WMAR-TV

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WMAR-TV

Baltimore, Maryland
Branding	ABC2
Slogan	ABC2 Works For You
Channels	2 (VHF) analog, 52 (UHF) digital
Affiliations	ABC (since 1995)
Owner	E. W. Scripps
Founded	1947
Call letters meaning	WMARyland
Former affiliations	CBS (1947-81), NBC (1981-95)
Website	abc2news.com

WMAR-TV ("ABC 2") is the ABC television affiliate in Baltimore, Maryland. It operates on VHF channel 2 at 100 kilowatts from a transmitter located in Baltimore, and digitally on UHF channel 52 at 602 kilowatts. The station is owned and operated by The E.W. Scripps Company. The station's radar is called "Storm Center Doppler".

1 History
2 Personalities
3 Former Personalities
4 Newscasts
5 Former Newscast Titles
6 Local Programs
7 External links

[edit] History

The station, the oldest in Maryland, was founded in 1947 by the Baltimore Sun Company, co-owned with WMAR-FM (now CBS Radio-owned WWMX). It began as a CBS network affiliate. The first voice ever heard on Baltimore television belonged to WMAR's Jim McKay. McKay later went on to host ABC's Wide World of Sports. 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, Baltimore viewers could watch the entire CBS schedule on WTOP-TV in Washington, DC (now WUSA-TV). For many years, the station was co-owned with WBOC-TV in Salisbury.

WMAR swapped affiliation with WBAL-TV on August 30, 1981, becoming an NBC affiliate. For much of its time as an NBC station, WMAR also pre-empted 1-2 hours of the network's daytime programming (which was seen on WBFF instead). As was the case with WMAR's days as a CBS station, Baltimore viewers could also watch the entire NBC lineup on Washington's WRC-TV.

On October 27, 1986, the Baltimore Sun Company merged with Times-Mirror (then owner of the Los Angeles Times). However, since FCC rules in effect at the time prohibited common ownership of both a newspaper and a television station in the same market (except in a few grandfathered cases), Times-Mirror could not keep both the Sun and WMAR. It opted to keep the newspaper and sell the television station to Gillett Broadcasting. (Under the Sun's previous ownership of Abell Communications, the combination was grandfathered. Both the Baltimore Sun and the Los Angeles Times are now owned by the Tribune Company.) Gillett put WMAR up for sale when the company restructured into SCI TV in the early 1990s. In early 1991, Sinclair made an offer to buy the station with plans to move its flagship station, WBFF, to that allocation, making channel 2 a Fox affiliate under the WBFF call sign. However, that deal never materialized, and WMAR was sold to Scripps in May 1991. The station continued as an NBC affiliate, and by then it did not pre-empt much programming.

In 1994, ABC cut a deal with Scripps to switch WMAR and two other Scripps stations to ABC affiliates. (Scripps flagship WCPO-TV in Cincinnati, was also part of the deal; however, it had to wait for ABC's affiliation contract with rival station WKRC-TV to expire in June 1996 before switching.) ABC agreed to the deal as a condition of keeping its affiliation on Scripps' two biggest stations, WXYZ-TV in Detroit and WEWS-TV in Cleveland. Both stations had been heavily wooed by CBS, which was about to lose its longtime Detroit and Cleveland affiliates to Fox. The swap displaced Baltimore's longtime ABC affiliate, WJZ-TV--which set in motion a chain of events that eventually led to WJZ's owner, Westinghouse Electric Corporation, buying CBS.

WMAR became an ABC affiliate on January 2, 1995--a day which saw all three of Baltimore's "Big Three" stations change networks. WJZ became a CBS affiliate, while NBC returned to its original Baltimore affiliate, WBAL. It is one of the few stations in the country to have been an affiliate with all of the "Big Three" networks: CBS, NBC, and ABC.

As an ABC affiliate, WMAR 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.

For many years, WMAR was the over-the-air flagship station of the Baltimore Orioles.

Despite its newspaper roots, WMAR's newscasts have usually been in last place among Baltimore's "Big Three" network affiliates. It currently trails both WBAL and WJZ in the ratings by a wide margin, and is currently battling WBFF for third (or fourth) place.

WMAR offers live streaming of all its newscasts on the station website.

[edit] Personalities

Norm Lewis
Mary Beth Marsden
Brian Wood
Scott Garceau
Denise Dory
Jamie Costello
Kelly Swoope
Del Walters
Justin Berk
Victoria Gaither
Kimberly Bookman
Scott Broom
Jenny Glick
Jeff Hager
Delia Goncalves
Sherrie Johnson
Roosevelt Leftwich
Terry Owens
Sarah Parker
Tisha Thompson

[edit] Former Personalities

Andy Barth (Left WMAR to pursue a political career, his 2006 bid for Congress failed)
Jen Gilbert
Stu Kerr
Jim McKay
Keith Mills
Hope Hines

[edit] Newscasts

All newscasts can be watched live on WMAR's website.

Good Morning Maryland 5am-7am (M-F)
ABC 2 News @ Noon 12n-1pm (M-F)
ABC 2 News @ 5pm (M-F)
ABC 2 News @ 5:30pm (M-F)
ABC 2 News @ 6pm (M-F)
ABC 2 News @ 6:30pm (Sat, Sun)
The Latest at 11pm (Daily)

[edit] Former Newscast Titles

WMAR-TV News (1940s-60s)
NewsWatch (1970s)
Channel 2 News (1970's-81, 1985-1991)
NewsScene 2 (1981-1985)
NewsChannel 2 (1991-1999)
2 News (1999-4/2002)
ABC 2 News (4/2002-present)

[edit] Local Programs

Sat

-Baltimore Tonight-11:35pm

-Grace and Glory Late Night-12:05am

-Teen Perspective 2News-12:30pm (November to May)

Sun

-Grace and Glory-7am

-Sports Extra-11:30pm

-2 the Point-12:20pm

[edit] External links

Broadcast television in the Baltimore market (Nielsen DMA #24)
WMAR 2 (ABC) - WBAL 11 (NBC) - WJZ 13 (CBS) - WMJF 16 (Ind/MTV2) - WMPT 22 / WMPB 67 (PBS/MPB) - WUTB 24 (MNTV) - WBFF 45 (Fox) - WNUV 54 (The CW)(The Tube on DT2)