Maryland Court TV affiliates Ion Mystery affiliates E. W. Scripps Company television stations Grit (TV network) affiliates National Hockey League over-the-air television broadcasters Newsy affiliates Preakness Stakes Television channels and stations established in 1947 MAR-TV Woodberry, Baltimore