Media
Baltimore’s media, like the city itself, has an international and a neighborhood focus. On the same local TV news broadcast, you’re likely to hear how neighbors are taking up a collection to help a family whose home was destroyed by fire and coverage of the latest developments in China and the bills that were passed in Washington that day. Newspapers will run 2-inch headlines about a local high school’s football victory right next to a story about the recent meat or toy recall. Their focus is what’s happening that has the most impact on the lives of the people who read, listen, or watch them. After that, they’ll approach national or international news.
Baltimore has always been big on rock ’n’ roll. Back in the 1950s and ’60s, we had local dance-party shows on radio and TV. Buddy Dean and his teenage committee were the ones to watch when you got home from school every day. We watched and learned all the new dances so that at the weekend’s record hop we would be in the know. (John Waters spoofed this semi-religious dedication to The Buddy Dean Show in his movie and Broadway musical Hairspray.) Baltimore stations carried Dance Party and other national dance shows on radio, but the local show on Friday nights was Lee Case and the HiFi Club, on WCBM and sponsored by Coca-Cola. Children could go down to the studio and be part of the show; they’d talk about local high school functions and dances and then win prizes. On Saturday nights there was always a HiFi Club record hop somewhere in town.
Print media is one of Baltimore’s true passions. We have some large publishing houses, many of which are book publishers and oriented toward educational or medical publishing. ,
Baltimore has only two daily newspapers, the Baltimore Sun, and the tabloid-sized Examiner that started in 2006. There is also one main business daily, the Daily Record. A few free citywide weeklies and monthlies tend to make up for the loss a few years ago of the Baltimore News American and the Baltimore Evening Sun. Baltimore also boasts newspapers that focus on specific neighborhoods, such as the Dundalk Eagle and the Charles Villager, or even a specific religion, such as the Catholic Review and Jewish Times.
We also have two monthly four-color magazines that are Baltimore-centric, Baltimore and Style, and some area-specific ones, such as The Urbanite, which chats about urban living. Baltimore’s active arts and culture scene is covered in two publications, Link and radar.
Subsequently we’ve listed some of the major players in the Baltimore media market.
1. The Urbanite
City: Baltimore, MD
Category: Media
Telephone: (410) 243-2050
Address: 2002 Clipper Park Rd. #401
2. The Baltimore Examiner
City: Baltimore, MD
Category: Media
Address: 400 East Pratt St.
Description: Since April 2006, Baltimore has been a two-daily town again. The Examiner, which also has newspapers in San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Denver, was started by Qwest founder Philip Anschutz to tap into the huge population that doesn’t read the Sun. The Examiner is distributed in affluent neighborhoods in parts of Baltimore City, and Baltimore, Anne Arundel, and Howard Counties for free. Some 250,000 newspapers are delivered Monday through Saturday. Local news and sports coverage, with a number of Baltimore-based columnists, are emphasized, though there are plenty of pages devoted to national and international news. Scoops are a big thing with the tabloid-size Examiner, which tries to find stories the Sun isn’t covering.
City: Baltimore, MD
Category: Media
Address: 501 North Calvert St.
4. The Daily Record
City: Baltimore, MD
Category: Media
Telephone: (410) 752-3849
Address: 11 East Saratoga St.
Description: In business since 1888, the Daily Record delivers business and legal news to 30,000 professionals and the general public Monday through Friday. Founded by Edwin Warfield, who was the governor of Maryland in the early 1900s, the Daily Record continued as a family-run printing and publishing company until 1994, when Edwin Warfield IV sold the company. Not much has changed, although a Saturday publication, the New Daily Record, which hits the high spots of the week’s events, has been added. The Daily Record has been in the same building for 70 years. The paper can be received through the mail by subscription ($199 per year), received online ($79 a year), or bought at a newsstand for 75 cents.
City: Baltimore, MD
Category: Media
Address: 2519 North Charles St.
6. The Baltimore Business Journal
City: Baltimore, MD
Category: Media
Telephone: (410) 576-1161
Address: 1 East Pratt St., Suite 205
Description: The Baltimore Business Journal (BBJ) has been in business since the mid-1980s. It publishes a weekly newspaper-print magazine about business happenings in Baltimore and business guides that may be purchased separately, such as its Book of Lists, an indispensable guide to the top companies and their decision makers. BBJ is owned by American City Business Journals, which publishes similar journals for 41 other cities, including Washington, D.C.Individual copies of the BBJ can be purchased for $1.25, or subscriptions are available for $90.57 for 56 issues.
City: Baltimore, MD
Category: Media
Address: 1040 Park Ave., Suite 200
8. The Catholic Review
City: Baltimore, MD
Category: Media
Telephone: (443) 524-3150, (888) 768-9555
Address: 880 Park Ave.
Description: The Catholic Review provides the Catholic perspective on local and national news. The most popular section is “Spotlight,” which features a different regional archdiocesan parish or school each week. The Catholic Review has been published by the Cathedral Foundation Press since 1913; its precursor, the Catholic Mirror, began in 1833. Individual copies are available at many 7-11 stores for 75 cents a copy. Subscriptions are available for $45 a year or you can request that a single copy be mailed to you for $1.75. The paper comes out every Thursday.
City: Baltimore, MD
Category: Media
Address: 812 Park Ave.
10. Patuxent Publishing Company
City: Baltimore, MD
Category: Media
Telephone: (410) 730-3990
Address: 10750 Little Patuxent Parkway
Description: Patuxent Publishing creates area-specific newspapers in the greater Baltimore area that are delivered free right to your door once a week. The Messenger is for residents who live in the northern neighborhoods of Baltimore City, including Roland Park, Homeland, and Guilford. Towsonians receive the Towson Times; in Owings Mills residents receive the Owings Mills Times. Howard County has the Howard County Times and the Columbia Flier.
11. Baltimore’S Child
City: Baltimore, MD
Category: Media
Telephone: (410) 367-5884
Address: 11 Dutton Court
Description: Baltimore’s Child is a free newspaper that’s been in business since the early 1980s. It covers topics on children from the diaper set to teens and focuses on the dissemination of practical, usable information through 52,000 copies. An issue might cover a round up of birthday party resources and several stories on moms who work from home or own their businesses. Baltimore’s Child publishes annual schools, summer camp, and parents’ guides. You can find Baltimore’s Child at newsstands, in grocery stores, street boxes, all area libraries, and other places where free papers are available.
12. Gay Life
City: Baltimore, MD
Category: Media
Telephone: (410) 837-7748
Address: 241 West Chase St.
Description: Gay Life, part of the Mid-Atlantic Gay Life Newspaper, is the oldest gay paper in the region, serving the needs of this community for more than two decades. It is published by the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Baltimore and includes breaking news, in-depth cover stories, entertainment and music information, classifieds, and regular columns written by local activists. It is published on alternate Fridays.
13. Baltimore
City: Baltimore, MD
Category: Media
Telephone: (410) 752-4200, (800) 935-0838
Address: 1000 Lancaster St., Suite 400
Description: Started in 1907, Baltimore magazine is the oldest continuing city magazine in the country. It has information that runs the gamut from who wore what at the latest charity gala to feature information about Baltimore personalities and places. A yearly subscription is $12, or you can purchase individual copies for $3.95.
14. Chesapeake Life Magazine
City: Baltimore, MD
Category: Media
Telephone: (443) 451-6023
Address: 1040 Park Ave., Suite 200
Description: This magazine was purchased by the Jewish Times and Style magazine in 2001, and the editorial content and graphic layout are much improved. A lifestyles magazine that focuses on food, travel, home and garden, architecture, waterfront recreation, and the arts, this is the dominant upscale magazine for the Chesapeake Bay region. It costs $4.95 an issue; a yearly subscription (seven issues) is $15.
15. Maryland Family
City: Baltimore, MD
Category: Media
Telephone: (410) 332-6932
Description: Maryland Family covers topics of interest to the average young family. For instance, a recent issue had articles on the H1N1 flu shots and skateboarding injuries. Pick up a free copy at area grocery stores or your local doctor’s office. Subscriptions are $19.95.