WMAR
 
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Baltimore United States |
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| Branding | ABC 2 (general) ABC 2 News (newscasts) |
| Slogan | ABC 2 Works For You |
| Channels |
Digital: 38 (UHF) Virtual: 2 () |
| Subchannels | 2.1 ABC 2.2 Laff 2.3 Bounce TV |
| Affiliations | ABC (1995–present) |
| Owner |
E. W. Scripps Company (Scripps Media, Inc.) |
| Founded | May 1946 |
| First air date | October 27, 1947 |
| Call letters' meaning | MARyland |
| Former channel number(s) |
Analog: 2 (VHF, 1947–2009) Digital: 52 (UHF, 1995–2009) |
| Former affiliations |
Independent (1947–1948) CBS (1948–1981) NBC (1981–1995) |
| Transmitter power | 1000 kW |
| Height | 312 m (1,024 ft) |
| Facility ID | 59442 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 39°20′5″N 76°39′3″W / 39.33472°N 76.65083°W |
| Licensing authority | FCC |
| Public license information: |
Profile CDBS |
| Website | abc2news |
WMAR-TV, channel 2, is an ABC-affiliated television station located in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. The station is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. WMAR-TV's studios and offices are located on York Road (Maryland Route 45) in Towson (though with a Baltimore City mailing address), north of the Baltimore City-Baltimore County border. Its landmark three-pronged candelabra transmitter and broadcast tower is located on Television Hill in the Woodberry neighborhood of Baltimore.
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). Its first studios and broadcasting facilities were located for the first four years in the old Sun Building at so-called "Sun Square" at the southwestern corner of South Charles Street and West Baltimore Street in downtown Baltimore. With the 1950s and early 1960s redevelopment of downtown with Charles Center and the later razing of the Sun Building to be replaced by the Morris A. Mechanic Theatre and the relocation of the newspaper's offices and printing plant to 501 North Calvert Street, facilities for the station were temporarily located there.
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. One of Channel 2's early local personalities was Jim McKay, who later moved over to CBS briefly before achieving greater fame on ABC as host of "Wide World of Sports". Another was Helen Delich Bentley, a maritime editor for the Baltimore Sun who hosted The Port That Built A City, a weekly review presenting maritime, shipping and transportation-related news. (Bentley later ran several times and was finally elected as the U.S. Representative from Maryland, serving several terms. By the 2010s, the Port of Baltimore was renamed symbolically for her.)
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