york city television station . for the cable superstation feed available nationwide from 1965 to 1996 see wwor emi service . for the television station in minneapolis st. paul that formerly carried the upn 9 branding that is now affiliated with fox see kmsp . wwor tv secaucus new jersey new york city united states city secaucus new jersey branding my 9 slogan see it here primary c. more my 9 secondary channels digital 38 uhf virtual 9 psip affiliations .1 mynetworktv .3 buzzr .4 heroes & icons owner fox television stations fox television stations inc. founded april 1947 1 first air date october 11 1949 ; 67 years ago 1949 10 11 call letters meaning disambiguation of former wor tv callsign sister station s wnyw yes network former callsigns wor tv 1949 1987 former channel number s analog 9 vhf 1949 2009 former affiliations independent 1949 1995 upn 1995 2006 transmitter power 170 kw height 397 m 1 302 ft facility id 74197 transmitter coordinates 40 44 54.4 n 73 59 8.4 w 40.748444 n 73.985667 w 40.748444 ; 73.985667 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.my9nj.com wwor tv channel 9 is the flagship station of the mynetworktv programming service licensed to secaucus new jersey united states and serving the new york city television market . it is owned by the fox television stations division of 21st century fox as a sister station to fox s flagship station wnyw channel 5 . its studios and main offices are located in secaucus south of route 3 east of the meadowlands sports complex though some internal operations are handled at wnyw s studios at the fox television center in the yorkville neighborhood of manhattan . its transmitter is located atop the empire state building . the station is available to dish network subscribers as part of the satellite provider s superstations package available to grandfathered subscribers that purchased the a la carte tier before dish halted sales of the package to new customers in september 2013 except in markets where the local mynetworktv affiliate invokes syndication exclusivity to block access to wwor s programming within the market . contents 1 history 1.1 as wor tv 1.1.1 early history 1.1.2 1970s 1.1.3 troubles with the fcc 1.1.4 move to new jersey 1.2 as wwor tv 1.2.1 upn affiliation 1.2.2 mynetworktv affiliation 1.2.3 retransmission dispute with cablevision 2 2007 2014 license renewal and objections 3 digital television 3.1 digital channels 3.1.1 wwor dt3 3.1.2 wwor dt4 3.2 analog to digital conversion 4 sports programming 5 newscasts 5.1 notable former on air staff 6 cultural references 7 see also 8 references 9 external links history edit as wor tv edit early history edit channel 9 signed on the air on october 11 1949 as wor tv . it was owned by the bamberger broadcasting service a division of r. h. macy and company and named after the bamberger s department store chain which also operated wor radio 710 am and wor fm 98.7 now wepn fm . 2 exactly ten months earlier bamberger launched washington d.c. s fourth television station woic also on channel 9 . wor tv entered the new york market as the last of the city s vhf stations to sign on and one of three independents the others being wpix channel 11 and newark new jersey based watv channel 13 later wnta tv . on wor tv s opening night a welcome address was read by wor radio s morning host john b. gambling . however the audio portion of the speech was not heard because of a technical glitch . citation needed the problem was fixed and gambling repeated the message later that evening prior to the station s sign off . that first broadcast and other early wor tv shows emanated from the new amsterdam roof theatre located west of times square . for a short time the station s transmitter operated from wor tv tower in north bergen new jersey and was later moved to the empire state building . in 1949 the station moved uptown to the newly constructed 9 television square facility on west 67th street near the present day location of wabc tv s studios . at the start of 1950 bamberger broadcasting changed its name to general teleradio . 3 later that year woic was sold to a joint venture of the washington post and cbs who would change that station s callsign to wtop tv it is now wusa . 4 in 1953 wor tv began operating a separate studio for news and special events programming located on the 83rd floor of the empire state building . 5 in 1952 macy s bamberger s merged the wor stations with the general tire and rubber company which already had broadcasting interests in three cities through two other subsidiaries the regional yankee radio network and wnac am fm tv in boston ; and the don lee broadcasting system which operated khj am fm tv in los angeles and kfrc am fm in san francisco . the subsidiaries were then brought together under the general teleradio name . 6 7 the main impetus for the merger was to give general tire a controlling share in mutual radio network which was affiliated with and partially owned by wor and other stations . the merger also raised speculation that mutual would launch a television network plans that were discussed since before wor tv went on the air but ultimately did not come to fruition . in 1955 general tire purchased rko radio pictures giving the company s tv stations access to rko s film library and in 1959 general tire s broadcasting and film divisions were renamed as rko general . during the early years of rko general ownership wor tv moved back to times square and closer to its radio station sisters . channel 9 s studios were co located with wor radio at 1440 broadway near west 40th street for several years . during the 1950s and early 1960s all three of new york s independents struggled to find competitive and acceptable programming . the field would increase by one in 1956 when former dumont flagship station wabd channel 5 later wnew tv and now wnyw became an independent . during this era wor tv s programming was comparable to its rivals with a blend of movies children s programs cancelled tv series which had previously run on one of the networks and public affairs shows . in 1962 the field of independent stations was narrowed to three as wor tv and its competition benefited from the sale of wnta tv to the non profit educational broadcasting corporation who would convert channel 13 into non commercial educational station wndt which is now wnet . for much of the 1960s wor tv was a standard independent station with a schedule composed of some local public affairs shows off network programs children s shows such as friendly giant which later moved to wndt and romper room which moved to the station from wnew tv in 1966 sporting events and a large catalog of movies some of which came from the rko radio pictures film library . until 1990 the station had a tradition of showing king kong ; son of kong and mighty joe young on thanksgiving and godzilla films on thanksgiving and the day after . in 1962 nostalgia maven joe franklin moved his daily talk program to wor tv after a 12 year run on wabc tv . the joe franklin show ended on august 6 1993 making it one of the longest running programs in television history local or national . the long running public affairs show firing line began on wor tv in 1966 and ran on the station until 1971 after which its host william f. buckley jr. moved the program to public television where the program aired until it ended in 1999 . in 1968 the station continued to maintain offices at 1440 broadway while the station moved to new studio facilities two blocks north at 1481 broadway . 1970s edit by the early 1970s wnew tv evolved into the leading station for cartoons and sitcoms while wpix aired a similar format though with more movies . in the early 1970s wor tv had shows such as the beverly hillbillies the dick van dyke show gilligan s island and the avengers . but channel 9 was behind the other two independents in the local ratings . beginning in 1971 the station began gradually seeking a different programming strategy one that was more adult oriented with a heavy emphasis on films reruns of hour long network dramas game shows and sports . the station also gradually phased out most sitcoms and all children s programming with the exception of romper room . it was also the first new york city station to have a 12 p.m. newscast on weekdays in addition to producing several hours a day of local talk shows such as the joe franklin show straight talk and public affairs shows such as meet the mayors titles that were shared by other rko general television stations . later in the 1970s wor tv looked towards the united kingdom for alternative offerings . on september 6 1976 wor tv offered a week of programs from thames television during prime time ; many of these shows had never before been seen on american television including the first u.s. telecast of the benny hill show and an airing of an episode of man about the house which would be adapted by abc as three s company the following year . 8 wor tv also aired episodes of the itv musical drama rock follies 9 10 and the bbc science fiction series doctor who during this period . on april 5 1980 wor tv presented japan tonight a seven hour block of programs from japan s tokyo broadcasting system featuring shows that were either dubbed or subtitled in english . 11 during this period various sports telecasts aired on most nights in prime time with feature films running on nights where sports did not air under the million dollar movie banner . despite its ambitious programming wor tv was perceived by people that preferred a more traditional independent to be an also ran even though the station was very profitable for rko general . in 1984 wor tv began moving classic sitcoms like bewitched burns & allen i dream of jeannie and others into its weekday lineup focused slightly less on sports and added more off network drama shows to the lineup . the station also pulled back religious programming as well pushing it earlier in the morning . with the advent of cable and satellite delivered television independent stations were being uplinked for regional and national distribution thus becoming superstations . in april 1979 syracuse new york based eastern microwave inc. began distributing wor tv to cable and c band satellite subscribers across the united states joining wtbs now wpch tv in atlanta and wgn tv in chicago as national superstations . troubles with the fcc edit while wor tv was gaining national exposure a battle for the station s survival and that of its owner was well underway . in 1975 rko applied for renewal of its license to operate wor tv . the federal communications commission conditioned this renewal on that of its boston sister station wnac tv . in 1980 the fcc stripped rko of wnac tv s license due to a litany of offenses dating back to the 1960s but ultimately because rko had withheld evidence of corporate misconduct by general tire . the decision meant that rko lost wor tv s license and that of los angeles sister station khj tv . 12 however an appeals court ruled that the fcc had erred in tying wor tv and khj tv s renewals to wnac tv and ordered new proceedings . rko soon found itself under