Editing WBAL-TV (section)

===Early history===
WBAL-TV began operations on March 11, 1948, from its original studios on [[Charles Street (Baltimore)|North Charles Street]] in [[Downtown Baltimore]]. It is the second television station in Maryland, after [[WMAR-TV]] (channel 2).<ref name="Decades11">{{cite web|url=https://www.wbaltv.com/article/wbal-tv-11-decades-of-firsts-in-broadcasting-excellence/7064608|title=WBAL-TV 11: Decades of Firsts in Broadcasting Excellence|work=WBAL-TV 11|date=March 5, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=WBAL-TV; NBC Baltimore outlet begins operations. |url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Magazines/Archive-BC-IDX/48-OCR/1948-03-15-BC-OCR-Page-0097.pdf |periodical=Broadcasting - Telecasting |page=97 |date=March 15, 1948}}</ref> The station's parent, the [[Hearst Corporation]], also owned WBAL radio and two local newspapers, the afternoon daily ''Baltimore News-Post'' and ''The Baltimore American'' on Sundays–which later merged as the ''[[Baltimore News-American|News American]]'' in 1965 before shutting down in 1986.

WBAL-TV is one of two Hearst-owned broadcast properties to have been built and signed on by the company (the other being [[WTAE-TV]] in [[Pittsburgh]]), and the oldest to be continuously owned by Hearst through its various television subsidiaries through the years. At its launch, WBAL-TV was an NBC affiliate, owing to its radio sister's long affiliation with the [[NBC Radio Network|NBC's radio networks]].

Early programming on channel 11 included ''Musical Almanac'', ''Look and Cook'' and ''Know Baltimore'', along with news and sports productions. In the 1950s, the station introduced ''[[Romper Room]]'', a children's program produced locally by [[Claster Television, Inc.|Bert and Nancy Claster]] that eventually became a nationally [[franchised]] and [[broadcast syndication|syndicated]] program. Another long-running show of the 1950s was the weekday ''Quiz Club'', co-hosted by local personalities Brent Gunts and Jay Grayson.<ref name=JKelly>{{cite news|last=Kelly|first=Jacques|title='Quiz Club' had an impact|date=June 24, 2000|work=[[The Baltimore Sun]]|page=2E}}</ref> ''[[Baltimore Sun]]'' local history columnist Jacques Kelly described it at the time of Grayson's death in June 2000, as "pure 1950s live television ... executed on a low budget ... the genial hosts ... ruled the 1 p.m. airwaves".<ref name=JKelly />

WBAL-TV produced several local [[bowling]] shows in the 1960s and early 1970s, including ''Strikes and Spares'', ''Pinbusters'', ''[[Duckpins and Dollars]]'', ''[[Bowling for Dollars]]'' and ''Spare Time''. The station even went as far as building and installing several [[duckpin bowling|"duckpin"]] bowling alleys at its studios. It also launched several children's entertainment shows during this period, such as ''Rhea and Sunshine'', ''Pete the Pirate'', ''P. W. Doodle'', ''Heads Up'', and the teen-oriented [[rock and roll music]] and the mid-1960s teen dancing on the ''Kerby Scott Show'' which introduced its "mod" fashions and "[[hippie]]" culture style of rock music to the area.

WBAL-TV has boasted many television firsts, including becoming the first Baltimore television station to broadcast in [[color television|color]], the first station in Maryland (and the eighth in the world) to acquire a videocassette machine (of the [[U-Matic]] format); the first station in Baltimore to acquire a mobile satellite news-gathering system (dubbed "NEWSTAR 11") and the first Baltimore station to hire an [[African-American]] news anchor and a Black news director.<ref name="WBALweb">{{cite web|title=Station History|publisher=WBAL-TV|url=http://www.wbaltv.com/station/574501/detail.html|access-date=October 9, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070313233056/http://www.wbaltv.com/station/574501/detail.html|archive-date=March 13, 2007}}</ref>

In the late 1970s, [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] steadily rose in the ratings to become the number one network in prime time. Accordingly, the network began to seek upgrades to its slate of affiliates, which included some stations that either had poor signals or poorly performing local programming. WBAL-TV was invited to switch to ABC in 1977, but opted to remain with NBC out of concerns about the poor ratings for ABC's then-recently revamped [[ABC World News Tonight#Reasoner, Smith, and Walters|evening newscasts]] (a situation that would be improved in the coming years).<ref>{{cite web|title=In brief. |url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Magazines/Archive-BC-IDX/77-OCR/BC-1977-03-21-OCR-Page-0030.pdf |periodical=Broadcasting|page=30 |date=March 21, 1977}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=In brief. |url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Magazines/Archive-BC-IDX/77-OCR/BC-1977-03-28-OCR-Page-0034.pdf |periodical=Broadcasting|page=34 |date=March 28, 1977}}</ref>