WWOR-TV

Sports programming[edit]

As an independent station, channel 9's schedule was heavy on sports programming. Early in its history, WOR-TV established itself as the home of National League baseball in New York, carrying Brooklyn Dodgers (beginning in 1950) and New York Giants games (beginning in 1951) until both teams moved to California (Los Angeles and San Francisco, respectively) following the 1957 season. From 1958 to 1961, the station aired a limited schedule of Philadelphia Phillies games, consisting of matchups against the Dodgers and Giants. In 1962, WOR-TV gained broadcast rights to the New York Mets, the National League's new expansion team. The partnership between the station and the team would last through the 1998 season, after which the Mets moved their broadcasts to WPIX, replacing Yankee telecasts on the station.^[68]


Channel 9 acquired rights to the NHL's New York Rangers and the NBA's New York Knicks in 1965, holding onto both teams until 1989 (when the two teams' television rights moved exclusively to cable on the MSG Network). The New York Islanders; New York/New Jersey Nets; New Jersey Devils; local college basketball; New York Cosmos soccer; WWWF/WWF; WCW and briefly in the mid-1970s, IWA wrestling were also broadcast on channel 9. For a generation of New York sports fans, the station became synonymous with its relationships with the Mets, Knicks, Rangers, Islanders, Devils, Nets and the World Wrestling Federation (WWWF/WWF/WWE).


Except for the Mets (for whom [W]WOR did cover a large number of home games), WWOR's pro sports coverage mainly featured away games, although in the mid-1960s, the station taped a handful of Rangers' Saturday afternoon home games for broadcast that evening. One such game, on November 27, 1965, against the Chicago Blackhawks, is said to be the first NHL game to ever be broadcast in color.^[69]


WWOR-TV also broadcast an infamous interview between Mike Tyson and the station's then-sports anchor Russ Salzberg in January 1999, whose intent was to discuss Tyson's then comeback fight against Francois Botha; Tyson shouted several expletives, made threats and told the audience to switch the station off. This prompted Salzberg to abruptly end the interview, giving Tyson a half-hearted wish of luck on his upcoming fight. Tyson responded by telling Salzberg to "fuck off".^[70]


In late September 2001, WWOR-TV aired several New York Yankees baseball games that were originally scheduled to air on WNYW. In 2005, channel 9 picked up Yankees games on a full-time basis, with the broadcasts being produced by the YES Network. Whenever YES broadcasts a Yankees game during the same time period as a Brooklyn Nets game, the Nets game airs instead on WWOR due to channel overflow, and the mutual agreement between the two networks. This is usually the case during the month of April, and most of the Nets playoff games. Channel 9 and YES became corporate siblings in 2012, when Fox bought a 49 percent stake in the latter channel (since increased to 80 percent). In 2015, Yankees games moved back to WPIX after ending a ten-year deal; both Yankee and Met games are now aired on WPIX.


WWOR has sometimes aired New York Giants pre-season games due to commitments by WNBC to air network coverage of the Summer Olympics as has occurred in 2012 and 2016.^[71] WWOR has also simulcast ESPN-produced Monday Night Football games in which the Giants or Jets were involved (WABC-TV holds right of first refusal on local MNF broadcasts as a corporate sibling to ESPN, but often exercises that right to air ABC's Dancing with the Stars), as well as such games during the early existence of the NFL Network; WWOR was scheduled to be the local outlet for the December 30, 2007, Giants/Patriots game, but with the Patriots on the verge of an undefeated regular season, and NFL Network having minimal cable carriage at the time, the game ended up being simulcast nationally on CBS and NBC in addition to WWOR.


As a sister station to WNYW, WWOR has sometimes aired Fox sports programming while WNYW aired local programming. This was the case on September 11, 2021, when WNYW aired local 9/11 memorial programming while WWOR aired a nationally televised Fox College Football game. This was the case again on September 21, 2023, when WNYW aired a Thursday Night Football game between the New York Giants and the San Francisco 49ers, while WWOR aired a locally televised Baseball Night in America game between the New York Mets and the Philadelphia Phillies (coincidentally, as previously mentioned, WWOR aired Mets games from 1962 to 1998).^[72]


Currently, WWOR airs select Brooklyn Nets games produced by YES Network whenever YES broadcasts a Yankees game during the same time period.^[73] In 2023, two New York Liberty games also aired on the station, including one broadcast nationally on ABC due to WABC-TV televising the NYC Pride March^[74][75][76] (this game was joined in progress on WABC-TV as it went into overtime). On November 18, 2023, WWOR aired a Seton Hall men's basketball game produced by Fox College Hoops.^[77][78]


On March 12, 2024, it was announced that WWOR and WNYW would become the new broadcast partner for the New York Liberty.^[79]