WWOR-TV

WWOR-TV, virtual channel 9 (digital channel 38), was the former flagship station of the UPN programming service, licensed to Secaucus, New Jersey and serving the Tri-State (NY-NJ-CT) metropolitan area.

History

On January 1, 1997, with only a month's advance warning, Advance Entertainment Corporation, which had purchased the satellite distribution rights to WWOR from Eastern Microwave a few months earlier, stopped uplinking the national version. The EMI Service's transponder space was sold to Discovery Communications for the then six-month-old Animal Planet. Amid an outcry from satellite dish owners, National Programming Service, LLC uplinked the station again exclusively for satellite subscribers. The national feed was back to being the same feed as the one for the New York market. NPS dropped WWOR in 1999, in favor of Pax, but still carried the New York feed of WWOR on its Superstations package except in areas where the local UPN (and later, MyNetworkTV) affiliate invoked SyndEx to block it out.

In 2000, Chris-Craft announced that it was selling its television stations. It was believed that Viacom, which had gained complete control of UPN a year earlier by purchasing Chris-Craft's half of the network not long after buying CBS, would end up buying the group as a whole. However, Viacom lost the bid for the group to News Corporation, making WWOR-TV a sister station to longtime rival WNYW. This created a unique situation in which the largest affiliate station of one network was owned by the operator of another network. While some cast doubt on UPN's future, Fox quickly cut a new affiliation deal with UPN.

On September 11, 2001, the transmitter facilities of WWOR-TV and eight other New York City television stations, and several radio stations, were destroyed when two hijacked airplanes crashed into and destroyed the World Trade Center towers. The attacks delayed the closing of the Chris-Craft deal for several days. With its broadcast signal shut down, WWOR fed its signal directly to cable and satellite systems, running wall-to-wall 9/11 news coverage from CNN and later the Fox News Channel. Channel 9 resumed regular programming on September 17, 2001. The transmitter has since been relocated to an antenna located atop the Empire State Building, along with most of the other major New York City stations.

Fox began integrating the operations of its two stations soon afterwards. In the fall of 2001, WWOR-TV began running Fox Kids programs that were moved from WNYW. Channel 9 was the last commercial station remaining in New York City to air children's programming on weekdays, an ironic twist from 20 years earlier, before cancelling the shows in Fall 2006. WNYW also placed several of its under-performing programs on WWOR, and cherry-picked channel 9's stronger-performing programs for placement on channel 5's schedule. Currently, WWOR offers several "double-runs" of WNYW programming, but the two stations' individual schedules (outside of network programming) are much different. They also maintain separate news departments, although some staffers have switched from one station to the other.

Syndicated Children's Programming

The Woody Woodpecker Show (1987 - 2001)

Exosquad (1993 - 1995)

The Pink Panther (1993-1996)

Mighty Max (1993-1999)

Mutant League (1994-1996)

Bananas in Pajamas (1995-1996)

Highlander: The Animated Series (1995-1996)

Skysurfer Strike Force (1995-1998)

Street Sharks (1995-1999)

Jumanji (September 1996 - August 28, 1999)

Extreme Ghostbusters (September 1, 1997 - September 3, 1999)

Extreme Dinosaurs (September 1, 1997 - October 30, 1998)

Sonic the Hedgehog (September 1, 1997 - September 4, 1998)

The Mask (September 1, 1997 - September 4, 1998)

Mummies Alive! (September 15, 1998 - September 3, 1999)

Pocket Dragon Adventures (September 7, 1998 - August 28, 1999)

Monster Rancher (August 30 - September 3, 1999)

Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles (August 30 - September 3, 1999)

Transformers: Robots in Disguise (September 27, 2001 - January 4, 2002)

Power Rangers (September 27, 2001 - January 4, 2002)

Digimon: Digital Monsters (2001 - 2003)

1995-1996 season

(WEEKDAYS)

6:00 AM - Benny Hinn

6:30 AM - Varied programming

7:00 AM - Mutant League

7:30 AM - Highlander: The Animated Series

8:00 AM - The Pink Panther

8:30 AM - Bananas in Pajamas

(SUNDAYS)

8:00 AM - Double Dragon

8:30 AM - Skysurfer Strike Force

9:00 AM - Ultraforce

9:30 AM - Street Sharks

10:00 AM - Space Strikers

10:30 AM - Teknoman

1997-1998 season

(WEEKDAYS)

7:00 AM - Extreme Ghostbusters

7:30 AM - Extreme Dinosaurs

8:00 AM - The Mask

8:30 AM - Sonic the Hedgehog

(SUNDAYS)

7:00 AM - Captain Simian and the Space Monkeys

7:30 AM - Extreme Ghostbusters

8:00 AM - The Mask

8:30 AM - Extreme Dinosaurs

9:00 AM - Jumanji

9:30 AM - The Incredible Hulk

10:00 AM - Breaker High

10:30 AM - Sweet Valley High

1998-1999 season

First week

7:00 AM - Extreme Dinosaurs

7:30 AM - Jumanji

8:00 AM - Skysurfer Strike Force

8:30 AM - Pocket Dragon Adventures

September 14 - October 30

7:00 AM - Extreme Dinosaurs

7:30 AM - Jumanji

8:00 AM - Mummies Alive!

8:30 AM - Pocket Dragon Adventures

November 2, 1998 - August 28, 1999

7:00 AM - Mighty Max

7:30 AM - Jumanji

8:00 AM - Mummies Alive!

8:30 AM - Pocket Dragon Adventures

August 30 - September 3

7:00 AM - Monster Rancher

7:30 AM - Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles

8:00 AM - Mummies Alive!

8:30 AM - Extreme Ghostbusters

2001-2002 season

September 10 - December 28, 2001

(MORNING)

7:00 AM - Disney's Recess

7:30 AM - The Legend of Tarzan

8:00 AM - Buzz Lightyear of Star Command

8:30 AM - Sabrina, the Animated Series

(AFTERNOON)

2:00 PM - The Woody Woodpecker Show

2:30 PM - Transformers: Robots in Disguise

3:00 PM - Power Rangers

3:30 PM - Digimon: Digital Monsters