WMAR anchor Terry Owens leaving station Dec. 4
After 17 years of covering city government and anchoring the news at WMAR-TV, Terry Owens is leaving the station, he said Thursday.
Owens, who along with Mary Beth Marsden is the second high-visibility anchor to take a buyout offer in recent days, said his last day at Channel 2 will be Dec. 4.
"They've had the buyout offer on the table, and the date to accept is fast approaching," Owens said Thursday. "So after much soul searching, prayer and talking with my family, I have decided to look at other possibilities."
For the last two years, Owens has been the anchor of the 5:30 p.m. nightly newscast and a reporter for the 11 p.m. broadcast. For almost a decade before that, he specialized in covering City Hall and Baltimore City government.
For the last 14 years, Owens has been host of "2 The Point," the longest running public affiars show on Baltimore TV. The 51-year-old journalist has made a major contribution to the community with this show, which brought new and diverse voices to local television.
"It was a chance to bring back into the community," Owens said of the show. "One week, you might see [actor] Charles Dutton. The next show might be on World AIDS Day -- as it was last week. It was the thing that kept us going."
Coupled with the Dec. 2 departure of Mary Beth Marsden, who anchors the 5, 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts, Owens decision to take a buyout offer leaves the station with almost no frontline anchors -- and means the loss of another familiar face to area viewers. WMAR is a station going through tumultuous change with more resignations expected before the buyout window from E.W. Scripps, owner of the station, closes. The offer has been extended to members of two unions.
WMAR finds itself caught up in larger economic and technological forces affecting third and fourth place stations in larger cities. With new online outlets competing just as advertising becomes more scarce amid the recession, there simply is not enough revenue to support three and four full-scale local news operations on the type Baltimore area viewers have come to expect. With more than six decades of broadcast news history, WMAR is one of the pioneering news stations in the country.
Owens, who came to Baltimore from a freelance job in San Francisco 17 years ago, said he has enjoyed "tremendous support and encouragement" both at WMAR and the larger Baltimore community.
The past president of the Association of Black Media Workers said, "I have been given the chance to grow from a cub reporter to a main anchor. And now I get to explore new opportunities."
Owens said he might become involved in some joint media ventures with his wife, Deborah Owens, a local author, radio show host and expert on personal finance. The couple has two children, ages 17 and 22.
"I will stay active in the community," the Michigan State University graduate said, adding that he will remain on the boards of the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Maryland and the Board of Child Care. He said he is also actively involved in the Bridgeway Community Church.
See photos of Terry Owens.
Comments
Terry is a good man and an excellent reporter. He will be sorely missed. Good luck in his future endeavors.
Posted by: Gry M. Ellerbe | November 24, 2009 3:45 PM
I do hope that someone is smart enough not to let Mr. Owens go too far , he is one of the best reporters in the metro and he has street cred that very few very few in any reporters in Bmore, So if any station wants to inhance the quality of the reporting HIRE him NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He is the best
Posted by: Michael Eugene Johnson | November 24, 2009 4:11 PM
So what is the future of WMAR?
Posted by: Dave | November 24, 2009 4:19 PM
Will the last person to leave please turn out the lights?
Posted by: Bill | November 24, 2009 4:33 PM
I'll be sorry to see Terry leave the station. He's done a good job with education reporting and anchorman duties. I also hope he will stay in town.
He says he definitely is staying in town. At the end of the post, he talks about that. Thanks. Z
Posted by: Mary Roby | November 24, 2009 5:23 PM
Well who will be there? The podium? This is so sad. I will be glad when the economy gets better. Good luck to you Terry and God bless you.
Posted by: Karen Jones | November 24, 2009 6:09 PM
Good guy, solid reporter, and very polished on-camera personality.
It's a shame what's happening with local televised news broadcasts, but I guess that's the nature of the business these days. Some of these pros are making too much money to justify paying them what they have rightfully earned after years of dedicated service, I suppose.
I hope Terry finds a suitable place to land, given his talent and professionalism. I wish him well.
Posted by: Chris Krebs | November 24, 2009 6:22 PM
May GOD BLESS u and your family........
Posted by: rosemary joseph | November 24, 2009 6:25 PM
GOOD LUCK BOTH TERRY AND MARY...
Posted by: JOANNE | November 24, 2009 6:26 PM
Z., what's up with this recent 'anchors-away" phenomenon that's hit the Baltimore network-news marketplace like some kind of viral contagion? Folks w/ solid, 'creds' and reputations and lengthly and distinguished on-air careers are suddenly biting the dust; taking generous buyouts, or just riding off into the sunset.
Seems like out here in the highly competitive L.A. T.V news-market there are always little anchor-wars afoot, involving any number of stations trying to lure one 'hot' anchor-person, or another, from some other competing station over to their camp. Retirements are fairly rare, w/ the exception of the recent stepping down of veteran KNBC T.V. news anchor Paul Moyer, who after a 25 year run at the network decided to call it a day. As Oprah recently said of her calling a wrap on her show in a few years, "twenty-five is kind of a nice, round number." Personally, I always felt Moyer was trying to emulate the on-air mannerisms and speech cadence of the late, great late-night talk show host, Tom Snyder, but came off as a bit of a phony-baloney in doing so. He did have his solid fan-base, though.
(Of course we lost the venerable, and much-loved anchormen-of-all-anchormen in Hal Fishman at KTLA News w/ his passing in August of 2007. He has been sorrily missed.)
Moyer's co-anchor for many years, the competent, but boring Colleen Williams continues w/ Moyer's replacement, seasoned reporter/ sometime-anchor, the likable Chuck Henry as the KNBC-T.V. 5:00PM and 11:00PM news anchor team in L.A. .
Z, I don't want you reporting anymore Baltimore news-anchor casualties on your blog, at least till this year runs its course. We want anchors to stay, not 'anchors-away'. (I know, it's totally out of your control.)
Have a great Thanksgiving, Z. .
ALEX
Hi ALEX: Thanks for that update in LA TV. Markets like baltimore (26th) can no longer afford three or four major news opertaions. Money is too tight, and technology creating many more outlets for local news. So outside of the top 2 stations or possible a third with a strong niche, they are slashing news budgets. I am said to say they will be more leaving WMAR in coming days and weeks. Maybe a few at other stations, too. Thanks, ALEX, and I hope you have a great Thanaksgiving. Didn't you post a fabulous comment recently on turkey LA-style? Or did I just dream that between nightmares about the Gosselins? Z
Posted by: ALEX MCCRAE | November 24, 2009 6:30 PM
Terry you have served the industry well, by not compromising your values as a true professional. Moreso, you have held up the name of Jesus whether on or off air. May God bless you, Deborah and family. Agape....
Posted by: Regge Odom | November 24, 2009 8:05 PM
WOW!!! This is very telling. I guess WMAR is going to be left with janitorial staff and a few interns. I'm still trying to find the "Number 2" on my remote control. Can someone help me please?
Posted by: Kelly | November 24, 2009 8:27 PM
Z.,
Are you sure you're not confusing me w/ that gadabout foodie/ chef/ critic Tony Bourdain? Just joshin'..... I only wish.
Yes indeed, Z., about three weeks back I did kinda wax poetic on this very blog about two of L.A.'s turkey primo hotspots (to get folks into that Thanksgiving state of mind), namely Mel's Diner's open-faced hot roast turkey w/ gravy sandwich, plus all the fixins, and Marie Callender's classic, dreamy, mouth-watering turkey-pot-pie.........Yummmmmmmy!
So Z, don't fret. You didn't have visions of turkey delights (as opposed to sugar plums) dancing in your head "between nightmares of the Gosselins."
However, you could have been suffering from tryptophan withdrawal; you know that dreamy state of feeling like a beached Beluga whale, unable to move anything but your thumbs for the T.V. remote, after having ingested copious amounts of turkey meat, sundry side dishes, pumpkin pie, and one-too-many rum-laced eggnogs? We've all been there, done that., right? BURP!
Z., do you recall that bizarre episode of "Seinfeld" when Kramer slathered his 'bod' all-over w/ butter, sunning himself on his apartment roof and got over-cooked, so to speak, having inadvertently fallen asleep. Then food-obsessed Newman, on seeing and smelling the sun-baked Kramer, began to fantasize, picturing Kramer as a scrumptious turkey turning over and over on the rotisserie spit. We see a cartoony thought-bubble over the lip-smacking, fiendish Newman's head, containing this hilarious image of Kramer's doofus head attached to a roasting turkey's body. You would think that the Seinfeld / David writing duo would have drawn the comedy-line of decency at cannibalism, but no, anything for a good laugh.
Z., I apologies for that weird "Seinfeld" 'detour', but I just couldn't resist. Hope I didn't put any of my fellow bloggers off their Thanksgiving repast.
Are vegans still eating that tofu/ faux turkey stuff? Paula Dean might know, although the latest news is that poor Paula got accidently clobbered in the schnoz, yesterday, by an errantly thrown frozen ham, at a charity food-bank giveaway. She took it in good humor, chuckling, "I just got hit by a frozen pig!" This woman is a sheer riot. You just have to love this outrageous Southern gal.
Happy Thanksgiving to all my super fellow bloggers, and don't get too crazy w/ 'the plastic'
on Black Friday, or you may end up w/ an in-the-Red Saturday. Just saying. HA!
ALEX
Good advice. And I would never confuse you with that "Wire"-lovin', wannabe, phony hipster, Bourdian. Ha. Z
Posted by: ALEX MCCRAE | November 24, 2009 9:34 PM
If MAR's news goes under, would it be a trickle up and would FOX45 then start to suffer the same fate? Just as most cities have only one news paper today it would seem to reason that we would be left with only one local TV news?
Posted by: gueman | November 24, 2009 10:18 PM
At the rate that the news staff are jumping off the sinking ship that is WMAR within a year or so I expect WMAR to be a robot station. They will just have a technical staff to handle network and syndicated program package feeds.
There is something else they could do with local news but it would be very unlikely, remember the channel 54 experiment with airing off hour newscasts using channel 45 news? Perhaps WMAR has something like that in mind with another station. It's that or they will just air network news and a quick 1/2 hour local newscast with unknown anchors and getting stories from freelancers.
Posted by: MDP | November 24, 2009 11:12 PM
Terry~
You will be fine, as you know now it is a bit scary out here, You and Deborah can team-up and travel (Brandon and Olivia are older now) as you can tell, I listen to Deborah on WEAA. You adding your experience in journalism and Deborah's personal finance. Boy, do we need it. I'm
re-inventing myself also and in your age bracket :-0
I got a chance to meet you once a Bethel AME.
Give Ophrah a call :-0
Posted by: Rose | November 25, 2009 12:13 AM
Dave i said it last week and i will say it again now WMAR should shut down its news operation its a shell right now anyway no major anchors. Norm Lewis probably will be next with the buy out his salary has to be in the 200,000 a year range.Baltimore is the 27th largest market it was 24th just two years ago iam sure that the drop has not helped the stations as well the revs are down.Baltimore would be fine with 11,13,and 45 still running there news operations.Bill Hooper shut it down buddy.
Posted by: Donta | November 25, 2009 3:01 AM
Now is the time for WMAR to bring in Jennifer Gladstone that was on Fox 45 in the morning until earlier this year. She must be rested and ready to go . . . say on January first . . . lets go channel 2.
Posted by: AVC | November 25, 2009 11:19 AM
Hey Z, instead of a few lines about "larger economic and technical forces" leading us readers to speculate about weaker broadcast players folding the tent, hows' about actually calling up the GMs in town and the bosses at Scripps to get some hard info about what's going on. I recognize such stuffed shirts rarely talk, but at least call 'em and report the "no comments" so they have to squirm a little. It's the least you could do for MB and TO.
That's because I have been calling up and talking to them and reporting what they say continually for two years on the matter. Instead of reading one post and making conclusions based on that, I would suggest you go back and actually check some of the reporting I have done about the larger forces and all of it fully reported with the GMs. As to your advice about calling "'em up" and making "them squirm." I don't do that kind of hotdog, third-rate adversial reporting. I call them up in a sincere effort to get information that I can share with readers of the Sun. You should actually read some of my work the last 20 years at the Sun. Z
Posted by: Newzhound | November 25, 2009 12:08 PM
OK, so Scripps is going into the new year with no front-line anchor team. Is this the prelude to a shared-services agreement under which 45 produces 2's news? Sinclair already has a similar arrangement in Rochester, NY. Yes, Rochester is a much smaller market. But something's gotta give soon.
Posted by: Curious observer | November 25, 2009 2:21 PM
WMAR already has a anchor in the wings.
The recently hired Wyatt Everhart can do weather or news anchor.
We've watched him up here in York Pa. as a news anchor, till his move to Baltimore's WMAR
Some guys can do it all, Tim Williams of WJZ comes to mind .
Good luck Terry, and Mary Beth,..... you'll surely be missed.
Posted by: Sparky | November 25, 2009 6:35 PM
ALEX,
That Seinfeld episode I remember it so well. That whole show was so funny. I catch re-runs whenever I can.
Yes, I just saw Paula on CNN about the ham. The guy actually said Paula right back at you and he threw the ham. She just said "Thank goodness I am a bigger ham than that". I guess Conan had it on too, missed that one. No tofu turkey here. In fact, I think we may be having ham and turkey.
Black Friday - I stay away from that.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Posted by: Sherry T. | November 25, 2009 8:13 PM
I have thoroughly enjoyed you as a WMAR personality and have really been glad that you were around with MaryBeth Marsden ..Mr. Terry Owens ..THANK YOU for being such a bright star for us .... oh dear,what a surprise for me...god bless!!.
Posted by: lissitoo | December 14, 2009 6:55 PM