WWOR-TV - Office Locations

Office Locations

WOR-TV's first studio location was in the New Amsterdam Roof Theatre, located on 42nd Street west of Times Square. This was a temporary setup; some time later the station moved uptown to a new facility on West 67th Street, near the present-day location of WABC-TV.

During the early years of RKO General ownership, WOR-TV moved back to Times Square, and closer to its sister radio stations. Channel 9's studios were co-located with WOR radio at 1440 Broadway for several years, then in 1968 moved to new studios three blocks north at 1481 Broadway, while the station's offices remained at 1440 Broadway. In addition, for several years starting in 1953, it maintained a separate studio for news and special events programming at the 83rd floor of the Empire State Building. When the WOR-TV license was moved to New Jersey in 1983, the station remained in New York City while a modern complex in Secaucus was being constructed. The new facility, Nine Broadcast Plaza, opened in April 1986.

In 2004, three years after the News Corporation bought the station, it announced that WWOR would leave Secaucus and be consolidated with WNYW at the Fox Television Center in Manhattan. The News Corporation planned to keep 9 Broadcast Plaza as a satellite relay station for WNYW and WWOR (the facility also performs master control operations for Fox-owned MyNetworkTV affiliate WUTB in Baltimore). While some office functions have been merged, plans for a full move were scuttled in late 2004 due to pressure from New Jersey Congressman Steve Rothman (whose congressional district includes Secaucus) and Senator Frank Lautenberg. (, ) The two lawmakers contended that any move to Manhattan would violate WWOR's conditions of license. When the FCC renewed channel 9's license in 1983 (in accordance with the Bradley-sponsored law), it had required RKO to move the station's main studio to New Jersey and increase coverage of New Jersey events. Had the consolidation occurred, channel 9's news department would have been shut down, or at the very least downsized to the point that it would not be able to adequately cover New Jersey events.