Wbal

All of Baltimore's TV stations deserve some credit for trying to provide area residents with the information needed Saturday to make sound decisions about how to best to deal withHurricane Irene. But once again, there were two tiers of coverage, and, as usual, the top one belonged to WJZ and WBAL, and the other to WBFF and WMAR. The latter two rarely make the same commitment to major stories as WJZ and WBAL. And I have to say, WJZ really went all out on Irene, getting on the air first and staying straight on without any breaks since at least 2:30 p.m. Saturday, according to my viewing log. Much praise to Denise Koch and Adam May who stayed strong from 2:30 to 9:10 p.m at the anchor desk.

Shari Elliker is out as afternoon drivetime anchor on the station's "News Journal" program, General Manager Ed Kiernan said Friday. "After months of discussion, we have decided not to renew the contract of Shari Elliker," Kiernan wrote in an email. "Shari has been an important part of the 1090AM/WBAL Radio family.  Whether called upon to be a Talk Show Host or PM Drive Anchor, her characteristic style of hard work, preparation and professionalism is admired by all of us. Thank you, Shari.

Lawrence T. Doyle, a retired WBAL-AM and WIYY-FM sales manager, died Aug. 12 of lymphoma at Franklin Square Medical Center. The Parkville resident was 78. The son of a Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. credit manager and a homemaker, he was born in Baltimore and raised in Hamilton. He was a 1950 graduate of City College and in 1952 enlisted in the Marine Corps, where he was trained as an air traffic controller. After being discharged in 1955, he went to work as an insurance salesman for Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. in Baltimore.

WBAL-TV is standing behind its Wednesday-night report by sportscaster Gerry Sandusky linking the suicide of former Baltimore Orioles pitcher and executive Mike Flanagan to him being "despondent" over being perceived as having failed the team and fans during his time in the O's front office. But police investigators Thursday unequivocally attributed Flanagan's action to "financial difficulties. " That attribution, police said, is based on an interview with Flanagan's widow, Alex.

WBAL radio Monday named Merrie Street as news director replacing Mark Miller, who resigned last month. Street, whose resume includes news director and anchor duties at WLIF and WPOC, starts Monday, according to an email from Ed Kiernan, station general manager. "I have to say I was really impressed with her," Kiernan said in a follow-up telephone interview. "WBAL is one of the premier news organizations in the country," Street said in a telephone interview Monday. "This is just a great opportunity and I look so forward to it. " In addition to her career in radio, Street has also been involved in politics running for such offices as Harford County register of wills.

Nothing is a bigger TV draw in the Baltimore area than Ravens football, and this year the team is announcing more and bigger media partnerships than ever with broadcast, cable and radio outlets. Here's the release, and it includes the answer to just about any question fans will have about where and when and how to see the Ravens games and all the surrounding football-related programs on area media. Read it carefully. Clip and save... Both WBAL-TV (Baltimore) and WJLA-TV (Washington, D.C.)

The departure last week of Marianne Banister from WBAL-TV after 15 years of co-anchoring a team that always finished first or second in its time period raised big questions about the changing face of television news in Baltimore. In the past year and half, several long-time anchors have signed off the local airwaves, including Sally Thorner at WJZ, and Mary Beth Marsden at WMAR. By long-time, we're talking 15 years or more of coming into Baltimore homes every night with the local news.

Marianne Banister's farewell from Baltimore television after more than 15 years of co-anchoring the 6 and 11 p.m. news at WBAL-TV was an unusually modest and subdued one. Unlike the farewells for Sally Thorner at WJZ and Mary Beth Marsden at WMAR in December of 2009, there were no video montages of Banister's career at WBAL. There were no extended farewells or family members and colleagues coming onto the set to say goodbye. Banister's final words to Baltimore viewers at the end of the 11 p.m. newscast lasted 35 seconds, and only 17 seconds were actual words of farewell.

Marianne Banister, one-half of the longest running anchor team in Baltimore television, is leaving WBAL-TV after more than 15 years as co-anchor of the 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts at the top-ranked station. Her last day at the station will be Wednesday, WBAL General Manager Dan Joerres said. She will say "goodbye" to viewers at the ends of the 6 and 11 p.m newscasts, he added. Banister came to WBAL in 1995 from station KABC, the ABC owned station in Los Angeles where she anchored early morning and 6 p.m. newscasts in the nation's second largest TV market.