WMAR-TV and WMAR-FM (1948-1952) in Baltimore MD broadcast from the antenna mast on top of the Mathieson building (now known as the Bank of America Building) from 1948 until its new candelabra tower was built on Baltimore's "Television Hill" in 1959. The Mathieson site was used as a back-up antenna for some time after that, before finally being decommissioned.
The Mathiesdon building TV mast is NGS Benchmark JV5496 BALTIMORE TV STATION WMAR MAST. See: (
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"JV5496 DESIGNATION - BALTIMORE TV STATION WMAR MAST
JV5496 PID - JV5496
JV5496 STATE/COUNTY- MD/C OF BALTIMORE
JV5496 USGS QUAD - BALTIMORE EAST (1974)
JV5496
JV5496 *CURRENT SURVEY CONTROL
JV5496 ___________________________________________________________________
JV5496* NAD 83(1991)- 39 17 21.09070(N) 076 36 50.55910(W) ADJUSTED
JV5496
JV5496
JV5496_MARKER: 42 = RADIO/TV MAST
JV5496
JV5496 HISTORY - Date Condition Recov. By
JV5496 HISTORY - 1957 FIRST OBSERVED CGS
JV5496 HISTORY - 1975 GOOD NGS
JV5496 HISTORY - 1981 GOOD NGS
JV5496
JV5496 STATION DESCRIPTION
JV5496
JV5496''DESCRIBED BY COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY 1957 (JCE)
JV5496''STATION IS LOCATED IN DOWNTOWN BALTIMORE, ON THE TOP OF THE
JV5496''HIGHEST PART OF THE MATHIESON BUILDING. IT IS A TELEVISION
JV5496''MAST ABOUT 60 FT. HIGH WITH A RED BLINKING LIGHT AT THE TOP,
JV5496''WHICH WAS THE POINT INTERSECTED."
WMAR-TV/DT is still on the air in Baltimore in 2017. (
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WMAR-TV It was a CBS affiliate from 1948-1981. In 1981 it changed affiliation to the NBC Television network, and remained an NBC-affiliate until 1994, when it jumped networks again, this time to ABC: (
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"History
Early years; CBS affiliation (1948–1981)
WMAR-TV first began broadcasting to Baltimore and central Maryland on October 27, 1947. It was the fourteenth television station in the United States, and the first to sign on in Maryland. It was owned by The A.S. Abell Company, publisher of the then Sunpapers, twice daily newspapers of Baltimore, along with the original WMAR-FM (97.9 MHz, frequency now occupied by WIYY-FM). . . .
Channel 2 was originally an Independent station, largely because at the time it was not clear whether Baltimore would be part of the Washington, D.C. market (Baltimore is 45 minutes northeast of Washington, and most of the Washington stations decently cover the Baltimore area for major news stories and advertising markets). In 1948, however, the Federal Communications Commission made Baltimore a separate media market. On March 29, 1948, WMAR-TV was announced as the Columbia Broadcasting System's third affiliate, after WCBS-TV in New York City and WCAU-TV in Philadelphia.
. . .
In 1959, WMAR-TV teamed up with WBAL-TV and WJZ-TV to build the world's first three-antenna candelabra tower. The new 730-foot tower was built on the newly named "Television Hill" in the Woodberry neighborhood of Baltimore, which significantly improved the station's signal coverage in central Maryland. It is still in operation today, and can be seen from Interstate 83 in Baltimore. During the 1970s, the FCC tightened its cross-ownership rules, eventually barring common ownership between a newspaper and a television or radio station in the same city without a waiver. However, the combination of the Baltimore Sun and WMAR-TV was one of several combinations that were "grandfathered" under these rules.
NBC affiliation (1981–1994)
In March 1981, CBS announced that it would be moving its local affiliation in Baltimore to WBAL-TV, the market's NBC station. Among its reasons for making the switch, CBS cited WMAR-TV's weak newscast ratings and heavy preemptions of network programs for its widely popular locally oriented occasional programs. Channel 2 quickly cut a deal with NBC, and Baltimore's first affiliation switch took place on August 30, 1981. However, Channel 2 also preempted as much as two hours of the network's daytime programming. The station also preempted The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for several years in the mid-1980s, choosing to air sitcom reruns instead. . . .
ABC affiliation
In 1994, Scripps and ABC announced a long-term affiliation deal, which resulted in four Scripps-owned stations switching to ABC. WMAR-TV was included in the deal, and Channel 2 would displace Baltimore's longtime ABC affiliate, Westinghouse Broadcasting-owned WJZ-TV. ABC agreed to the deal as a condition of keeping its affiliation on Scripps' two biggest stations, WXYZ-TV in Detroit and WEWS in Cleveland, who had been heavily wooed by CBS, which was about to lose its longtime Detroit and Cleveland affiliates to Fox. Locally, it triggered Baltimore's second network affiliation swap, which saw WMAR-TV switch to ABC, WBAL-TV reuniting with NBC and CBS moving to WJZ-TV. The second switch occurred on January 2, 1995. As a result, channel 2 became one of the few stations in the country to have been a primary affiliate with each of the "Big Three" networks. . . .
Digital television
Digital channels
The station's digital channel is multiplexed:
Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[26]
2.1 720p 16:9 WMAR-HD Main WMAR-TV programming / ABC
2.2 480i 4:3 WMARDT1 Laff
2.3 BOUNCE Bounce TV
Analog-to-digital conversion
WMAR-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 2, 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 52, which was among the high band UHF channels (52–69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition, to UHF channel 38 using PSIP to display the station's virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 2."
WMAR-FM signed on in 1948 and shut down in 1950, before coming back in the mid-1950s under different ownership. See: (
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"WMAR-FM signed on in 1948 at 97.9 FM. The station was owned by the A.S. Abell Company, publishers of the Balitmore Sun and owners of WMAR-TV. The radio station was a partnership of Transit Rides, Inc., which developed a music format designed for public transportation, and the Taft family of Cincinnati. Abell shut down WMAR-FM in 1950 and surrendered the license to the FCC.
WMAR-FM apparently returned to the air in the mid-1950s on 106.5 FM. According to Duncan’s American Radio, WMAR-FM became WRLX-FM in 1978. It played beautiful music until the early 1980s, when it flipped to Top 40 and reclaimed the WMAR call letters.
Raleigh, N.C.-based Capitol Broadcasting (not that this blog demands full disclosure, but I work for Capitol Broadcasting, which has nothing to do with this project) purchased the station in 1986, flipping it to Adult Contemporary WWMX.
CBS purchased the station in the 1990s. It carries a Hot Adult Contemporary format."
See here for a Sunpapers newspaper article about the new tower: (
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That article contains some information for TV repairmen:
"ANTENNA TIPS FOR THE TV SERVICEMAN
When WMAR'TV changes its antenna from its present location on the Mathieson Building to the 735 -foot tower on Television Hill just north of Druid Hill Park, some low -band receiving antennas within a radius of four miles of the Mathieson Building may have to be reoriented. Those antennas located on the north, east and west sides of the city within this radius will probably require the greatest angle of rotation; those to the south will probably re- quire only a few degrees of rotation.
As the distance of the receiving antennas from the Mathieson Building increases, the amount of change of direction will become progressively smaller, until at distances of 10 to 25 miles, there should be virtually no change at all necessary. With regard to a change in signal strength at the TV Receiver terminals there may be some adjustment necessary of the AGC Control or some attenuation inserted in the antenna lead."
Just for fun: A column from the magazine by the new host of the General Electric Theater on CBS, showing off his charm and self-deprecating humor that would one day take him to the White House:
"GUEST COLUMN
By Ronald Reagan
Being asked to write a guest column, while flattering, always brings up the difficult problem of subject matter. Being an actor, and not a writer, I sometimes sit for hours gazing off into space waiting for inspiration. But this time the problem is not so difficult-because a number of people have asked me how I like . being a television host, and I'll simply answer the question.
The term "host" has become I firmly fixed in television terminology and is applied to me in relation to
my function on the "General Electric Theater." Just for the record, may I state that I am a reluctant wearer of the title "host," and given a choice would refer to myself as almost anything else, including "hey you." This certainly doesn't mean I am not delighted with my position, only I feel it is impossible for me to be a "host" in your living room.
By allowing us into your home you make us more of a guest than host, and if we behave like well mannered guests, you are not faced with the embarrassing prospect of asking us to leave. However, since common usage has me down as a "host," I'm not about to start a war on the word. I do have another title, seen in the program credits-program supervisor-and that is a two-word term for a lot more work than I have time to go into here.
Show business, in the beginning, was a matter of performers being invited in by the lord of the manor
to entertain his guests. If they failed to be properly entertaining, they often found themselves suddenly outside the castle. Come to think of it-you can call me "host" or anything else, as long as you don't turn that dial-and I'll gladly sing for my supper."