Former WBAL Anchor Alan Walden Announces Intent To Run For Mayor

Alan Walden, the retired morning news anchor for WBAL NewsRadio 1090, is running for mayor.

Walden, who served as the news anchor on WBAL's morning show from 1988 to 1998, said Tuesday he's filed to run as a Republican in the mayoral primary in April.

"It's something that I felt compelled to do. I've been thinking about it for several months, I've discussed it with a number of people," Walden said.

Only one other candidate has filed for the Republican nomination: Brian Charles Vaeth. Four Republicans have filed for various council seats. Baltimore hasn't elected a Republican mayor since Theodore R. McKeldin, who left office in 1967. Walden isn't bothered by the long odds.

"I believe I can carry to the voters... a message that will give them the kind of hope that is required to establish the city as the great place it truly is," he said. "I am convinced that the good people of the city of Baltimore are willing to listen to a new voice with a new message."

Shortly after becoming anchor of WBAL's morning news, he began his daily commentaries called Walden Ponderings. Those ran well after he hung up his microphone, and he crafted a post-broadcasting career in voicing commercials, some of which run on WBAL. WBAL was the last stop of a five-decade career that included time as a reporter, anchor and news director in Boston, Cleveland and New York.