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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 earth's s ...
in
Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...
, Maryland, United States, affiliated with
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...
and owned by the
E. W. Scripps Company The E. W. Scripps Company, also known as Scripps, is an American broadcasting company founded in 1878 as a chain of daily newspapers by Edward Willis "E. W." Scripps and his sister, Ellen Browning Scripps. It was also formerly a media conglom ...
. 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)/U.S. Route 40 Truck (Baltimore, Maryland), US 4 ...
) in
Towson Towson () is an Unincorporated area, unincorporated community and a census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. The population was 59,533 in the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is t ...
north of the Baltimore City–
Baltimore County Baltimore County ( , locally: or ) is the third-most populous county in the U.S. state of Maryland. The county is part of the Central Maryland region of the state. Baltimore County partly surrounds but does not include the independent city ...
border. Its transmitter and antenna, which is on a 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 30, 1947.FCC History Cards for WMAR-TV
Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...
.
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, regional, national, and international news. Founded in 1837, the newspaper was owned by Tribune Publi ...
'' and its now-defunct 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 (1090 AM) and WBA ...
) 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 WAYE (1220 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a Spanish variety format. Licensed to Birmingham, Alabama, United States, the station serves the Birmingham market. The station is currently owned by Dulce and Maria Rivera, through licensee Rive ...
on 860). Channel 2's first broadcast was a pair of horse races 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 O ...
. 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 Baltimore, city of Baltimore traditionally bounded by Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard (Baltimore), Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard to the west, List of streets in Baltimore#F, Frank ...
; 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 a broadcast station, usually a television station, not affiliated with a larger broadcast television network, network. As such, it only broadcasts broadcast syndication, syndicated programs it has purchased; brokered pr ...
at its launch, largely because at the time it was not clear whether Baltimore would be part of the
Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
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 government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...
(FCC) made Baltimore a separate media market. On March 29, 1948, WMAR-TV was announced as
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
' third full-time television affiliate, after
WCBS-TV WCBS-TV (channel 2), branded CBS New York, 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–lic ...
in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
and
WCAU-TV WCAU (channel 10) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is owned and operated by the NBC television network through its NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Mount Laurel, New Jersey–licensed Tel ...
in
Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
. It also had secondary affiliations with
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...
and DuMont for its early days, but it later lost both affiliations to upstart WAAM-TV (channel 13, now
WJZ-TV WJZ-TV (channel 13) is a television station in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, serving as the market's CBS outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division, and maintains studios and offices on Woodberry, B ...
) when the station signed on in November. One of WMAR's early local personalities was
Jim McKay James Kenneth McManus (September 24, 1921 – June 7, 2008), better known professionally as Jim McKay, was an American television sports journalist. McKay was best known for hosting ABC's '' Wide World of Sports'' (1961–1998). His intro ...
, 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 CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
briefly before achieving greater fame on
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...
as host of '' Wide World of Sports'' and Olympic coverage. Another was
Helen Delich Bentley Helen Bentley (née Delich; November 28, 1923 – August 6, 2016) was an American politician who was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from Maryland from 1985 to 1995. Before entering politics, she had been a ...
, 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 a
U.S. representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...
from Maryland, serving several terms as a Republican. By 2006, the
Port of Baltimore The Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore is a Port, shipping port along the tidal basins of the three branches of the Patapsco River in Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland, on the upper northwest shore of the Chesapeake Bay. It is the nation's la ...
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 ra ...
(channel 11) and WJZ-TV to build the world's first three-antenna
candelabra tower A candelabrum (plural candelabra but also used as the singular form) is a candle holder with multiple arms. "Candelabra" can be used to describe a variety of candle holders including chandeliers. However, candelabra can also be distinguished as b ...
. The new tower was built on the newly named "Television Hill" (formerly known as "Malden Hill") in the Woodberry neighborhood of Baltimore, which significantly expanded 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 The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
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 take over that network's affiliation from channel 11. 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 The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...
preseason game between the
Houston Oilers The Houston Oilers were a professional American football team that played in Houston, Texas, from its founding in 1960 Houston Oilers season, 1960 to 1996 Houston Oilers season, 1996. The Houston Oilers began play as a charter member of the Ame ...
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 of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. T ...
, airing live at 9 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, and the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico. * Eastern Standard Time (EST) is five hours behi ...
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 ...
(AFTRA) failed, all of the station's on-air talent, except one, went on
strike Strike may refer to: People *Strike (surname) * Hobart Huson, author of several drug related books Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm * Airstrike, ...
. AFTRA members, joined by the
Teamsters The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) is a trade union, labor union in the United States and Canada. Formed in 1903 by the merger of the Team Drivers International Union and the Teamsters National Union, the union now represents a di ...
, the
Communication Workers of America The Communications Workers of America (CWA) is the largest communications and media trade union, 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 unio ...
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 (also known as the O's) 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 America ...
third baseman)
Brooks Robinson Brooks Calbert Robinson Jr. (May 18, 1937 – September 26, 2023) was an American baseball player who played his entire 23-year career in Major League Baseball as a third baseman for the Baltimore Orioles from 1955 to 1977. Nicknamed "Mr. Hoove ...
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 Curtis Stovall Anderson (born October 12, 1949) is an American politician, lawyer and former broadcast journalism, broadcast journalist. He was first elected to the Maryland House of Delegates in 1983, was the chairman of the Baltimore City Del ...
, were fired.


Ownership changes

On May 28, 1986, the A. S. Abell Company was purchased by the
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
-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'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
''. 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 WRLH-TV (channel 35), branded on-air as Fox Richmond, is a television station in Richmond, Virginia, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. Owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, it has studios on Westmoreland Street in the North Side a ...
in
Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...
) 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 graduate ...
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 deb ...
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 ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...
-based
E. W. Scripps Company The E. W. Scripps Company, also known as Scripps, is an American broadcasting company founded in 1878 as a chain of daily newspapers by Edward Willis "E. W." Scripps and his sister, Ellen Browning Scripps. It was also formerly a media conglom ...
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, Inc., doing business as Sinclair Broadcast Group, is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb o ...
, the owner of
WBFF WBFF (channel 45) is a television station in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, affiliated with Fox and MyNetworkTV. It is one of two flagship stations of Sinclair Broadcast Group (based in nearby Hunt Valley), alongside ABC affiliate WJLA- ...
(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, especially with such a valuable channel allocation; the channel 2 analog signal traveled a very long distance under normal conditions. Sinclair argued that as an established local broadcaster, it should receive the allocation 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 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious and cultural significance in many societies ...
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 syndi ...
-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 American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside independent station WMYD (channel 20). The two stations shar ...
in
Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...
and
WEWS WEWS-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, affiliated with ABC. It has been owned by the E. W. Scripps Company since its inception in 1946, making it one of three stations that have been built and signed on ...
in
Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...
; both of those outlets had been heavily wooed by CBS, which was about to lose its longtime
Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...
and
Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...
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, New World Communications Group, Inc., and New World International) was an American independent production, distribution, and (in its final years as an autonomous entity) multimedia comp ...
. 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. Played annually since 1935 Orange Bowl, January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in ...
between the
Miami Hurricanes The Miami Hurricanes, known informally as The U, UM, or The 'Canes, are the intercollegiate sports teams that represent the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. The Hurricanes compete in NCAA Division I, Division I of the National Coll ...
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 competes in NCAA Division I, fielding t ...
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'' is an American first-run syndicated talk show that was hosted by Oprah Winfrey. The show ran for twenty-five seasons from September 8, 1986, to May 25, 2011, in which it broadcast 4,561 episodes. The show was taped i ...
'', deciding instead to take a chance on the new ''
Rosie O'Donnell Show ''The Rosie O'Donnell Show'' is an American daytime variety television talk show created, hosted, and produced by actress and comedian Rosie O'Donnell. It premiered on June 10, 1996, and concluded after six seasons on June 27, 2002. This talk ...
''. 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 5–6:30 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 Truck_classification#Table_of_US_GVWR_classifications, light or medium duty truck that has an enclosed cabin (truck), cabin, and a back end made up of a cargo bed that is enclosed by three low walls with no roof (th ...
, which had been stolen around noon from a
Maryland State Highway Administration The Maryland State Highway Administration (MDSHA, MDOT SHA, or simply SHA) is the state mode responsible for maintaining Maryland's Maryland highway system, numbered highways outside Baltimore. Formed originally under authority of the Maryland ...
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 that could possibly harm the people if they move and interact freely. The term is used for a prison protocol that us ...
as Baltimore County Police officers searched for the suspect. Channel 2 ran an automated feed of ABC programming for four hours, before going
dark Darkness is the condition resulting from a lack of illumination, or an absence of visible light. Human vision is unable to distinguish colors in conditions of very low luminance because the hue-sensitive photoreceptor cells on the retina are ...
for about 1 hour and 20 minutes; a satellite relay with Phoenix sister station
KNXV-TV KNXV-TV (channel 15) is a television station in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, affiliated with ABC. It was established in 1979 as the Phoenix area's second independent station with part-time subscription television programming from ON TV. I ...
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 swit ...
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

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 WBOC-TV (channel 16) is a television station in Salisbury, Maryland, United States, affiliated with CBS and Fox. It is the flagship television property of the Milton, Delaware–based Draper Holdings Business Trust, and is co-owned with low ...
in
Salisbury Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...
. Channel 2 continued to preempt network programming as an NBC affiliate. ''
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' is an American television talk show broadcast by NBC. The show was the third installment of ''The Tonight Show''. Hosted by Johnny Carson, it aired from October 1, 1962 to May 22, 1992, replacing ''T ...
'' was not carried by WMAR-TV for several years in the mid-1980s as the station chose to air ''
Thicke of the Night ''Thicke of the Night'' is an American late-night talk show starring Alan Thicke and broadcast in first-run syndication during the 1983–1984 TV season. Among the regulars on ''Thicke of the Night'' were Richard Belzer, Arsenio Hall, Rick Duc ...
'', and later syndicated
sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...
reruns following the 11 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 WRC-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Washington, D.C., serving as the market's NBC outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Class A television service, Class A Telemundo outlet W ...
in Washington. Additionally,
WGAL-TV WGAL (channel 8) is a television station licensed to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States, serving the Susquehanna Valley region as an affiliate of NBC. Owned by Hearst Television, the station maintains studios on Columbia Avenue ( PA 462) in ...
in
Lancaster, Pennsylvania Lancaster ( ) is a city in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 58,039 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, eighth-most populous ci ...
, could be seen 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 ''The View'' is an American talk show created by broadcast journalist Barbara Walters. , in its 28th season, the show has aired on American Broadcasting Company, ABC as part of the network's ABC Daytime, daytime programming block since August ...
'' 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''. 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, with a career spanning seven decades in film, stage, television and radio. Famously nicknamed as "Th ...
MDA Labor Day Telethon The ''MDA Labor Day Telethon'' was an annual telethon held on (starting the night before and throughout) Labor Day in the United States to raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA). The Muscular Dystrophy Association was founded in ...
'' 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. Like all other Scripps-owned ABC stations, 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 in 1944 in Normandy, France, during World War II, it follows a group of soldiers, led by Captain John Miller ( Tom Hanks) ...
'' in 2004. Until September 17, 2012, ''
Jeopardy! ''Jeopardy!'' is an American television 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 g ...
'' and '' Wheel of Fortune'' aired on channel 2 from the beginning of their runs in 1984 and 1983 respectively. WMAR dropped them as part of a corporate effort to emphasize lower-cost original programming across its entire group. 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 1953 to 1983, when owner Robert Irsay moved the franchise to Indianapolis. The team was named for Baltimore's history of horse breeding and racing. It w ...
' flagship station, with popular announcer
Chuck Thompson Charles Lloyd Thompson (June 10, 1921 – March 6, 2005) was an American sportscaster best known for his broadcasts of Major League Baseball's Baltimore Orioles and the National Football League (NFL)'s History of the Baltimore Colts, Baltimore C ...
. Its post-game show, ''Colt Wrap-Up'', was hosted by WMAR personality George Rogers with ex-Colt
Joe Campanella Joseph Arthur Campanella (September 3, 1930February 15, 1967) was an American professional football player and executive in the National Football League (NFL). Campanella played linebacker and defensive tackle for six seasons for the Dallas Tex ...
. WMAR broadcast
Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) 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 America ...
games from 1979 to 1993, becoming one of the last "Big Three"-affiliated stations to carry baseball games on a regular basis. WMAR also broadcasts the annual Turkey Bowl between
Calvert Hall College High School Calvert Hall College High School (also known as "Calvert Hall" or "CHC") is a Catholic college preparatory high school for boys, located in Towson, Maryland, United States. The school was established in 1845 by the Institute of the Brothers of th ...
and
Loyola Blakefield Loyola Blakefield is a private Catholic, college preparatory school run by the USA East Province of the Society of Jesus in Towson, Maryland and within the Archdiocese of Baltimore. It was established in 1852 by the Jesuits as an all-boys scho ...
on
Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in October and November in the United States, Canada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Germany. It is also observed in the Australian territory ...
morning.


Lacrosse

WMAR is best known outside of Baltimore as a pioneering broadcaster of
lacrosse Lacrosse is a contact 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 w ...
. In 1998, the
Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...
athletics administration, seeking ways to increase exposure for its powerhouse men's lacrosse team, proposed that WMAR broadcast their
rivalry game Pairs of schools, colleges and universities, especially when they are close to each other either geographically or in their areas of specialization, often establish a university or college rivalry with each other over the years. This rivalry, whic ...
against the Maryland Terrapins men's lacrosse, University of Maryland. Lacrosse historically enjoys wide popularity in Maryland, and at the time, was rarely if ever broadcast on television. The station was also actively seeking a greater commitment to local sports coverage to differentiate itself from its competitors. It had tested the waters with a one-off broadcast of a basketball game between Coppin State Eagles men's basketball, Coppin State and Morgan State Bears men's basketball, Morgan State earlier that year. WMAR readily agreed and committed to broadcast two more of Hopkins' home games against local teams: Loyola College in Maryland, Loyola College and Towson University. Sponsorship and viewership for these initial games was high enough to support the beginning of a full game-of-the-week package beginning with the 1999 collegiate lacrosse season. Coverage expanded to home games of other local teams, including Maryland, Loyola, Towson, the U.S. Naval Academy, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, UMBC, Stevenson University, Salisbury University, and Gettysburg College. The games aired live on Saturday afternoons and evenings, preempting any scheduled network programming. WMAR began partnering with ESPN to produce the games after Hopkins signed a deal to place all of its men's team's games on the fledgling ESPNU in 2005. Lacrosse broadcasts ended after the 2011 season, as ESPN decided to end its production partnership in favor of increased coverage on its own networks. Station general manager Bill Hooper stated the broadcasts would lose money without a partner to share production costs, and an attempt to work with Monumental Sports Network, Comcast SportsNet instead fell through. A notable alumnus is Quint Kessenich, four-time lacrosse All-American with Johns Hopkins, who began his commentary career at WMAR and has since moved on to ESPN.


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''). 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. 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. In March 2021 sweeps, WMAR was rated last among adults 25-54 in all timeslots, with its audience shares averaging one-third to one-quarter of those of WJZ-TV and WBAL-TV. 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 television, high definition. 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 Curtis Stovall Anderson (born October 12, 1949) is an American politician, lawyer and former broadcast journalism, broadcast journalist. He was first elected to the Maryland House of Delegates in 1983, was the chairman of the Baltimore City Del ...
– news anchor (1980–1982) * Andy Barth * Nelson Benton (1982–1983) * Keith Cate * Stu Kerr (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 – WMAR weekend sports anchor from 1976 to 1979. Former morning news anchor and news director *
Jim McKay James Kenneth McManus (September 24, 1921 – June 7, 2008), better known professionally as Jim McKay, was an American television sports journalist. McKay was best known for hosting ABC's '' Wide World of Sports'' (1961–1998). His intro ...
– did early first broadcasts in late 1940s * Uma Pemmaraju * John Saunders (journalist), John Saunders * Sally Thorner * Brian Wood (journalist), Brian Wood


Technical information


Subchannels

The station's signal is Multiplex (TV), multiplexed:


Analog-to-digital conversion

WMAR-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 2, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United States Digital television transition in the United States, transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF 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 virtual channel 2. As channel 38 was also removed from television use as a part of the Spectrum reallocation#Repacking, repacking process following the Spectrum reallocation#Broadcast incentive auction, 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 American Broadcasting Company affiliates Bounce TV affiliates Companies based in Baltimore County, Maryland Court TV affiliates E. W. Scripps Company television stations Grit (TV network) affiliates Ion Mystery affiliates Ion Television affiliates Laff (TV network) affiliates Television channels and stations established in 1947 Television stations in Baltimore, MAR-TV Woodberry, Baltimore