Channel 9 to reduce newscasts

[liradioisbad]

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertai...hour_eliminates_weekends.html#ixzz0KCg0oMLY&C

Starting on July 13th, My 9 news will be reduced to a half-hour weeknight newscast at 11.

Not really surprised here. The only reason why this didn't come sooner is that if they eliminated all newscasts or if it became a 11PM verson of Fox 5's 10PM news (like they did in LA), then people within the New Jersey government would be up in arms due to it's New Jersey license.

 

[ansky212]

All this is going to do is push more people to watch Fox 5 (or CW 11) news at 10. My guess is that most people either watch a 10pm newscast because they go to bed early, or watch an 11pm newscast. I doubt many people watch both. I think My9 news is going to have a hard time attracting viewers at 11pm. Not many people are going to jump ship from one of the "big 3" newscasts at 11 that have been in place for decades.

 

[azumanga]

Then again, I wonder if WWOR now being on digital UHF only has anything to do with it -- as a VHF, it moved to Jersey in order for RKO to make good with the FCC, when New Jersey was lacking in VHF signals that offer some special news and programming for New Jersey (didn't work).

Now that there are plenty of UHFs in Jersey, maybe this is the first step towards pulling out of New Jersey?

 

[ansky212]

WWOR should have carved out a niche for itself a long time ago by covering NJ news (as in, a full length NJ newscast) instead of NYC news which is already covered by 5 other stations. I think that would have gained them a big following in NJ while still being a part of the NYC market.

 

[DToTheJ]

WWOR carved out its own niche about 20 years ago when they did primetime news at 8 PM. Perhaps if they weren't saddled with the My Network obligations, they might be able to revive that format...

Question: Suppose WWOR only did a daily news hour at 12 noon and did away with late news. Would that still satisfy the state of New Jersey? After all, it's still a daily newscast serving the interest of New Jersey.

 

[ansky212]

Question: Suppose WWOR only did a daily news hour at 12 noon and did away with late news. Would that still satisfy the state of New Jersey? After all, it's still a daily newscast serving the interest of New Jersey.

I don't see how WWOR is serving the interest of NJ. The majority of their news is NYC related. If they really wanted to serve NJ they should strictly cover NJ news like News 12.

 

[JayR]

This is what I get for not reading this board more often...

I tune in tonight for the first time in weeks to watch My 9 News at 10. Instead of news I get an episode of Wendy Williams.

So much for WWOR.

 

[stationless listener]

I don't live in NJ but I do think that at least one of the big tri-state area stations should focus on NJ. When not counting the foreign-language, religious, low-power and public television stations, NYC already has 2, 4, 5, 7, 11 and, if you want to stretch it, 31 to choose from in terms of over-the-air stations. That's also not counting the numerous media and advertising firms that are headquartered in the big city.

While the circumstances in which the station transferred its license to a NJ city were, arguably, dubious, the new owners should have taken advantage of the opportunity that was presented as a result of such a move. To me, it is a matter of simple market facts. Northern NJ has a lot of people, many of them commuters to the big city. They don't even need to market to the whole state, but emphasize on the more populous counties like Bergen, Hudson, Union, Essex, Monmouth, Passaic, Middlesex and even Mercer (where Trenton is). For that to happen, though, the station may have to get new owners, because Fox Television is not interested in building up Ch. 9 as a real channel.

 

[azumanga]

They don't even need to market to the whole state, but emphasize on the more populous counties like Bergen, Hudson, Union, Essex, Monmouth, Passaic, Middlesex and even Mercer (where Trenton is). For that to happen, though, the station may have to get new owners, because Fox Television is not interested in building up Ch. 9 as a real channel.

I find it chagrinning that WWOR had deteriorated from a mighty superstation to a mere dumping ground for WNYW's castoffs. I think WWOR would be better off under new ownership.

 

[wbhist]

I find it chagrinning that WWOR had deteriorated from a mighty superstation to a mere dumping ground for WNYW's castoffs. I think WWOR would be better off under new ownership.

It should be noted that when owned by RKO, WOR-TV aired no regular newscast (outside of their slides-only sign-on and -off news updates from their announcing staff including Russ Dunbar, Phil Tonken, Ted Mallie et al.) between February 1969 (when the station debuted the ultimately short-lived Stock Market Observer, never mind that show's decades-long run on Chicago's WCIU Channel 26) and November 1970 (when they launched the 7:30 News Report whose first anchor was once-and-future WNBC-TV reporter Bill Ryan). Prior to February 1969 they had had a noon newscast for a couple of years (predating by several years their well-known News at Noon), anchored by John Wingate, and featuring future Straight Talk co-hostess Mary Helen McPhillips. In short, even before this new development, Channel 9's commitment to news over their long (60-year) history had been spotty at best.

 

[stationless listener]

They don't even need to market to the whole state, but emphasize on the more populous counties like Bergen, Hudson, Union, Essex, Monmouth, Passaic, Middlesex and even Mercer (where Trenton is). For that to happen, though, the station may have to get new owners, because Fox Television is not interested in building up Ch. 9 as a real channel.

I find it chagrinning that WWOR had deteriorated from a mighty superstation to a mere dumping ground for WNYW's castoffs. I think WWOR would be better off under new ownership.

And also KCOP, WPWR, WFTC, WDCA, KDFI, KTXH and KUTP.

 

[Markxxx]

I think in most FOX duopolies the second station is just a dumping ground. Look at WPWR-TV Chicago. That is nothing but a reject station, meaining old rejected rerun's from FOX or WGN-TV

 

[ansky212]

I happened to catch the 11pm news on WWOR last night and noticed that the majority of news stories they covered were from NJ.