Tom Marr

Thomas Aquinas Marr (October 17, 1942 – July 7, 2016) was an American talk radio host on WCBM (680-AM) in Baltimore, Maryland, known for his conservative political views.

[1] He spent nearly 20 years as a newsman and sportscaster, including eight seasons as a radio play-by-play broadcaster for the Baltimore Orioles before he embarked on a trail blazing political talk-radio career.

His full broadcasting career spanned close to fifty years, mostly in Baltimore, although he worked in other major markets, including Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and New York City.

[3] After graduating from Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Maryland, Marr served in the United States Marine Corps until being discharged in 1963.

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 ultimately evolve into a groundbreaking 30-year career in talk radio.

In 1988, WFBR was sold, and by August of that year the new owners dismissed all of the station's on-air personnel while changing the format from news/talk to oldies rock and roll from the 1950s and early 1960s.

Marr cited displeasure with WWDB's programming structure which devoted too much time to commercials, traffic reports, and news updates each hour, along with an ownership that pressured him to avoid hot-button political issues in favor of more light-hearted topics, such as "pizza toppings.

During his career, he broadcast from other international locations, including Great Britain, Germany, Ireland, Belgium, South Africa, China,and the former Soviet Union.

Marr was consistently ranked by Talkers Magazine as one of the most influential talk show hosts in the United States as part of their "Heavy Hundred" list.