WJZ-TV (channel 13) 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 ...

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, United States, airing programming from the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

network. It is

owned and operated In the broadcasting industry, an owned-and-operated station (frequently abbreviated as an O&O) usually refers to a television or radio station owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a station from an affiliate ...

by the network's CBS News and Stations division, and maintains studios and offices on Television Hill in the Woodberry section of Baltimore, adjacent to the transmission tower it shares with several other Baltimore broadcast outlets.

History

Early history

The station first signed on the air on November 1, 1948, as WAAM, becoming the third television station in Baltimore behind

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 r ...

(channel 11) and

WMAR-TV WMAR-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC and owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. The station's studios and offices are located on York Road ( ...

(channel 2), all within just over a year. The station was originally owned by Radio-Television of Baltimore Inc., whose principals were Baltimore businessmen and brothers, Ben and Herman Cohen. Channel 13 was originally an ABC affiliate, the network's fifth outlet to be located on the

East Coast East Coast may refer to: Entertainment * East Coast hip hop, a subgenre of hip hop * East Coast (ASAP Ferg song), "East Coast" (ASAP Ferg song), 2017 * East Coast (Saves the Day song), "East Coast" (Saves the Day song), 2004 * East Coast FM, a ra ...

. It carried a secondary affiliation with the

DuMont Television Network The DuMont Television Network (also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont Television, simply DuMont/Du Mont, or (incorrectly) Dumont ) was one of America's pioneer commercial television networks, rivaling NBC and CBS for the distinction of being ...

until its closure in 1956. Both affiliations moved from WMAR-TV, which became an exclusive CBS affiliate. On the station's second day of operations, WAAM broadcast the 1948 presidential election returns and various entertainment shows, remaining on the air for 23 consecutive hours. Channel 13 has been housed in the same studio facility, located near

Druid Hill Park Druid Hill Park is a urban park in northwest Baltimore, Maryland. Its boundaries are marked by Druid Park Drive (north), Swann Drive and Reisterstown Road (west and south), and the Jones Falls Expressway / Interstate 83 (east).Baltimore Colts games for the network's National Football League coverage. The

Westinghouse Electric Corporation The Westinghouse Electric Corporation was an American manufacturing company founded in 1886 by George Westinghouse. It was originally named "Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company" and was renamed "Westinghouse Electric Corporation" in ...

purchased WAAM from the Cohen brothers in May 1957. Westinghouse then took control of the station in August of that year, and changed its callsign to WJZ-TV the following month. The WJZ call letters had previously resided on ABC's flagship radio/television combination in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, which changed its calls to WABC-AM- FM- TV 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 NBC's

Blue Network The Blue Network (previously known as the NBC Blue Network) was the on-air name of a now defunct American Commercial broadcasting, radio network, which broadcast from 1927 through 1945. Beginning as one of the two radio networks owned by the N ...

, which would eventually become ABC. All of Baltimore's television stations at the time had fairly short transmission towers in the medium's early years; channel 13's original tower was located next to the station's studios. In 1959, WJZ-TV collaborated with WBAL-TV and WMAR-TV to form a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and economic risk, risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four rea ...

to build the world's first three-pronged candelabra tower. Constructed behind the WJZ-TV studios and opposite the original channel 13 tower, it was the tallest free standing television antenna in the United States at the time of its completion. The new tower significantly improved channel 13's signal coverage in central Maryland, and also added new viewers in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

and

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

WJZ-TV nearly lost its ABC affiliation in 1977, when the network briefly pursued WBAL-TV just as ABC became the most-watched broadcast network (in prime time) in the United States for the first time. However, WBAL-TV declined the ABC affiliation offer due to ABC's last-place network evening newscast offerings of the time (a situation that would improve in ensuing years), keeping ABC on channel 13.

Switch to CBS

In June 1994, ABC agreed to an affiliation deal with the broadcasting division of the

E. W. Scripps Company The E. W. Scripps Company 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 conglomerate. The company is he ...

, which resulted in three of Scripps' television stations—WMAR-TV in Baltimore,

WFTS-TV WFTS-TV (channel 28), branded as ABC Action News, is a television station licensed to Tampa, Florida, United States, serving the Tampa Bay area as an affiliate of ABC. It is owned by the E.W. Scripps Company alongside Bradenton-licensed Ion Te ...

Tampa Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough County ...

and

KNXV-TV KNXV-TV (channel 15) is a television station in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside CW affiliate KASW (channel 61). Both stations share studios on 44th Street on the city' ...

Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...

—becoming ABC affiliates. 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, Detroit, Michigan, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside Independent station (North America), independent st ...

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

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 two stations that have been built and signed on by ...

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

. Both stations had been heavily courted by CBS, which was about to lose two of its longtime affiliates—

WJBK WJBK (channel 2) is a television station in Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government o ...

and WJW—to

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

. ABC was reluctant to include WMAR, then an NBC affiliate, in the deal; it had been a ratings also-ran for over 30 years while WJZ-TV was one of the strongest ABC affiliates in the nation. However, not wanting to be relegated to UHF in two markets with few viable choices for a new affiliate, ABC opted to end its 46-year affiliation with channel 13 and move its affiliation to channel 2. Group W felt betrayed by ABC after so many years of loyalty, as channel 13 had been ABC's longest-tenured affiliate at the time (a distinction that now belongs to

WJLA-TV WJLA-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Washington, D.C., affiliated with ABC. It is one of two flagship stations of Sinclair Broadcast Group (alongside dual Fox/ MyNetworkTV affiliate WBFF hannel 45in Baltimore), and is also s ...

in Washington). As a safeguard, it began to shop for an affiliation deal of its own. In the early summer of 1994, the station was approached by NBC to negotiate an affiliation agreement with the network to replace WMAR as its Baltimore affiliate. Channel 13 station management would later turn the offer down. Instead, one month later, Westinghouse agreed to a long-term affiliation contract with CBS, resulting in WJZ-TV, as well as

WBZ-TV WBZ-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside independent station WSBK-TV (ch ...

in Boston and KYW-TV in Philadelphia, switching to CBS (Westinghouse's two other television stations,

KDKA-TV KDKA-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. It is owned-and-operated station, owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division a ...

in Pittsburgh and

KPIX-TV KPIX-TV (channel 5) is a television station licensed to San Francisco, California, United States, serving as the San Francisco Bay Area's CBS network outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside C ...

in San Francisco, were already CBS affiliates). The affiliation switch, the second in Baltimore television history, occurred early on the morning of January 2, 1995. Though ABC's affiliation contract with channel 13 did not expire until January 1995, starting in 1994, all CBS programs preempted by WBAL-TV would air on WJZ-TV. The last ABC prime time program to air on channel 13 was the

made-for-TV movie A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

'' A Dangerous Affair'', which was broadcast at 9:00 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, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and a small port ...

on January 1, and the final overall ABC program to air on channel 13 was the January 2 edition of ''

ABC World News Now ''World News Now'' (or WNN) is an American overnight news broadcast seen on ABC. Airing during the early morning hours each Monday through Friday, the program features a mix of general news and off-beat stories, along with weather forecasts, s ...

''. 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. Almost by default, the 1995 switches saw the NBC affiliation return to WBAL-TV after a 14-year absence. CBS' move to WJZ immediately resolved several scheduling issues the network had with WBAL-TV. The station had picked up half of its Saturday morning programming, as well as an hour of daytime programming. WJZ-TV also picked up the ''

Late Show with David Letterman The ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the The Late Show (franchise), ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by ...

'', which had aired on

WNUV WNUV (channel 54) is a television station in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, affiliated with The CW. It is owned by Cunningham Broadcasting, which maintains a local marketing agreement (LMA) with Sinclair Broadcast Group, owner of Fox/MyNetw ...

(channel 54) after WBAL passed on it (one of the few CBS affiliates to do so). Westinghouse then bought CBS on November 24, 1995, making WJZ-TV a CBS

owned-and-operated station In the broadcasting industry, an owned-and-operated station (frequently abbreviated as an O&O) usually refers to a television or radio station owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a station from an affiliate ...

. Notably, this marked the first time that CBS had wholly owned a television station in the Baltimore/Washington corridor; it had been minority owner of WTOP-TV in Washington (now WUSA) from 1950 to 1955. WJZ-TV has used its current stylized "13" logo, using a font face exclusive to Group W, since 1967. In 2002, the CBS eye was added, and in 2018, the station switched to a silver and gold-colored version (resembling logo styles used by its sister stations) with the WJZ call letters displayed below in squares. CBS extended its usage of the WJZ call sign to radio on November 3, 2008, when

CBS Radio CBS Radio was a radio broadcasting company and radio network operator owned by CBS Corporation and founded in 1928, with consolidated radio station groups owned by CBS and Westinghouse Broadcasting/Group W since the 1920s, and Infinity Broadc ...

changed the call signs of two of its Baltimore stations, WHFS (105.7 FM) and WJFK (1300 AM), to

WJZ-FM WJZ-FM (105.7 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Catonsville, Maryland, and serving the Baltimore metropolitan area. The station is owned by Audacy, Inc. through licensee Audacy License, LLC, and it broadcasts a sports radio for ...

and WJZ in reflection of their connection to WJZ-TV; the changes coincided with the move of WJFK's local

sports radio Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often- boisterous on-ai ...

programming, including a program co-hosted by WJZ-TV sports anchor Mark Viviano, to WJZ-FM. On February 2, 2017, CBS Radio announced that it would spin off from

CBS Corporation The second incarnation of CBS Corporation (the first being a short-lived rename of the Westinghouse Electric Corporation) was an American multinational media conglomerate with interests primarily in commercial broadcasting, publishing, and t ...

and merge with Entercom (now

Audacy, Inc. Audacy, Inc. is an American broadcasting company based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1968 as Entercom Communications Corporation, it is the second largest radio company in the United States, owning 235 radio stations across 48 media ...

), effectively separating WJZ-TV from the WJZ radio stations; the transaction closed on November 17, 2017.

Programming

WJZ-TV is the Baltimore area affiliate of the ''

It's Academic ''It's Academic'' is the name for a number of televised academic student quiz shows for high school students through the United States and internationally. ''It's Academic'' programs have notably aired on NBC-owned WMAQ-TV Chicago, WRC-TV ( ...

'' high school quiz competition. Over the years, WJZ-TV frequently preempted ABC programming in favor of locally produced programs and syndicated content from Westinghouse's broadcasting division, Group W, such as ''

The Mike Douglas Show ''The Mike Douglas Show'' was an American daytime television talk show that was hosted by Mike Douglas. It began as a local program in Cleveland before being carried on other stations owned by Westinghouse Broadcasting. The show went into nati ...

'' and the original version of ''

The Merv Griffin Show ''The Merv Griffin Show'' is an American television talk show starring Merv Griffin. The series ran from October 1, 1962 to March 29, 1963 on NBC, May 10, 1965 to July 4, 1969 in first-run syndication, from August 18, 1969 to February 11, 1972 ...

''; notably, the former ABC daytime

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

Dark Shadows ''Dark Shadows'' is an American gothic soap opera that aired weekdays on the ABC television network, from June 27, 1966, to April 2, 1971. The show depicted the lives, loves, trials, and tribulations of the wealthy Collins family of Collinspo ...

'' was preempted during the mid-1960s. WJZ-TV aired ''

The Edge of Night ''The Edge of Night'' is an American television mystery crime drama series and soap opera, created by Irving Vendig and produced by Procter & Gamble Productions. It debuted on CBS on April 2, 1956, and ran as a live broadcast on that netwo ...

'' in pattern from its December 1975 relocation from CBS to ABC until September 16, 1983; the following Monday, the soap opera was moved to a one-day

delay Delay (from Latin: dilatio) may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Delay 1968'', a 1981 album by German experimental rock band Can * ''The Delay'', a 2012 Uruguayan film People * B. H. DeLay (1891–1923), American aviator and acto ...

time slot of 11:00 a.m., where it remained until the series took a two-week hiatus in favor of ABC's coverage of the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the secon ...

. Despite the preemptions and delays, ABC was more than satisfied with channel 13, which was one of its strongest affiliates. Additionally, Baltimore viewers could watch ABC programs on Washington's WMAL-TV/WJLA-TV (channel 7), 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 ''The Buddy Deane Show'' was a teen dance television show, created by Zvi Shoubin, hosted by Winston "Buddy" Deane (1924–2003), and aired on WJZ-TV (Channel 13), the ABC affiliate station in Baltimore from 1957 until 1964. It was similar to Phi ...

'', an in-studio teen dance show similar to ABC's ''

American Bandstand ''American Bandstand'', abbreviated ''AB'', is an American music-performance and dance television program that aired in various versions from 1952 to 1989, and was hosted from 1956 until its final season by Dick Clark, who also served as the pro ...

'', which WJZ-TV also preempted in favor of the Deane program. Deane's program was the inspiration for the

John Waters John Samuel Waters Jr. (born April 22, 1946) is an American filmmaker, writer, actor, and artist. He rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films, including '' Multiple Maniacs'' (1970), '' Pink Flamingos'' (1972) and '' Fe ...

1988 motion picture ''

Hairspray Hairspray may refer to: * Hair spray, a personal grooming product that keeps hair protected from humidity and wind * ''Hairspray'' (1988 film), a film by John Waters ** ''Hairspray'' (1988 soundtrack), the film's soundtrack album ** ''Hairspray ...

'' and its subsequent Broadway musical version, which in turn has been made into a

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

. Since becoming a CBS affiliate, WJZ-TV has carried the network's lineup in pattern with virtually no preemptions except for breaking news emergencies and

Orioles Oriole or Orioles may refer to: Animals * Old World oriole, colorful passerine birds in the family Oriolidae * New World oriole, a group of birds in the family Icteridae Music * The Orioles, an R&B and doo-wop group of the late 1940s and earl ...

baseball games, as per an agreement between Group W and CBS. Prior to September 2019, WJZ-TV aired the ''

CBS Evening News The ''CBS Evening News'' is the flagship evening television news program of CBS News, the news division of the CBS television network in the United States. The ''CBS Evening News'' is a daily evening broadcast featuring news reports, feature st ...

'' on a half-hour tape delay, due to an hour-long 6 p.m. newscast. Current syndicated programming carried on this station includes '' Dr. Phil'' and ''

Entertainment Tonight ''Entertainment Tonight'' (or simply ''ET'') is an American Broadcast syndication, first-run syndicated news broadcasting news magazine, newsmagazine program that is distributed by CBS Media Ventures throughout the United States and owned by Para ...

''. Both shows are distributed by CBS' corporate cousin,

CBS Media Ventures CBS Media Ventures, Inc. (formerly CBS Television Distribution, Inc. and CBS Paramount Domestic Television, Inc.) is an American television distribution company owned by CBS Studios, part of CBS Entertainment Group, a division of Paramount Glo ...

Sports programming

WJZ-TV has been the ''de facto'' broadcaster for the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays its ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

, airing a majority of the team's contests since

acquired rights to the

American Football Conference The American Football Conference (AFC) is one of the two conferences of the National Football League (NFL), the highest professional level of American football in the United States. The AFC and its counterpart, the National Football Conference ...

in 1998, including their

Super Bowl XXXV Super Bowl XXXV was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Baltimore Ravens and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion New York Giants to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for ...

and XLVII appearances, both victories, at the end of the

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

and 2012 seasons. Channel 13 has also served two stints as the television home of the Baltimore Orioles baseball team, from 1954 to 1978 and from

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

until 2017. It was one of the few " Big Three" stations to air baseball on a regular basis. As an ABC affiliate, WJZ-TV also broadcast select Orioles games via ABC's MLB broadcast contract from

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

to 1989, including their 1979 and 1983 World Series appearances, the latter won by the team.

News operation

WJZ-TV presently broadcasts 44 hours, 55 minutes of locally produced newscasts each week (with 7 hours, 35 minutes each weekday, four hours on Saturdays and three hours on Sundays). Soon after Westinghouse bought WJZ-TV, it significantly beefed up the station's news department. On October 12, 1957, WJZ-TV cameraman John Kelly filmed a motion picture of the final stage of

Sputnik 1 Sputnik 1 (; see § Etymology) was the first artificial Earth satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 as part of the Soviet space program. It sent a radio signal back to Earth for t ...

's rocket crossing the pre-dawn sky of Baltimore, featured in a half-hour special program on Sputnik, broadcast that evening by Westinghouse sister station WBZ-TV in Boston. Within a few years, it passed WMAR-TV for second place. Like the other Group W stations, WJZ-TV adopted the '' Eyewitness News'' format pioneered at Philadelphia sister station KYW-TV. By the early 1970s, WJZ-TV had passed WBAL-TV for first place—a lead it held for over 30 years. Around 2001, however, WBAL-TV passed WJZ-TV for first place in all evening timeslots, though WJZ-TV still placed a strong second. However, in the official November 2009 Nielsen ratings sweeps period, the first since the debut of ''

The Jay Leno Show ''The Jay Leno Show'' is a talk show created and hosted by Jay Leno. Premiering on NBC on September 14, 2009, the program aired on weeknights at 10:00 p.m. ET/ PT through February 9, 2010. The program was modeled upon the format of a late ...

'' (which aired on WBAL-TV), WJZ-TV returned to a dominant position at 11 p.m. for the first time since the early 2000s. Both stations spent the next two years in a virtual dead heat in the late news. Since the November 2011 Nielsen sweeps period, WJZ has regained the lead in all news time slots in both total households and the critical 25–54 demographic; however, WBAL remains a strong second. It has been one of CBS's strongest O&Os ever since the 1995 affiliation switch. 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 African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

anchor in Baltimore. He worked alongside

Jerry Turner Jerry Turner may refer to: * Jerry Turner (theater director) Jerry Turner (1927–2004) served as artistic director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival from 1971 to 1991. He transformed the festival from a summer program for semi-professional acto ...

, one of the most popular anchormen in Baltimore television history.

Al Sanders Al Sanders (March 13, 1941 - May 5, 1995) was an American 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 In 1967 Sa ...

succeeded Daniels in 1977; he and Turner were the top news team until Turner succumbed to esophageal cancer. 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. In 1976,

Oprah Winfrey Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954), or simply Oprah, is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', br ...

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 Sher, which premiered on August 14, 1978, until she left for

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

in 1983. Since September 2008, ''

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 and regional news, events, issues, people, and industries. Founded in 1837, it is currently owned by Tr ...

'' has had a news partnership with WJZ-TV; involving sharing content, story leads, and cooperating together on stories. Channel 13 promotes stories featured in the ''Sun'' on its news broadcasts. The ''Sun'' promotes WJZ's stories and weather team on its pages. Coincidentally, ''The Baltimore Sun'' was the founder and original owner of rival WMAR-TV from 1947 to 1986. On October 25, 2009, WJZ-TV became the third Baltimore station to begin airing newscasts in high definition. For several months after the upgrade, field reports were still presented in 4:3

standard definition Standard-definition television (SDTV, SD, often shortened to standard definition) is a television system which uses a resolution that is not considered to be either high or enhanced definition. "Standard" refers to it being the prevailing sp ...

until it switched over to the 16:9

widescreen Widescreen images are displayed within a set of aspect ratios (relationship of image width to height) used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than t ...

format. As of September 2011, all of WJZ-TV's locally produced video footage, including remote field reports, are in HD, making it the first station in Baltimore to do so. During the noon newscast on August 9, 2018, WJZ-TV unveiled a new set, and introduced the same on-air graphics scheme used by other CBS owned-and-operated stations (the last among the group to do so). On August 20, 2018, WJZ-TV expanded its morning newscasts from 5–7 a.m. to 4:30–7 a.m., becoming the last station in Baltimore to start their morning newscasts at 4:30 a.m. On September 9, 2019, WJZ debuted a 7 p.m. newscast for the first time, and the ''CBS Evening News'' was moved to 6:30 p.m. WJZ-TV launched a streaming news service, CBSN Baltimore (now CBS News Baltimore), a localized version of the national

CBSN CBS News (formerly CBSN, also known as the CBS News Streaming Network) is an American streaming video news channel operated by the CBS News and Paramount Streaming divisions of Paramount Global. Launched on November 6, 2014, it features blocks ...

service) on August 23, 2021, as part of a rollout of similar services across the CBS-owned stations.

Current on-air staff

* Marty Bass – weathercaster

Notable former on-air staff

* Nick Charles (deceased) *

Boomer Esiason Norman Julius "Boomer" Esiason (; born April 17, 1961) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons, primarily with the Cincinnati Bengals. He was selected in the ...

– intern while attending the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

– now at

CBS Sports CBS Sports is the sports division of the American television network CBS. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on W 52nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS Broadcast Center on W ...

and at WFAN AM– FM in

* Adam May – was most recently at

Bob McAllister Robert C. "Bob" McAllister (June 2, 1935 – July 21, 1998) was an American television personality, magician, and children's entertainer and a host of ''Wonderama''. Early career Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Bob first made h ...

(deceased) *

Michael Olesker Michael Olesker (born 1945) is a former syndicated columnist for ''The Baltimore Sun'' newspaper in Baltimore, Maryland, and a book author. Olesker attended the University of Maryland where he was on the staff of the school newspaper, ''The Diamo ...

* Royal Parker (deceased) *

(deceased) * Richard Sher *

Ken Singleton Kenneth Wayne Singleton (born June 10, 1947) is an American former professional baseball player and television sports commentator. He played in Major League Baseball as an outfielder and designated hitter from to , most prominently as a member ...

– now at

YES Network The Yankee Entertainment and Sports Network (YES) is an American pay television regional sports network owned by Yankee Global Enterprises (the largest shareholder with 26%), Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios (which owns 20%), ...

* Sally Thorner (retired) *

(deceased) *

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's digital signal is

multiplexed In telecommunications and computer networking, multiplexing (sometimes contracted to muxing) is a method by which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The aim is to share a scarce resource - a ...

Analog-to-digital conversion

WJZ-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 13, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations 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 38 to VHF channel 13.CDBS Print
/ref>http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/getattachment_exh.cgi?exhibit_id=616897 WMAR-TV took over the channel 38 allocation as it moved its digital signal from channel 52 as a result of the phaseout of channels 52–69. The switch caused problems for some viewers due to reception issues related to the transition, but the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...

granted WJZ-TV a power increase that helps some people.

Spectrum repacking

As a part of the repacking process following the 2016–2017 FCC incentive auction, WJZ-TV relocated to VHF channel 11 on July 3, 2020, using

PSIP The Program and System Information Protocol (PSIP) is the MPEG (a video and audio industry group) and privately defined program-specific information originally defined by General Instrument for the DigiCipher 2 system and later extended for the AT ...

to display its

virtual channel In most telecommunications organizations, a virtual channel is a method of remapping the ''program number'' as used in H.222 Program Association Tables and Program Mapping Tables to a channel number that can be entered via digits on a receiver's ...

number as 13. WBAL-TV concurrently moved to channel 12.

Out-of-market coverage

In Delaware, WJZ is carried on Comcast in Sussex County. There is no coverage in most of

New Castle County New Castle County is the northernmost of the three counties of the U.S. state of Delaware (New Castle, Kent, and Sussex). As of the 2020 census, the population was 570,719, making it the most populous county in Delaware, with nearly 60% of the ...

except in the area of Middletown for

Atlantic Broadband Breezeline (previously Atlantic Broadband) is the trade name for the United States operations of Cogeco Communications, constituting the 8th largest cable operator in the United States, based on the number of television service customers served ...

cable subscribers. There is no coverage in all of Kent County. New Castle and Kent counties are part of the

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

market, which also carries WJZ's sister station KYW-TV. Only Sussex County is part of the

Salisbury, Maryland Salisbury () is a city in and the county seat of Wicomico County, Maryland, Wicomico County, Maryland, United States, and the largest city in Eastern Shore of Maryland, the state's Eastern Shore region. The population was 33,050 at the 2020 United ...

, market which carries its CBS affiliate, WBOC. In the beginning of

CATV Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with broadc ...

, most if not all of Delaware once carried WJZ.http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/coals7/forms/search/cableSearchNf.cfm In Maryland, the eastern shore communities of

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

, East New Market/

Secretary A secretary, administrative professional, administrative assistant, executive assistant, administrative officer, administrative support specialist, clerk, military assistant, management assistant, office secretary, or personal assistant is a w ...

, Pocomoke City, Ocean City, Salisbury and Snow Hill carry WJZ. These areas are in the Salisbury market which WBOC is carried. From Hagerstown and west towards

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is a historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th century until 1974. From 19 ...

, WJZ is carried there as well in the far northwestern part of the Washington, D.C. market. Between Hagerstown and Cumberland, the towns of

Hancock Hancock may refer to: Places in the United States * Hancock, Iowa * Hancock, Maine * Hancock, Maryland * Hancock, Massachusetts * Hancock, Michigan * Hancock, Minnesota * Hancock, Missouri * Hancock, New Hampshire ** Hancock (CDP), New Hampshir ...

and Oldtown do not carry WJZ. In Pennsylvania, it is carried in Greencastle,

Delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), a letter of the Greek alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * D ( NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta") * Delta Air Lines, US * Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19 Delta may also ...

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

, Waynesboro and York County (but not in the

city of York The City of York is a unitary authority area with city status in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England. The district's main settlement is York, and it extends to the surrounding area including the town of Haxby and the villages of ...

) which are in the

Harrisburg Harrisburg is the capital city of the Pennsylvania, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the List of c ...

– Lancaster–York market. In the Philadelphia market, it is carried in

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

Chester County Chester County may refer to: * Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States * Chester County, South Carolina, United States * Chester County, Tennessee Chester County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, th ...

. WJZ is carried on cable in portions of Virginia located in the far western end of the Washington, D.C. market, alongside Washington's CBS affiliate WUSA. It is carried on cable in the

Shenandoah Valley The Shenandoah Valley () is a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. The valley is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the eastern front of the Ridge- ...

in Elkton,

Front Royal Front Royal is the only incorporated town in Warren County, Virginia, United States. The population was 15,011 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Warren County. History The entire Shenandoah Valley including the area to become ...

, Luray and

Winchester Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...

. In

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

, it is carried in the Martinsburg area; it is part of the Washington, D.C. market, which carries WUSA as well. In Keyser, Mineral County, WJZ is carried on cable. During the 1970s and possibly the 1980s with CATV, WJZ was once on the cable lineups in Salem and

counties in southwestern

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. WJZ's former analog signal could be picked up via antenna as far west as Warrenton and Culpeper, Virginia, and as far east as Salem County, New Jersey. There is no satellite coverage outside of the Baltimore market for WJZ.

References

External links

* * – WJZ-TV promotional film from 1959. ** *
WJZ-TV Collection
Mid-Atlantic Regional Moving Image Archive
View archival footage held by the University of Baltimore
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wjz-Tv 1948 establishments in Maryland CBS News and Stations CBS network affiliates Dabl affiliates Preakness Stakes Start TV affiliates Television channels and stations established in 1948 JZ-TV Westinghouse Broadcasting Woodberry, Baltimore