Growing up in Staten Island, WWOR-TV (Channel 9) was always the other channel. I seldom watched it. I remember that it was based out of Jersey, and I would pass by their studios when driving through Secacus on my way to tax-free shopping. Now, the lack of Jersey content on WWOR-TV has the interest of the FCC.
From the NY Times, New Jersey TV Station Is Accused of Failing Its Audience:
WWOR-TV is the subject of an unusual investigation by the Federal Communications Commission, which is looking into charges that the station’s owner, the News Corporation, misrepresented the station’s number of employees and amount of programming. The investigation is gaining attention in part because WWOR is a rarity: it is effectively the only big commercial station licensed to the state of New Jersey.
At issue are the obligations that television license owners have to the communities in which they operate. Just how many reporters and newscasts can a station remove before it fails to meet those obligations?
The investigation of WWOR implicitly asks that question. The station’s news division was already weak when, during the recession in 2009, it dismissed some employees and cut its nightly newscast to 30 minutes from one hour. The F.C.C.’s inquiry, announced on Thursday, was prompted by complaints from media activists who say that since the cutbacks, WWOR has overstated its coverage in filings to the F.C.C.
I have a surefire way to resolve this. JERSEY SHORE NEWS! What could be of more interest, and more Jersey, than a thirty-minute recap of the day’s events, with commentary by the Situation, Snooki, and the rest of the crew. I guarantee that would generate more ratings than any local news broadcast, and certainly would give a local spin on the world. Think about it!
It may look something like this: