Hearst News/Talk 1090 WBAL/101.5 W268BA Baltimore has cut its local midday and afternoon shows.
Midday host TJ Smith and afternoon host Angelette Aviles have exited with WBFF-TV reporter Gary Collins reporting that the station’s newsroom “has been gutted”. Smith joined WBAL in 2023 after previously serving as a spokesperson for the Baltimore City Police Department from 2015 to 2018 and Press Secretary for Baltimore County Executive John Olszewski. He ran for mayor of Baltimore City in 2020. Aviles took over afternoons last year after previously hosting weekends. She has held roles as a commentator for Fox News Channel and Univision along with being a columnist for the Baltimore Sun.
The new WBAL lineup will continue to feature “WBAL News Now” with Taylor Bennett from 5 to 5:30am followed by Clarence ‘C4′ Mitchell IV and Bryan Nehman in mornings from 5:30 to 10am. Premiere Networks’ Glenn Beck from 10am to 12pm and Clay Travis and Buck Sexton from 12-3pm are added to the lineup. A show identified as “WBAL Sports Lounge” will run from 3-5pm with no host(s) identified. “WBAL News Now” with Robert Lang is extended to run from 5-7pm. Nights will feature a morning show best-of from 7-8pm followed by Westwood One’s Mark Levin from 8-11pm, a simulcast of WBAL-TV’s 11pm newscast, Lars Larson from 11:30pm to 1am, and Premiere’s Coast to Coast AM in overnights.
Six of the ten news department staffers have been wiped from the station’s website. Among those gone are anchor/reporters Chris Cichon and Phil Yacuboski, reporters Ashlyn Wilson and Scott Wykoff, and traffic reporters Mary Anne Perry and Tony Thornton. Weekend hosts including Bruce Elliott, Jerry Rogers, and sports host Nick Testoni are also gone from the station’s website but none of these exits have been fully confirmed.
WBAL ranked tenth in the Baltimore market with a 3.3 share in the July 2026 Nielsen Audio ratings. M-10 Broadcasting Conservative Talk 680 WCBM does not subscribe to Nielsen, while Public News/Talk 88.1 WYPR was fifth with a 4.9 share. Hubbard News 103.5 WTOP Washington DC (1.7 share) and “Bloomberg 99.1” WDCH Bowie MD (1.0 share) also have sizeable audience in the Baltimore market.
Mary Toth
TJ Smith is a professional, informed, prepared reporter. A terrible loss for WBAL and for those who listen—correction, listened—to the mid-day program.