ND out at WMAR

The news director job at WMAR Baltimore is looking more and more like the drummer position in Spinal Tap. The Baltimore Sun reports that N.D. David Silverstein is out at the Scripps station after 17 months; he’d succeeded Connie Howard, who’d held the job for all of 17 months. The Sun says Silverstein has resigned.

Silverstein had come from the Sinclair duopoly in Columbus, and it was hoped that he could get WMAR, an ABC affiliate, rolling. The station is the #3 performer in Baltimore by most measures, well behind WBAL and WJZ. According to BIA Financial, WMAR pulled in $32 million in 2006, representing 13.7% of the market share.

The Sun reports that Kelly Groft is the acting news director until the position is filled.