Eyewitness News Morning Edition Wjz December 2011 -

The "Morning Edition" was still a ritual. You watched it while your single-cup Keurig brewed a K-Cup of Pumpkin Spice (which was still a seasonal novelty, not a cultural cliché). The teleprompter would flash stories about the ongoing Iraq War withdrawal, the final space shuttle moves to museums, and the Ravens’ playoff push (the Harbaughs were about to face off in the AFC Championship, though nobody knew it yet).

The Warm Glow of the AM Dial: Revisiting WJZ’s Eyewitness News Morning Edition in December 2011 eyewitness news morning edition wjz december 2011

By December 2011, the chemistry on the set was bulletproof. was at the anchor desk, delivering the day’s top stories with that signature blend of gravitas and approachability that made you feel like she’d already had three coffees so you didn’t have to. Across the desk, Don Scott handled the flow, his baritone voice a steady promise that, despite the debt ceiling crises and holiday shipping deadlines, everything would be fine. The "Morning Edition" was still a ritual

BALTIMORE — In the winter of 2011, the world was still shaking off the Occupy Wall Street tents and preparing for the end of the Mayan calendar’s “long count” (a panic that would peak exactly one year later). But for early risers in Central Maryland, the only count that mattered at 5:00 AM was the one leading to traffic on the JFX and the wind chill off the Patapsco. The Warm Glow of the AM Dial: Revisiting

But the secret weapon of the December 2011 broadcast was on weather. Standing in front of the green screen (which was having an unusually glitch-free month), Marty was in his element. December 2011 was historically mild in Baltimore—we saw a record-breaking 70°F on the 7th. Marty wasn't just reporting the "balmy anomaly"; he was celebrating it, telling viewers to leave the heavy parkas in the closet for one more week while pointing at isobars with the enthusiasm of a kid on Christmas morning.