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After 37 years at WMAR, Jamie Costello announces his retirement

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By: Kelly Groft

WMAR

BALTIMORE, MD — 37 years is a long time in any job. In journalism, it's a lifetime.

It takes a special person to tell stories in the same community for decades, for WMAR, that person is Jamie Costello.

That's because it's his community. He knows everyone.

After 37 years, Jamie Costello is retiring from WMAR, where he has done it all and seen it all. He has been here longer than some people at the station have been alive.

Morning Show Team 6.png — How it all started... Reporter Jamie Costello. Anchors Horace Holmes and Rudy Miller. Meteorologist Ken Philips.

I have been his News Director for 15 of those years, and before that his producer. Here's the note I sent to the team.

I don’t feel worthy enough to have the words to share with you that our wordsmith, our master storyteller, our community advocate, our constant, our rock, our friend is retiring.

But I am going to try.

After 37 years Jamie Costello is retiring from WMAR.

I have had the immense privilege to work with Jamie for 25 of those years. When I was a Producer there was nothing better than writing a script for Jamie so well it felt like he wrote it. When it happens, he’s the first to jump out of his seat and give a high-five. Getting a high-five from Jamie is still the best. I have core memories of him walking in to start his shift and high-fiving everyone. He asks about family, sports, and life in general, he has given so much of his heart to us here at WMAR.

But what he has given the community is even greater. The voice he has given so many people. The stories he has told, the lives he has changed, and the friends he has made along the way are far too many to count. The words are written in a way that takes you in and makes you feel something, in a way that only Jamie can. It is truly the end of an era.

Kelly Groft/News Director