WJZ-TV, channel 13, is an owned and operated
television stationA television station is a type of broadcast station that broadcasts video and possibly audio to television receivers in a particular area. Traditionally, TV stations made their broadcasts by sending specially-encoded radio signals over the air, called terrestrial television...
of the
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is an American television network, one of television's original "big three", which also include NBC and ABC. Like NBC, CBS started out as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System...
Television Network, located in
Baltimore, MarylandBaltimore is an independent city and the largest city in the state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore City in order to distinguish it from surrounding...
. WJZ-TV's studios and offices are located on Television Hill in the
WoodberryWoodberry is a neighbourhood located in the north-central area of Baltimore, Maryland, USA. A largely residential, middle-class area, Woodberry is a historic community bordered on the north by Cold Spring Lane, on the south by Druid Hill Park, on the west by Greenspring Avenue, and on the east by...
section of Baltimore, adjacent to the transmission tower it shares with four other Baltimore television stations.
History
Baltimore's third television station started on November 2, 1948 as
WAAM, owned by brothers Ben and Herman Cohen. Its first broadcast was the
1948 presidential election returnsThe United States presidential election of 1948 is considered by most historians as the greatest election upset in American history. Virtually every prediction indicated that incumbent President Harry S. Truman would be defeated by Republican Thomas E. Dewey. Truman won, overcoming a three-way...
. Its studio was the first in Baltimore specifically designed for television. It was the only station in Baltimore without ties to a radio station.
Channel 13 was originally an
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. It first broadcast on television in 1948...
affiliate; it was the second primary affiliate of the fledgling network. Until 1956, it carried a secondary affiliation with the
DuMont Television NetworkThe DuMont Television Network, also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont, Du Mont, or Dumont was one of the world's pioneer commercial television networks, rivalling NBC for the distinction of being first overall. It began operation in the United States in 1946. It was owned by DuMont...
, and originated many
Baltimore ColtsThe Indianapolis Colts are a professional football team based in Indianapolis, Indiana. They are 2006 champions of the American Football Conference and the National Football League ....
games for DuMont.
The
Westinghouse Electric CorporationFounded in 1886 as Westinghouse Electric Company and later renamed Westinghouse Electric Corporation by George Westinghouse. The company purchased CBS in 1995 and was renamed CBS Corporation in 1997. George Westinghouse had previously founded the Westinghouse Air Brake Company.The company pioneered...
purchased WAAM in 1957 and renamed it
WJZ-TV. The WJZ call letters had previously resided on ABC's flagship radio/television combination in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
, which changed its calls to
WABC-AMWABC , known as "NewsTalkRadio 77," is a radio station in New York City. Owned by the Citadel Broadcasting Corporation, the station broadcasts on a clear channel and is the flagship station of Citadel Media...
-
TVWABC-TV, channel 7, is the flagship station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, located in New York City. WABC-TV is best known in broadcasting circles for its highly successful version of the Eyewitness News format and for its morning show Live with Regis and Kelly,...
in 1953. However, Westinghouse's history with that set of call letters went back even further, as it was the original owner of WJZ radio, the flagship station of
NBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices in Burbank,California...
's
Blue NetworkThe Blue Network was the on-air name of an American radio production and distribution service from 1942 to 1945, which traced its formal origins back to 1927...
, which would eventually become ABC.
In 1959, WJZ-TV built the world's first three-antenna candelabra tower, shared with
WMAR-TVWMAR-TV channel 2 is the ABC affiliate in Baltimore, Maryland, owned by the broadcasting division of the E.W. Scripps Company. WMAR-TV's studios and offices are located on York Road in the unincorporated community of Towson , north of the Baltimore City border, and its transmitter is on...
and
WBAL-TVWBAL-TV, channel 11, is an NBC-affiliated television station in Baltimore, Maryland. It is the flagship of Hearst Television, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Hearst Corporation, which also owns sister radio stations WBAL and WIYY...
. The tower significantly improved the station's coverage in central Maryland, and also added new viewers in
PennsylvaniaThe Commonwealth of Pennsylvania , often colloquially referred to as PA by natives and Northeasterners, is a state located in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States...
and
DelawareDelaware is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The state takes its name from Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, a British nobleman and Virginia's first colonial governor, after whom Cape Henlopen was originally named.Delaware is located in...
. It still operates from this tower today, which can be seen from
Interstate 83Interstate 83 is an Interstate Highway in the eastern United States. Its southern terminus is in Baltimore, Maryland at the Fayette Street exit; its northern terminus is in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania at Interstate 81....
in Baltimore. However, the FCC Antenna Structure Registration page gives the tower's height as 997 feet (304 meters).,
Over the years, WJZ-TV frequently pre-empted ABC programming in favor of local shows and syndicated content from Westinghouse's broadcasting division,
Group WThe Westinghouse Broadcasting Company, also known as Group W, was the broadcasting division of Westinghouse Electric Corporation. It owned several radio and television stations across the United States and distributed television shows for syndication....
(notably the former ABC daytime soap opera
Dark ShadowsDark Shadows is a Gothic soap opera that originally aired weekdays on the ABC television network, from June 27, 1966 to April 2, 1971. The show was created by Dan Curtis, who tells of a dream he had in which a girl takes a long train ride to visit a large mansion. The story "bible," which was...
which WJZ-TV pre-empted during the mid 1960s). However, ABC was more than satisfied with channel 13, which was one of its strongest affiliates. Additionally, Baltimore viewers could watch ABC programs on
Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790...
's
WMAL-TV/WJLA-TVWJLA-TV, channel 7, is the ABC television affiliate in Washington, D.C.. It is the flagship station of the Allbritton Communications Company, which also operates local cable station News Channel 8. The two stations share broadcast facilities in the Rosslyn section of Arlington, Virginia...
, whose signal decently covers most of the Baltimore area.
From 1957 to 1964, one of the station's highest-rated programs was
The Buddy Deane Show, an in-studio teen dance show modeled after ABC's
American BandstandAmerican Bandstand was a television show that aired in various versions from 1952 to 1989, hosted from 1957 until its final season by Dick Clark, who also served as producer...
. Deane's program was the inspiration for the
John WatersJohn Samuel Waters, Jr. is an American filmmaker, actor, writer, journalist, visual artist and art collector, who rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films...
1988 motion picture
Hairspray and its subsequent
Broadway musical versionHairspray is a musical with music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Scott Wittman and Shaiman and a book by Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan, based on the 1988 John Waters film Hairspray. The songs include 1960s-style dance music and "downtown" rhythm and blues...
, which in turn has been made into a
filmHairspray is a American musical film produced by Zadan/Meron Productions and distributed by New Line Cinema. It was released in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom on July 20, 2007. The film is an adaptation of the 2002 Broadway musical of the same name, and loosely based from John...
.
In 1976,
Oprah WinfreyOprah Gail Winfrey is an American media personality, actress, television producer, literary critic and magazine publisher, best known for her self-titled, multi-award winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history...
became an anchor for the station's 6:00 p.m. newscast. She also co-hosted channel 13's local talk show,
People Are Talking with
Richard SherRichard Sher is a longtime newscaster for WJZ-TV in Baltimore, Maryland. He plays a broadcaster in a cameo role in the 2006 Robin Williams movie Man of the Year....
, which premiered on August 14, 1978, and ran until she left for
ChicagoChicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois, and with more than 2.8 million people, the 3rd largest city in the United States...
in 1983. The segment continues to run on the morning newscasts.
In 1994, ABC agreed to an affiliation deal with the broadcasting division of the E.W. Scripps Company, which called for three of Scripps' television stations to become ABC affiliates. ABC agreed to the deal as a condition of keeping its affiliation on Scripps' two biggest stations,
WXYZ-TVWXYZ-TV, Channel 7, is the ABC affiliated television station in Detroit. It is owned by The E.W. Scripps Company and is the media company's largest TV station. WXYZ-TV is among the highest-rated ABC stations in the United States. The station's operations and transmitter are located at Broadcast...
in
DetroitDetroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Wayne County. Detroit is a major port city on the Detroit River, in the Midwest region of the United States. Located north of Windsor, Ontario, Detroit is the only major U.S. city that looks south to Canada. It was founded...
and WEWS in Cleveland. Both stations had been heavily wooed by CBS, which was about to lose its longtime Detroit and Cleveland affiliates to
FoxThe Fox Broadcasting Company , commonly referred to as Fox , is an American television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, from 2004 to 2009 Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the 18–49 demographic...
. One of the stations due to switch was Baltimore's then-
NBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices in Burbank,California...
affiliate, WMAR-TV.
Westinghouse Broadcasting felt betrayed by ABC after so many years of loyalty; at the time, channel 13 had been affiliated with ABC longer than any station not owned and operated by the network. As a safeguard, it began to shop for an affiliation deal of its own. Eventually, Westinghouse agreed to a longterm affiliation contract with CBS. As a result, WJZ-TV and its sister stations in
PhiladelphiaKYW-TV, virtual channel 3 , is the CBS owned and operated station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. KYW-TV shares a studio facility with its sister CW station WPSG just north of Center City Philadelphia and its transmitter is located in the Roxborough section of Philadelphia.-As WPTZ-TV:The...
and
BostonWBZ-TV is a CBS owned-and-operated television station, located in Boston, Massachusetts, broadcasting mainly a high-definition digital signal on channel 30...
became CBS affiliates (Westinghouse's two other television stations, in
PittsburghKDKA-TV is the CBS owned and operated television station in Pittsburgh. Its studios are located at One Gateway Center in Downtown Pittsburgh. It broadcasts its digital signal on UHF channel 25 from its transmitter in Pittsburgh. Along with sister station KYW-TV, it is one of two television...
and San Francisco, were already CBS affiliates).
The affiliation switch, the second in Baltimore television history, occurred on January 2, 1995, ending WJZ-TV's 47-year link with ABC. As a result, channel 13 became the third station in Baltimore to affiliate with CBS. The network had originally affiliated with WMAR-TV in 1948 before moving to WBAL-TV in 1981. Westinghouse then bought CBS in early 1996, making WJZ-TV a CBS owned-and-operated station.
WJZ-TV has used its current "Stylized 13" logo, using a font face exclusive to Westinghouse Broadcasting, since 1967. The only real change came in May 1997, when it added the CBS Eye to its logo. WJZ currently does not brand under the CBS Mandate, preferring to use its call letters.
WJZ-TV is the Baltimore-area affiliate of the
It's AcademicIt's Academic is a televised academic quiz competition for high school students, currently airing on two NBC affiliates in Washington, D.C. , Central Virginia , and one CBS affiliate Baltimore, Maryland . The show has been on the air since 1961, making it the longest continuously-running quiz show...
high school quiz competition. Channel 13 has also served two stints as the television home of the
Baltimore OriolesThe Baltimore Orioles are a professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland. They are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Since , the Orioles have played their home games at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The "Orioles" name refers to the official state...
baseball team, and has been the over-the-air home of the Orioles since 1994. It is one of the few "Big Three" stations that airs baseball on a regular basis.
Digital television
WJZ-TV shut down its analog signal, over
VHFVHF is the radio frequency range from 30 MHz to 300 MHz. Frequencies immediately below VHF are denoted High frequency , and the next higher frequencies are known as Ultra high frequency...
channel 13, on June 12, 2009, as part of the
DTV transition in the United StatesThe DTV transition in the United States is the switchover from analog to exclusively digital broadcasting of free over-the-air television programming...
. The station had been broadcasting its pre-transition digital signal over
UHFUltra high frequency designates a range of electromagnetic waves with frequencies between 300 MHz and 3 GHz . Also known as the decimetre band or decimetre wave as the wavelengths range from one to ten decimetres...
channel 38, but returned to channel 13 for its post-transition operations.
The switch caused problems for some viewers, but WJZ-TV has been granted a power increase that helps some people.
Newscasts
Soon after Westinghouse bought WJZ-TV, it significantly beefed up the station's news department. Within a few years, it passed WMAR-TV for second place. Like the other Group W stations, WJZ-TV adopted the
Eyewitness NewsEyewitness News is a name used by local television newscasts, widely used in different markets across the United States. It is also the name of a very popular music package offered by Gari Communications.-Origins:...
format pioneered at sister station KYW-TV in Philadelphia. By the early 1970s, WJZ-TV had passed WBAL-TV for first place—a lead it held for over 30 years. In recent years, however, WBAL-TV has taken over the top spot at 5, 6 and 11 p.m., though WJZ-TV is still a strong second. However, preliminary ratings data taken since the debut of
The Jay Leno ShowThe Jay Leno Show is an American prime time television talk show created by and starring Jay Leno, which premiered on September 14, 2009 on NBC following the May 29, 2009 conclusion of Leno's tenure as host of The Tonight Show.-Overview:...
(which airs on WBAL-TV) showed that WJZ-TV has returned to a dominant position for the first time since the early 2000s although the official November
Nielsen RatingsNielsen ratings are audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
sweeps period has not yet begun.
WJZ-TV was the first station in Baltimore to hire a full-time consumer reporter, as well as the first station to organize an investigative reporting team. In 1965 -- shortly after it adopted the
Eyewitness News format – Wiley Daniels became the first African-American anchor in Baltimore. He worked alongside Jerry Turner, one of the most popular anchormen in Baltimore television history. Between 1977 and 1987,
Jerry TurnerJerry Turner was an American television news anchorman at WJZ-TV in Baltimore, Maryland. He was from Meridian, Mississippi and started working at the Baltimore television station in 1962, starting the 6PM Newscast With Al Sanders in 1977.Prior to his arrival his arrival on Television Hill, WJZ's...
and
Al SandersAl Sanders , was an American, award winning, television news anchorman at WJZ-TV in Baltimore, Maryland. He helped take a third place television newscast to first place, where it stayed throughout his career.-Background:...
were the top news team until Turner's death. Denise Koch succeeded Turner upon his death in 1987; she remains at the anchor desk alongside Vic Carter, who succeeded Sanders following the latter's death in 1995. Like other CBS-owned stations, channel 13 offers a web only newscast, "WJZ At Your Desk", shown weekdays.
Since 1987, WJZ-TV's news theme has been "Chroma Cues" by Music Oasis, which was specifically written for the station.
Out of market coverage in Delaware, Maryland and the Virginias
In Delaware, it is carried on Comcast in Sussex County. There is no coverage in most of Kent County except in the area of Chesapeake City for Atlantic Broadband cable subscribers. There is no coverage in all of New Castle County. New Castle and Kent counties are part of the Philadelphia market, which also carries KYW, the market's CBS affiliate. Only Sussex County is part of the Salisbury, Maryland market which carries its CBS affiliate, WBOC.
In Maryland, it is carried in Cambridge, Pocomoke City, Ocean City, Salisbury and Snow Hill. These areas are in the Salisbury market. WBOC is also carried as well.
In Virginia well west of Washington, DC in the far western end of their market, WJZ is carried on cable alongside with WUSA, the CBS affiliate for Washington, DC. It is carried on cable in the Shenandoah Valley in Elkton, Front Royal, Luray and Winchester. In West Virginia, it is carried in the Martinsburg area. It is part of the Washington, DC market, which carries WUSA as well.
WJZ's analog signal could be picked up via antenna as far west as Warrenton and Culpepper, Virginia and as far east as Salem County, New Jersey.
There is no satellite coverage outside of the Baltimore market for WJZ.
Current
- Anchors:
- Vic Carter - Eyewitness News @ 4:30, 6 & 11 PM
- Kai Jackson - Eyewitness News @ 4 & 5 PM
- Denise Koch - Eyewitness News @ 4:30, 6 & 11 PM
- Don Scott - Eyewitness News Morning Edition & @ Noon
- Sally Thorner - Eyewitness News @ 4 & 5 PM
- Mary Bubala - Eyewitness News @ Noon/General Assignment Reporter
- Jessica Kartalija - Eyewitness News Weekend Morning Edition/General Assignment Reporter
- Kellye Lynn - Fill-In Anchor for Eyewitness News Morning Edition, @ 4, 5 or 6/Healthwatch Reporter
- Adam May - Eyewitness News Weekend / General Assignment Reporter
- Meteorologists:
- Marty Bass - Eyewitness News Morning Edition & @ Noon
- Bob Turk - Eyewitness News @ 4, 4:30, 5, 6 & 11 PM
- Tim Williams - Eyewitness News Weekend Morning Edition (also anchors)
- Bernadette Woods - Eyewitness News Weekend
- Sports:
- Stan Saunders - Weekend Sports Anchor/Sports Reporter
- Mark Viviano - Sports Director @ 6 & 11 PM
- Traffic:
- Sharon Gibala - Eyewitness News Morning Edition, @ 4 & 5 PM/General Assignment Reporter on Sunday Mornings
- Reporters:
- Gigi Barnett - General Assignment Reporter
- Suzanne Collins - Investigate Reporter
- Alex DeMetrick - General Assignment Reporter
- Dennis Edwards - General Assignment Reporter
- Mike Hellgren - General Assignment Reporter
- Weijia Jiang - General Assignment Reporter
- Ron Matz - General Assignment Reporter/Guest personality on the "Eyewitness News Morning Edition"
- Kelly McPherson - General Assignment Reporter
- Mike Schuh - General Assignment Reporter
- Richard Sher - General Assignment Reporter
- Derek Valcourt - General Assignment Reporter
- Pat Warren - General Assignment Reporter
- Other On-Air personalities:
- Captain Mike Perry - SkyEye Chopper 13 Pilot/Reporter
Notable alumni
- George Bauman-one of Maryland's first television reporters
- Randy Blair- weekend sports anchor, deceased
- Rick Brinkley
- John Buren
- Nick Charles
Nick Charles is an American sports sportscaster and journalist. He was one of CNN's first on-air personalities and won three CableACE Awards for best sports program during his 17-year tenure as co-host of the network's Sports Tonight. He is a graduate of Columbia College Chicago...
- now with Fox Sports
- Chris Ely
- Boomer Esiason
Norman Julius "Boomer" Esiason is a former American football quarterback and current network color commentator. He played for the National Football League's Cincinnati Bengals, New York Jets, and Arizona Cardinals before working as an analyst for ABC and HBO...
(interned at WJZ-TV as a student at the University of MarylandThe University of Maryland, College Park is a public research university located in the city of College Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C. Founded in 1856, the University of Maryland is the flagship institution of the University System of Maryland...
) (http://www.enquirer.com/columns/kiese/1998/07/072798jki.html)
- Dick Gelfman - legal reporter
- John Kennelly
- Katie Leahan
- Frank Luber - now radio talk show host at WCBM
WCBM is a Talk formatted broadcast radio station in Baltimore, Maryland. The station is owned by WCBM Maryland, Inc., which also owns WVIE, 1370 AM...
- Keith McBee – news anchor in the 1950s, later ABC network weekend anchor in New York
- Ralphe Neill
- Don O'Brien
- Michael Olesker
Michael Olesker was a longtime columnist for the Baltimore Sun newspaper in Baltimore, Maryland. He resigned on January 4, 2006, after it was alleged that his columns contained passages plagiarized from articles at other newspapers. Olesker is known for his liberal viewpoints and for his...
The Baltimore ExaminerThe Baltimore Examiner was a free daily newspaper, one of the two big dailies in Baltimore, Maryland . It was launched in 2006 by the Philip Anschutz-owned Clarity Media Group as part of a national chain that includes the San Francisco Examiner and the Washington Examiner...
columnist
- Royal Parker
Royal Pollokoff , better known by the stage name Royal Parker, is an American television personality. In a broadcasting career spanning the 1940s–1990s, he appeared in various roles, becoming a staple on television screens in the Baltimore, Maryland, area.-Early years:Born in Baltimore,...
- Sandra Pinckney
- Al Sanders
Al Sanders , was an American, award winning, television news anchorman at WJZ-TV in Baltimore, Maryland. He helped take a third place television newscast to first place, where it stayed throughout his career.-Background:...
news anchor, deceased
- Deborah Stone
- Greg Starddard
- Lou Tilley
Lou Tilley is a freelance anchor and reporter for Comcast SportsNet. Prior to joining CSN Mid-Atlantic in September 2007, he was also a freelance anchor and reporter for SportsNet New York, which is owned in part by Comcast. He continues to co-host, along with the former Olympic ice skater, "Nancy...
- Brooks Tomlin
- Jerry Turner
Jerry Turner was an American television news anchorman at WJZ-TV in Baltimore, Maryland. He was from Meridian, Mississippi and started working at the Baltimore television station in 1962, starting the 6PM Newscast With Al Sanders in 1977.Prior to his arrival his arrival on Television Hill, WJZ's...
news anchor, deceased
- Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Gail Winfrey is an American media personality, actress, television producer, literary critic and magazine publisher, best known for her self-titled, multi-award winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history...
- Klaus Wagner
Station Slogans
- Baltimore's Most Watched Newscast (1992-2002)
- Baltimore's News Station (2002-2008; primary)
- Complete Coverage (2002-present; secondary)
- Maryland's News Station (2006-present; primary)
External links