WMAR anchors give emotional signoffs as station shifts to streaming

The last anchors for Maryland’s oldest news station said goodbye this week after WMAR-2 rolled out an anchorless broadcast, a move that prompted criticism as the station shifts to a streaming model that leans more heavily on artificial intelligence and automation.

WMAR-2, an ABC affiliate owned by E.W. Scripps, laid off more than a dozen producers, anchors and photographers at the Baltimore station this month in favor of streaming prerecorded news segments devoid of anchors.

Scripps recently began rolling out the change in Baltimore and some other local stations, with plans to adopt it at the company’s dozens of local stations in the coming weeks and months.

In a brief message broadcast on Tuesday, the station’s morning anchors — Randall Newsome and Megan Knight — said their own goodbye to viewers, letting the audience know that they would be going off the air as the station heads in its new direction.

“We just wanted to say thank you for making us part of your morning show,” Knight said as her voice cracked and she fought back tears.

Kelly Swoope, who has for years anchored evening broadcasts on WMAR, took some time this week with Knight and Newsome to say goodbye to her viewers.

After the station’s new format debuted, former WMAR anchor Megan Pringle expressed sympathy for the anchors and staff and questioned the ramifications of the change when big news breaks and anchors aren’t around to report it.

“It means people will lose their jobs, not just the anchors, but the producers, photographers, editors, directors who make local journalism possible,” she wrote in a Facebook post. “You cannot replace people with a format and call it an investment in local news. It kills connection to the community it is supposed to serve.”

Becca McCarter, a spokeswoman for Scripps, acknowledged that the changes are a departure from what viewers are accustomed to and said that their feedback was important.

McCarter said Scripps is using AI to make its TV news model more sustainable and that those tools “do not replace editorial judgment, reporting or the human connection at the heart of local journalism.”

She said journalists remain responsible for the decisions and standards in Scripps newsrooms, while AI is meant to help teams be more efficient.

“Local television is facing significant changes in how audiences consume news and in the economics of producing it,” McCarter said. “Our goal is to preserve strong local journalism for the long term while evolving how we produce and deliver it.”

The local TV news industry has traditionally fared better than print newspapers, but has experienced its own financial challenges in recent years. The rise of streaming platforms has diverted attention from local broadcasts, pressuring stations to control costs, the Los Angeles Times reported. In 2025, Nexstar Media Group, the country’s biggest TV station owner, took a $170 million loss in the last quarter and responded by merging with another company.

E.W. Scripps expects that this cost-cutting measure will generate millions in revenue, CNBC reported. Achieving that, though, has meant hundreds of journalists will lose their jobs in the process.

“At a time when many communities are losing local coverage, the depth we are bringing is our competitive advantage,” Scripps CEO Adam Symson said in a memo sent to employees on Aug. 4. “New AI systems and other technology designed and developed by Scripps employees is making this possible.”

The company announced its plan in an earnings call in early August. By the end of that day, company shares had risen some 20%.

Some local viewers have felt differently.

In response to Pringle’s post, a couple of people said the change was inevitable and needed. But the overwhelming majority of those who commented pushed back against the choice, seeing it as a mechanical maneuver that values dollars and cents over personal connection.

The anchors’ absence was felt deeply across Baltimore communities, but hit the hardest within the walls of WMAR’s studio.

“You guys are like family, and it has been such an honor for all of us to come into your homes,” Swoope said in her goodbye message.