Editing WBFF (section)

==History==
WBFF first came on the air on April 11, 1971,<ref name="Christine45">{{cite web|last=Boynton|first=Christine|title=WBFF-TV Channel 45 Celebrates 45th Anniversary|url=https://foxbaltimore.com/news/nation-world/wbff-tv-channel-45-celebrates-45th-anniversary|website=Fox 45 News|date=April 11, 2016}}</ref> founded by what was then called the Chesapeake Television Corporation, which was controlled by Julian Sinclair Smith. The original meaning of its [[call sign]] was "Baltimore's Finest Features" because it primarily aired old movies in its earliest years.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://foxbaltimore.com/news/cover-story/wbff-celebrates-45-years-on-air|last=Cairns|first=Kathleen|title=WBFF celebrates 45 years on air|work=WBFF-TV 45 (Baltimore, MD)|date=April 11, 2016|accessdate=November 28, 2024}}</ref> It was Baltimore's second commercial [[UHF]] station and second [[independent station]], signing on four years after WMET-TV (channel 24, frequency now occupied by WUTB) began operations. Both stations aired general entertainment programming, but WMET's owners experienced financial problems and were forced to take channel 24 off the air in 1972.

Even without direct competition, and operating on a small budget, WBFF still struggled for strong programming during the 1970s as Baltimore's network affiliates—WBAL-TV, WJZ-TV and WMAR-TV—continued to acquire off-network syndicated programs during this period. It did not help matters that Washington's [[WTTG]] and [[WDCA]] were readily available both over the air (Washington stations all provided a strong signal into Baltimore) and on cable. Channel 45 did find an advantage in having a decent library of [[feature film|movies]], [[sitcom]]s<ref name="Christine45"/> and [[westerns]] at its disposal. Like other independent stations of that era, WBFF also ran network programs preempted by the local affiliates, local [[Public affairs (broadcasting)|public affairs]] programs, and played [[animated cartoon|cartoons]] and series [[rerun]]s in the afternoon for the after-school kids crowd in a show hosted by nostalgic "[[Captain Chesapeake]]" (played by George Lewis) along with his side-kick "Mondy" the sea monster played by James Uhrin (who continued to work at WBFF under the alias "Traffic Jam Jimmy")<ref name="Christine45"/> as they cruised through the [[Chesapeake Bay|Bay]].  "Captain Chesapeake" was a fixture on WBFF from its beginnings until 1990, with his famous cheery greeting: "Ahoyyy Crewmembers!!"

[[Image:Wbff-1984.png|thumb|150px|left|This WBFF logo dates to the mid-1980s. The "C" in the logo is for Sinclair Broadcast Group's forerunner, Chesapeake Television.]]
Despite its financial troubles, WBFF became profitable enough that Julian Smith decided to expand his broadcast interests. Through a Chesapeake Television subsidiary, Commercial Radio Institute, Smith launched a new independent station in [[Pittsburgh]], WPTT (now [[WPNT]]), in 1978. In 1984, Commercial Radio Institute signed on Smith's third station, independent [[WTTE]] in [[Columbus, Ohio]]. That same year, WBFF received local competition again when WNUV-TV, then a two-year-old [[subscription television]] outlet, began to adopt a general entertainment schedule during the daytime and full-time by 1986.

In 1985, Julian Smith merged his three stations into the Sinclair Broadcast Group, and around this time one of his sons, [[David D. Smith]], took a prominent role in the operations of the three stations. In 1986, Sinclair agreed to affiliate WBFF and WTTE with the fledgling [[Fox Broadcasting Company]], which debuted on October 9 of that year. The growth and rise of Fox coincided with that of Sinclair Broadcast Group, which expanded its reach beyond Baltimore, Columbus and Pittsburgh during the 1990s.

In June 1991, Sinclair opened up the station's news department with Baltimore's first 10&nbsp;p.m. newscast co-anchored by Lisa Willis (formerly of [[WWOR-TV]] in [[Secaucus, New Jersey]]) and Jeff Barnd. Then, in September, Sinclair took the bold step of challenging WMAR-TV's pending license renewal and filing its own competing application for a new station. As WMAR-TV had been sold the previous June to the [[E. W. Scripps Company]], Sinclair argued that an out-of-town corporation could not effectively serve the city's public interest and the valuable channel allocation—a channel 2 analog signal traveled a very long distance under normal conditions—should be granted to an established local broadcaster instead. The gambit did not work, and WMAR-TV remained on channel 2.<ref name="WMAR2">{{cite news|last=Zurawik|first=David|title=Smith family seeks to take Channel 2; WBFF owners' move could shift WMAR|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/1991/09/13/smith-family-seeks-to-take-channel-2-wbff-owners-move-could-shift-wmar/|access-date=March 18, 2013 |newspaper=[[The Baltimore Sun]]|date=September 13, 1991}}</ref>

WBFF nearly lost its Fox affiliation in 1994 when Fox entered talks with WJZ-TV, but it opted to affiliate with [[CBS]] instead.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1994-06-18-1994169062-story.html | title=Three suitors line up to call on jilted WJZ-TV | date=June 18, 1994 }}</ref> [[WBAL-TV]] was also considered after the station dropped CBS, but opted to affiliate with [[NBC]] instead.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1994-07-15-1994196137-story.html | title=WJZ to join CBS in 3-station deal | date=July 15, 1994 }}</ref>

In [[1996 Baltimore Ravens season|1996]], Channel 45 began airing [[Baltimore Ravens]] games via the [[NFL on Fox]]; the station is given at least two games a season to air (usually when the team plays host to an [[National Football Conference|NFC]] team at [[M&T Bank Stadium]]); starting in [[2014 NFL season|2014]], when the NFL instituted its new 'cross-flex' broadcast rules, games can be arbitrarily moved from WJZ-TV to WBFF. Additionally, the station aired all ''[[Thursday Night Football]]'' games involving the Ravens from 2018 to 2021 through Fox's exclusive contract.

[[File:WBFF and WNUV's combined studio and office facility (Baltimore, 2007).jpg|thumb|right|250px|WBFF and WNUV's combined studio and office facility, in Baltimore's [[Woodberry, Baltimore|Woodberry]] neighborhood.]]
Sinclair purchased Abry Communications, owner of WNUV, in 1994. As [[duopoly (broadcasting)|duopolies]] were not allowed at the time, channel 54 was spun off to Glencairn Ltd., a company owned by former Sinclair executive Edwin Edwards. However, Glencairn's stock was almost entirely owned by the Smith family. In effect, Sinclair now had a duopoly in Baltimore—and had emasculated its major rival in its hometown. Sinclair further circumvented the rules by taking over WNUV's operations under a [[local marketing agreement]] (LMA), with WBFF as senior partner.

Sinclair tried to buy Glencairn outright in 2001, but was unable to buy WNUV due to the FCC's rules on duopolies. Despite its relatively large size, the Baltimore market has only seven full-power stations (or six, if two stations licensed in the market that are operated by [[Maryland Public Television]] are treated as one)—two fewer than what FCC regulations allow to legally permit a duopoly (the FCC requires a market to have eight unique station owners once a duopoly is formed, effectively limiting duopolies to markets with at least nine full-power stations). Glencairn changed its name to [[Cunningham Broadcasting]] and retained ownership of WNUV. However, nearly all of Cunningham's stock is held in trusts owned by the Smiths. This ''[[de facto]]'' duopoly continues to this day, while the close relationship between Sinclair and Glencairn/Cunningham has led to claims that Cunningham is merely a [[corporate shell]] that Sinclair uses in order to evade FCC ownership restrictions.

While WBFF entered the new century thriving as both locally and as a Fox affiliate, its network partner threatened the station's immediate future. In 2001, Fox's parent company, the [[News Corporation]], became the new owner of Baltimore's [[UPN]] affiliate [[WUTB]] (the former WMET-TV) through its purchase of most of [[Chris-Craft Industries]]' television holdings. Rumors abounded that Fox was considering moving its programming from WBFF to WUTB. In a move made clearly to protect its home interests, Sinclair persuaded Fox to sign a long-term contract to keep WBFF with the network. The same threat re-emerged in January 2006, when UPN owner [[CBS Corporation]] and [[WarnerMedia|Time Warner]], owners of [[The WB Television Network]], announced that those two networks would be shut down and replaced by the new [[CW Television Network]]. However, a month after The CW's formation, News Corporation announced that WUTB and its other UPN affiliates would become the nuclei of its new [[MyNetworkTV]] service.

On May 1, 2006, the station launched its [[#Good TV|.2 digital channel with retro programming]], the first non-weather subchannel in the market.<ref name=bsun>{{cite news|last1=Madigan |first1=Nick|title=New WBFF digital channel to rerun local favorites|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/2006/02/08/new-wbff-digital-channel-to-rerun-local-favorites/|access-date=September 11, 2014|newspaper=[[The Baltimore Sun]]|date=February 8, 2006}}</ref>

On May 15, 2012, Sinclair Broadcast Group and Fox agreed to a five-year extension to the network's affiliation agreement with Sinclair's 19 Fox stations, including WBFF, that will run through 2017. This included an option (that was exercisable from July 1, 2012, to March 31, 2013) to allow Sinclair to purchase WUTB, resulting in the creation of a virtual triopoly with WBFF and WNUV; while giving Fox the option to buy any combination of six CW and MyNetworkTV affiliates (two of which were standalone stations affiliated with the latter service) owned by Sinclair in three of four markets: [[Raleigh]] ([[WLFL]] and [[WRDC]]), [[Las Vegas]] ([[KVCW]] and [[KSNV|KVMY]]), [[Cincinnati]] ([[WSTR-TV]]) and [[Norfolk, Virginia|Norfolk]] ([[WTVZ]]). Under the agreement and the WUTB purchase option, Sinclair would pay $52.7 million to continue WBFF's affiliation with Fox; however, if Fox exercised the option to buy any of the Sinclair stations that were included in the option, the affiliation payments would decrease to $25 million.<ref>{{Cite web |date=February 3, 2024 |title=TV News Check |url=https://tvnewscheck.com/ |access-date=February 3, 2024 |website=TV News Check |language=en}}</ref> On November 29, 2012, Sinclair exercised its option to purchase WUTB through [[Deerfield Media]] for $2.7 million. Following the completion of the sale, WUTB began to be operated by Sinclair under a local marketing agreement, as with Deerfield's other stations.<ref name=tvnc-wutbdeerfield>{{cite web|title=Sinclair Makes It A Triopoly in Baltimore|url=http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/63866/fox-selling-wutb-baltimore-to-deerfield-llc|publisher=TVNewsCheck|access-date=November 29, 2012|archive-date=October 2, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002134624/http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/63866/fox-selling-wutb-baltimore-to-deerfield-llc|url-status=dead}}</ref> In January 2013, Fox announced that it would not exercise its option to buy any of the Sinclair stations included in the earlier purchase option.<ref>{{Cite web |date=February 3, 2024 |title=TV News Check |url=https://tvnewscheck.com/ |access-date=February 3, 2024 |website=TV News Check |language=en}}</ref> On May 6, 2013, the FCC granted its approval of WUTB to Deerfield Media.<ref>{{cite web|title=WUTB|url=https://fccdata.org/?facid=60552|website=FCCData.org|access-date=September 9, 2018}}</ref> Sinclair officially took over the operations of WUTB eight days later, although the sale was not formally consummated until June 1.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101558116&formid=905&fac_num=60552 | title=CDBS Print }}</ref> With the completion of the WUTB sale, this makes Baltimore the largest market where one company (outside of non-commercial public television station groups) operates a virtual [[Duopoly (broadcasting)#Triopolies and quadropolies|triopoly]] between full-power stations. WBFF remains the only station in the Baltimore market never to change its primary network affiliate.

On the afternoon of April 28, 2016, WBFF's studios were evacuated in response to a threat by a person wearing a [[hoax bomb]]; the suspect also allegedly set his vehicle on fire in the station's parking lot. The suspect was later shot and apprehended by [[Baltimore Police Department|police]]; besides a desire to share [[end times prophecy]] content with the station (a USB drive with videos was confiscated by a security guard), no specific motive for the incident was determined.<ref name="bsun-pandathreat">{{cite news|title=Man wearing animal outfit shot by police outside Baltimore TV station|url=http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-ci-bomb-threat-20160428-story.html|newspaper=[[The Baltimore Sun]]|access-date=April 29, 2016}}</ref>