WBAL-TV

WBAL-TV (channel 11) is a television station in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, affiliated with NBC. It has been the main television station in the area for many years and is known for bringing important news and entertainment to local viewers.

The station is the flagship property of Hearst Television, which has owned it since it began. WBAL-TV works closely with its sister radio stations, WBAL (1090 AM) and WIYY (97.9 FM). All three stations share studios and offices on Television Hill in the Woodberry section of Baltimore. This location is also near the transmission tower that WBAL-TV shares with WIYY and several other local television and radio stations.

History

WBAL-TV started broadcasting on March 11, 1948, from its first studios on North Charles Street in Downtown Baltimore. It was the second television station in Maryland, after WMAR-TV. The Hearst Corporation, which also owned WBAL radio and two local newspapers, built and launched WBAL-TV.

At the beginning, WBAL-TV was an NBC affiliate because its radio sister station had a long-standing relationship with NBC's radio networks. Early shows included Musical Almanac, Look and Cook, and Know Baltimore, along with news and sports programs. In the 1950s, the station introduced Romper Room, a popular children's show, and Quiz Club, a weekday game show. In the 1960s and early 1970s, WBAL-TV produced several local bowling shows and launched children's entertainment programs like Rhea and Sunshine and Pete the Pirate. The station was also the first in Baltimore to broadcast in color and to acquire a videocassette machine.

In 1981, WBAL-TV switched from NBC to CBS, but returned to NBC in 1995 after CBS moved to WJZ-TV. This change was part of a larger realignment among television networks at the time.

Programming

Preemptions and deferrals

When WBAL-TV first started as an NBC station, it did not show the first season of Saturday Night Live because the show had some content that was considered too bold at the time. Instead, the station showed movies during that time slot. Later, in the summer of 1976, WBAL-TV decided to show the entire late-night Saturday lineup from NBC, mainly for a monthly news program called Weekend. The popular sketch show Saturday Night Live began airing on August 14, 1976, with a warning from the station about some mature content.

When WBAL-TV became a CBS station, it did not show some of CBS’s daytime and Saturday morning shows. Viewers in Baltimore could watch those shows on another station, WDVM-TV/WUSA, in Washington. WBAL-TV also chose not to show Late Show with David Letterman when it started, preferring another show, The Arsenio Hall Show. Because of this, CBS moved Letterman to another local station, WNUV.

WBAL-TV is one of the few NBC stations that does not show the fourth hour of the Today show. Viewers can see that part on another NBC station, WRC-TV, in Washington.

Sports programming

In 1970, when the Baltimore Colts moved to a new football league, WBAL-TV became the main station to show their games. The station covered the Colts’ win in Super Bowl V in 1971. This continued until 1981, when another station started showing the games. When the Baltimore Ravens began in 1996, WBAL-TV showed their games for two years before another station took over. Today, WBAL-TV still shows Ravens games when they are part of special NBC shows like Sunday Night Football.

WBAL-TV also showed Baltimore Orioles baseball games from 1954 to 1981 as part of NBC’s agreement with Major League Baseball. The station also showed some Orioles games from 1995 to 2000 and again from 1990 to 1993 when it was a CBS station. For many years, Vince Bagli was the station’s main sports reporter, known as the “Dean of Baltimore Sports.”

News operation

WBAL-TV broadcasts 35 hours of local news each week. The station has a long history of strong news coverage, often ranking high in viewer ratings. In the 1960s, it was the top news station, but later faced strong competition from another local station, WJZ-TV. Recently, WBAL-TV has been second in ratings but still very popular.

In 1974, WBAL-TV introduced a fast-paced news format called Action News, which briefly made it the top station again. The format included short news reports and lively themes. The news director, Ron Kershaw, brought in new ideas and anchors to make the news better.

In 2009, WBAL-TV started broadcasting its news in high definition, making it look clearer. The station also expanded its morning news and added a new evening newscast on a digital channel.

Awards and achievements

WBAL-TV was the first Baltimore station to win a Peabody Award for its news coverage of the Chesapeake Bay. The station has also won other awards for excellent reporting, including regional Edward R. Murrow Awards, the George Polk Award, and the American Bar Association Gavel Award. It has been recognized as the best television news operation in Baltimore by groups like the Associated Press.

Notable current on-air staff

• Gerry Sandusky — Sports anchor

Notable former on-air staff

• Curt Anderson
• Sade Baderinwa
• Campbell Brown
• Ron Canada – newscaster (1970s–early 1980s)
• Spencer Christian
• Carol Costello
• Rod Daniels (1984–2015)
• Mike Hambrick
• Vicki Mabrey
• Royal Parker (1962–mid-1990s)
• Lisa Salters
• Sue Simmons
• Ron Smith
• Julius Westheimer (1916–2005) – financial and business news/commentary

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's signal is multiplexed:

Subchannel broadcast with MPEG-4 video

Broadcast on behalf of another station

WBAL-TV has a digital subchannel on 11.2. It started in August 2005 as "11 Insta-Weather Plus", linked to NBC Weather Plus until November 2008. After that, it showed local and regional weather information until April 2009. Then, it changed to include local weather, newscasts, and special shows. On March 5, 2012, WBAL began a 10 p.m. newscast on this subchannel, which was called "WBAL Plus."

On July 24, 2012, Hearst Television renewed its agreement with MeTV through 2015. This allowed WBAL-TV and other stations to add MeTV as a digital subchannel. MeTV was added to subchannel 11.2 on September 10, 2012.

Analog-to-digital conversion

WBAL-TV stopped its analog signal on VHF channel 11 on June 12, 2009. This was the official date when TV stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts. The digital signal moved from UHF channel 59 to VHF channel 11. Some VHF stations later increased their power after facing signal issues.

As part of the repacking after the 2016-2017 FCC incentive auction, WBAL-TV moved to VHF channel 12 on July 2, 2020, but still used virtual channel 11. At the same time, WJZ-TV moved to channel 11, which had been WBAL-TV's old digital channel.