Thanks for this little look back to a decent portion of my childhood years. As a longtime resident of the Philadelphia suburbs, we naturally watched the Philly stations most of the time. But around the late 50s, my Dad built us a summer cottage some 60 miles west-southwest of Philly on the Susquehanna River, not far from the Maryland border in an area known as Peach Bottom. The terrain prevented TV reception from Philly, but Baltimore signals reached our cabin with great strength, and Channel 2 was by far the strongest. We spent many a Friday and Saturday night tuned to WMAR-TV and I learned a good deal about a city that I've barely spent any hours in from those images and personalities on Channel 2. We stopped going there in the 70s as adult life took us other places, leaving me still with an image in my mind of WMAR-TV being a powerhouse CBS affiliate even though I know there've been changes. Congrats on your many years of service to Baltimore - and Peach Bottom!
I believe that sometime in the early 1950's, WMAR and Baltimore's two other TV stations (WBAL and WJZ) cooperated on building a TV tower atop the tallest hill in the Baltimore area that has since become known as Television Hill.
I believe WMAR was briefly affiliated with CBS, DuMont, and NBC in the beginning. The station was a longtime CBS affiliate, was an NBC affiliate for a time, and has been an ABC affiliate since the mid 1990's.
Film highlights of the 1950s on Channel 2 included: the original Baltimore Bullets, children graduating from kindergarten, summer fairs in the city, former Orioles manager Paul Richards, Don Kellett telling fans to get their tickets to see the "new" Colts in 1953 and the construction of the new Byrd Stadium in College Park.
Some very prominent personalities who starred at WMAR-TV: Jim McManus (Jim McKay), Ann Mar, Stu Kerr, Chuck Richards,Sylvia Scott, George Rogers, Wayne Lynch, Jack Bowden,June Thorne, George Collins, Jack Dawson, Tom Sweeney,Dennis Holly, Wayne Gruen, Meryl Comer, Dave Stickle, Helen Bentley, Lowell James,Ken Philips,John Saunders, Ron Olson, Sally Thorner,Jack Wells and T. Oliver Hughes. Richards and Thorne were pioneers at Channel 2; Richards is the first black staff announcer and Thorne is the first black woman to host a talk show when she hosted "The Woman's Journal" in 1967.
Thanks for this little look back to a decent portion of my childhood years. As a longtime resident of the Philadelphia suburbs, we naturally watched the Philly stations most of the time. But around the late 50s, my Dad built us a summer cottage some 60 miles west-southwest of Philly on the Susquehanna River, not far from the Maryland border in an area known as Peach Bottom. The terrain prevented TV reception from Philly, but Baltimore signals reached our cabin with great strength, and Channel 2 was by far the strongest. We spent many a Friday and Saturday night tuned to WMAR-TV and I learned a good deal about a city that I've barely spent any hours in from those images and personalities on Channel 2. We stopped going there in the 70s as adult life took us other places, leaving me still with an image in my mind of WMAR-TV being a powerhouse CBS affiliate even though I know there've been changes. Congrats on your many years of service to Baltimore - and Peach Bottom!
This is the kind of stuff I like George chestnut
I love this kind of stuff George chestnut
I believe that sometime in the early 1950's, WMAR and Baltimore's two other TV stations (WBAL and WJZ) cooperated on building a TV tower atop the tallest hill in the Baltimore area that has since become known as Television Hill.
I believe WMAR was briefly affiliated with CBS, DuMont, and NBC in the beginning.
The station was a longtime CBS affiliate, was an NBC affiliate for a time, and has been an ABC affiliate since the mid 1990's.
Film highlights of the 1950s on Channel 2 included: the original Baltimore Bullets, children graduating from kindergarten, summer fairs in the city, former Orioles manager Paul Richards, Don Kellett telling
fans to get their tickets to see the "new" Colts in 1953 and the construction of the new
Byrd Stadium in College Park.
Wasn't Baltimore in 1950 the first city where more people watched TV during the evening than listened to radio?
Some very prominent personalities who starred at WMAR-TV: Jim McManus (Jim McKay), Ann Mar, Stu Kerr, Chuck Richards,Sylvia Scott,
George Rogers, Wayne Lynch, Jack Bowden,June Thorne, George Collins,
Jack Dawson, Tom Sweeney,Dennis Holly, Wayne Gruen, Meryl Comer, Dave Stickle, Helen Bentley, Lowell James,Ken Philips,John Saunders,
Ron Olson, Sally Thorner,Jack Wells and T. Oliver Hughes. Richards and Thorne were pioneers at Channel 2; Richards is the first black staff announcer and Thorne is the first black woman to host a talk show when she hosted "The Woman's Journal" in 1967.
At many points in WMAR-TV 2's history, the station was affiliated with the "big three" networks: CBS, NBC and ABC.
this was around the time in which WMAR-TV transitioned from "NewsChannel 2" (as it was during the NBC days) to simply "2 News".
I think the title is wrong. This is the 50th anniversary special not the 60th? It has a copyright of 1998, 51 years after the 1947 sign on of WMAR.
WMAR-TV 2 Baltimore,MD Affiliate over the years of CBS NBC, and ABC.
Jim Mustard looks a little like the Penquin.
50th*
A laughingstock since 1947!