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WWOR Responds To Pallone Criticism

After Rep. Frank Pallone, a Democratic New Jersey congressman running for the Senate, called for the FCC to revoke Fox’s license for its Secaucus, N.J., MNT affiliate because it replaced its 10 p.m. newscast with the nontraditional Chasing New Jersey, WWOR Station Manager Dianne Doctor defended the new programming: “Based in Trenton, Chasing New Jersey is a news program immersed in all aspects of the state. Politics. People. Issues. It’s enterprise journalism that no one else is doing.”

By TVNewsCheck | July 9, 2013 | 6:26 p.m. ET.
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Ellen Samrock says:

July 9, 2013 at 6:58 pm

Good grief! Another politician trying to score one with voters by bashing broadcast television. First it was McCain and now this clown. “Why address truly serious issues when I can go slumming for votes by taking cheap shots at broadcasters.” Makes sense, actually.

Keith ONeal says:

July 9, 2013 at 9:15 pm

To hell with the stupid politicians! WWOR can do what they want with their non-network time.

    John Murray says:

    July 10, 2013 at 10:32 am

    Amen, D BP and FlashFlood. Looks like New Jerseyans need to be voting for Cory Booker for Senate…

Shenee Howard says:

July 10, 2013 at 9:33 am

I think many have forgotten that legislation was passed in Congress that mandated any VHF station whose license was stripped, as is the case with RKO General’s WOR TV, that it would be turned over to local operators in states without a VHF station. Thus, WOR became WWOR, moved across the river to Secaucus, and repositioned a good portion of the news product to NJ, rather than the entire tri state area. Whe the station was sold to Chris Craft, that got somewhat diluted. Then Fox bought the station, stripped it of most NJ operations, and now has replaced the news, with this magazine, which looks more like it should be a companion to a traditional newscast rather than a replacement. The FCC has been holding up WWOR’s license renewal for years because of the eroding of the legislative intent, and this may result in the FCC finally taking some action. I don’t think anyone would consider WWOR a NJ focused station since Fox bought it, in violation of the legislation.

    John Murray says:

    July 10, 2013 at 10:31 am

    Looks like you need to change your name to GovernmentControlUSA, dude…

    Angie McClimon says:

    July 10, 2013 at 10:42 am

    Considering WWOR was moved to New Jersey after petitioning Congress to let that happen, Congress has as much right to be concerned.

    John Murray says:

    July 10, 2013 at 11:27 am

    Sure, Congress has a “right to be concerned”… just like taxpayers have a right to be concerned that members of Congress are busy looking for ways to shuffle more paper, layer on more regulatory burdens, raise more taxes, generally grandstand and demagogue and, uh, not address the job situation…?

    Ellen Samrock says:

    July 10, 2013 at 11:47 am

    Right. And for a congressman to obsess over a local station’s programming, in this case swapping out a newscast for a news magazine show, is to rightly call into question this person’s competency and judgement. As it is, we have enough legislators on Capitol Hill who are fiddling while the country burns.

    John Murray says:

    July 10, 2013 at 12:11 pm

    Let’s not kid ourselves. Pallone (and, now, Menendez) are not exactly altruistic here. They harumph that they’re merely protecting the “peoples’ airwaves” when in reality they’re trying to protect their own self-interest by saber-rattling at local news outlets. How are these guys helping New Jerseyans find jobs?

Tanya Pavluchuk says:

July 10, 2013 at 12:08 pm

Um…..First Amendment Rights? I would think that would come into play here. The Senator is probably a little disgruntled over whatever the content was…..

Angie McClimon says:

July 10, 2013 at 12:46 pm

You all have missed the point. This has nothing to do with sabre rattling or getting their name out there. The only reason WWOR gets this much attention is because it has something NO OTHER STATION has: specific stipulations to it’s licensing. Before you go off on the senators thinking they are doing things for their own good, look into how WWOR got to where it is. That station could have went dark decades ago because of the unfortunate business practices of RKO General. These Senators are only having a hissy-fit because they know the background of the situation where the general public has forgotten. Fox tried to cancel the newscast quietly but it has blown up in their face. It seems there is no one at WWOR that knows why that station still exists.

    John Murray says:

    July 10, 2013 at 12:56 pm

    TVMN, WWOR’s continued existence (and frankly I could care less) should be entirely up to the viewers. If they “vote” (via their remotes) to keep WWOR alive, then WWOR should be allowed to stay in business. If the viewers ignore WWOR, it will die a quiet death for lack of advertisers. This is how it should be. Residents of northern NJ can still enjoy NYC stations; residents of southern NJ can enjoy Phila. stations; and all can enjoy News 12 New Jersey. And Sen. Menendez and Rep. Pallone can go on with their blowhard lives.

    Linda Stewart says:

    July 10, 2013 at 2:44 pm

    At let us all keep in mind that WWOR is still mounting a full-blown newscast every night at 10 p.m., albeit a rather unconventional one. If you haven’t seen Chasing New Jersey, you should.

    Ellen Samrock says:

    July 10, 2013 at 4:15 pm

    No one is missing any point here. As Harry indicated, WWOR already has one half-hour newscast mid-week. And the good folks in this part of New Jersey are well-served by a number of stations offering their own newscasts. But what can’t be denied is that Fox stations have been a favorite target of Democrats. We’re just seeing another example of it here.