Tom Marr

Thomas "Tom" Marr (born 17 October 1942) is an American talk radio host on WCBM (680-AM) in Baltimore, Maryland known for his conservative political views. He spent nearly 20 years as a newsman and sportscaster, including 8 seasons as a radio play-by-play broadcaster for the Baltimore Orioles. His radio career spans close to 50 years, mostly in Baltimore, although he has worked in other major markets, including Washington, DC, Philadelphia, PA, and New York, NY.

Life and career

While in high school, Marr hosted a high school sports show on WWDC-AM in 1960. After graduating from Montgomery Blair High School of Silver Spring, Maryland, Marr served in the United States Marine Corps until being discharged in 1963. Marr then worked for radio stations in Rhode Island and Salisbury, Maryland then became an announcer for WTAR of Norfolk, Virginia. In 1967, Marr became a news reporter for WFBR of Baltimore and was a panelist and commentator on the call-in show Conference Call. Additionally, he covered the Baltimore Orioles, Baltimore Colts, and the NBA's Baltimore Bullets for CBS Radio. In the mid-1970s, Tom worked for three years as the weekend sports anchor on Baltimore's WMAR TV (Channel 2).

From 1979 to 1986, Marr was a radio play-by-play broadcaster for the Baltimore Orioles on the team's flagship station WFBR. After the 1986 season, the Orioles broadcast rights went to another station, and Tom utilized his roots as a newsman and political commentator to embark in what would evolve into his current talk radio career. In addition to his WFBR talk-show, Marr was hired by Philadelphia's WWDB (FM) to host a similar political talk radio show on weekends.

In 1988, WFBR was sold and the new owners let go all of the station's on-air personnel while changing the format from news/talk to "oldies" music from the 1950s era. At about the same time, rival station WCBM Radio filed for bankruptcy, went silent shortly thereafter, and was put up for sale. Later that year, WCBM returned to the airwaves under new ownership when Baltimore businessman Nick Mangione, Sr. purchased the station and resurrected it from Bankruptcy. Mr. Mangione was an avid listener of talk radio and a fan of WFBR's former talk radio format and line-up. Once he acquired WCBM, Mangione brought most of WFBR's on-air line-up to WCBM, including Marr.

Marr stayed at WCBM until 1996 when he was offered a full-time weekday show on Philadelphia station WWDB-FM, but went back to WCBM in 1997 when they offered him a long-term contract to return. Additionally, Marr cited displeasure with WWDB's programming structure that he said devoted too much time to commercials, traffic reports, and news updates each hour and ownership that pressured him to avoid hot-button political issuses in favor of more light-hearted topics such a "pizza toppings."

Marr has been a staple on WCBM's talk-radio line-up since he returned to the station in 1997, and his show is currently the station's lead-in program to the Rush Limbaugh Show. He has been called on to do fill-in work for nationally syndicated radio programs, which helped lead to his own nationally syndicated weeknight show on the WOR Radio Network in New York, NY. Marr has made frequent television appearances on Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, and C-SPAN. Marr also sometimes fills in for host Mark Levin on the The Mark Levin Show. He is consistently ranked by Talkers Magazine as one of the most influential talk show hosts in the U.S as part of their "Heavy Hundred" list.

External links

• The Tom Marr Show – Official Website.
• Isaacs, Stan. "The Orioles Play Stop The Music," Sports Illustrated, October 8, 1979.
• Appearances on C-SPAN

• Tom Marr website – bio