NHL on RKO General
Encyclopedia
NHL on RKO General relates to a small, syndicated network of RKO General
affiliates broadcasting National Hockey League
games.
on the Thursday evening of May 5 aired on RKO General's affiliates
(including WOR
in New York
). The commentators for RKO's coverage on that occasion were Bob Wolff
and Emile Francis
. Wolff at the time did play-by-play for New York Rangers
games seen on WOR.
Although the TV listings page of the May 5, 1966 edition of the Boston Globe indicated that RKO-owned WNAC-TV
Boston would not carry the game, WNAC did clear the broadcast at the last minute.
The following season, CBS
won U.S. network television rights to weekend-afternoon regular-season games as well as weekend playoff games. Due to other programming commitments, the 1966-67 regular-season games were subleased to RKO General, which aired a series of Sunday afternoon broadcasts at 4 p.m. Eastern Time
during the last eight weeks of the regular season. This started on February 12, 1967.
Some regular-season games were blacked out
in the cities where they were played. For example, the March 26, 1967 game between the Boston Bruins
and Montreal Canadiens
in Boston
was not televised on any station in the Boston area.
RKO General
RKO General was the main holding company through 1991 for the noncore businesses of the General Tire and Rubber Company and, after General Tire's reorganization in the 1980s, GenCorp. The business was based around the consolidation of its parent company's broadcasting interests, dating to 1943, and...
affiliates broadcasting National Hockey League
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
games.
Background
In the United States, the clinching game of the 1966 Stanley Cup Finals1966 Stanley Cup Finals
The 1966 Stanley Cup Final was contested by the Detroit Red Wings and the defending champion Montreal Canadiens. The Canadiens would win the best-of-seven series four games to two to win the Stanley Cup for the seventh time in eleven years.-Paths to the final:...
on the Thursday evening of May 5 aired on RKO General's affiliates
RKO General
RKO General was the main holding company through 1991 for the noncore businesses of the General Tire and Rubber Company and, after General Tire's reorganization in the 1980s, GenCorp. The business was based around the consolidation of its parent company's broadcasting interests, dating to 1943, and...
(including WOR
WWOR-TV
WWOR-TV, virtual channel 9 , is the flagship station of the MyNetworkTV programming service, licensed to Secaucus, New Jersey and serving the Tri-State metropolitan area. WWOR is owned by Fox Television Stations, a division of the News Corporation, and is a sister station to Fox network flagship...
in New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
). The commentators for RKO's coverage on that occasion were Bob Wolff
Bob Wolff
Robert "Bob" Wolff , in New York City, New York is an American sportscaster. He was the radio and TV voice of the Washington Senators from 1947 to 1960, continuing with the team when they relocated and became the Minnesota Twins in 1961. In 1962, he joined NBC-TV...
and Emile Francis
Emile Francis
Emile "The Cat" Francis is a former player, coach, and general manager in the National Hockey League, most notably with the New York Rangers....
. Wolff at the time did play-by-play for New York Rangers
New York Rangers
The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the borough of Manhattan in New York, New York, USA. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . Playing their home games at Madison Square Garden, the Rangers are one of the...
games seen on WOR.
Although the TV listings page of the May 5, 1966 edition of the Boston Globe indicated that RKO-owned WNAC-TV
WHDH
The call letters WHDH may represent:* WHDH : a television station in Boston, Massachusetts that currently exists...
Boston would not carry the game, WNAC did clear the broadcast at the last minute.
The following season, CBS
NHL on CBS
NHL on CBS is a former television program that broadcast National Hockey League games on CBS Sports. CBS was the first American television network to broadcast NHL games.-1956–1960 version:...
won U.S. network television rights to weekend-afternoon regular-season games as well as weekend playoff games. Due to other programming commitments, the 1966-67 regular-season games were subleased to RKO General, which aired a series of Sunday afternoon broadcasts at 4 p.m. Eastern Time
Eastern Time Zone
The Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time...
during the last eight weeks of the regular season. This started on February 12, 1967.
Some regular-season games were blacked out
Blackout (broadcasting)
Blackout usually relates to the broadcasting of sports events, television programming, that is prohibited in a certain media market.The purpose is theoretically to generate more revenue by obliging certain actions from fans, either by making them buy tickets or watch other games on TV...
in the cities where they were played. For example, the March 26, 1967 game between the Boston Bruins
1966–67 Boston Bruins season
The 1966–67 Boston Bruins season was the Bruins' 42nd season in the NHL. The highlight of the season was the NHL debut of Bobby Orr, who was drafted first-overall in the 1966 NHL Amateur Draft...
and Montreal Canadiens
1966–67 Montreal Canadiens season
The 1966–67 Montreal Canadiens season was the Canadiens' 58th season of play, and 50th in the National Hockey League . The Canadiens lost in the Stanley Cup final to the Toronto Maple Leafs in six games...
in Boston
Boston Garden
The Boston Garden was an arena in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Designed by boxing promoter Tex Rickard, who also built the third iteration of New York's Madison Square Garden, it opened on November 17, 1928 as "Boston Madison Square Garden" and outlived its original namesake by some 30 years...
was not televised on any station in the Boston area.
Schedule (1966–67 season)
| Date | Teams |
| February 12 | Montreal 1966–67 Montreal Canadiens season The 1966–67 Montreal Canadiens season was the Canadiens' 58th season of play, and 50th in the National Hockey League . The Canadiens lost in the Stanley Cup final to the Toronto Maple Leafs in six games... at Detroit 1966–67 Detroit Red Wings season -Game log:-Regular season:ScoringGoaltendingNote: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/- = Plus-minus PIM = Penalty minutes; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals;... |
| February 26 | Boston 1966–67 Boston Bruins season The 1966–67 Boston Bruins season was the Bruins' 42nd season in the NHL. The highlight of the season was the NHL debut of Bobby Orr, who was drafted first-overall in the 1966 NHL Amateur Draft... at Detroit |
| March 5 | Montreal at New York Rangers 1966–67 New York Rangers season The 1966–67 New York Rangers season was the 41st season for the team in the National Hockey League . In the regular season, the Rangers finished in fourth place in the NHL with 72 points and qualified for the playoffs... |
| March 12 | Toronto 1966–67 Toronto Maple Leafs season The 1966–67 Toronto Maple Leafs season was the fiftieth season of the Toronto NHL franchise, fortieth as the Maple Leafs. The Leafs finished third in the NHL with a record of 32-27-11 for 75 points to qualify for the playoffs... at Chicago 1966–67 Chicago Black Hawks season The 1966–67 Chicago Black Hawks season was the Hawks' forty-first season in the NHL, and the team was coming off a team record 37 victories in the 1965-66 season, as they finished in second place in the NHL. The Black Hawks then were upset by the fourth place Detroit Red Wings in the NHL... |
| March 19 | Toronto at Detroit |
| March 26 | Montreal at Boston |
| April 2 | Chicago at New York |
Announcing crews and combinations
- Jim GordonJim Gordon (sportscaster)Jim Gordon was an American television and radio newscaster and play-by-play sportscaster in the New York City area for nearly 40 years....
/Lloyd PettitLloyd PettitLloyd Pettit was a sportscaster in Chicago and Milwaukee as well as the owner of the Milwaukee Admirals.-Early life:Pettit was born in Chicago and moved as a small child to the Milwaukee suburb of Shorewood, Wisconsin, where he graduated from Shorewood High School... - Win Elliott/Stu NahanStu NahanStu Nahan was an American sportscaster best known for his television broadcasting career in Los Angeles from the 1950s through the 1990s. He is also remembered for his role as a boxing commentator in most of the Rocky films. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6549 Hollywood Blvd...
- Fred CusickFred CusickFrederick Michael Cusick was an American ice hockey broadcaster who served as the Boston Bruins play-by-play announcer from 1971 until 1997 on WSBK-TV in Boston, and from 1984 until 1995 on NESN...
/Jim GordonJim Gordon (sportscaster)Jim Gordon was an American television and radio newscaster and play-by-play sportscaster in the New York City area for nearly 40 years.... - Stu NahanStu NahanStu Nahan was an American sportscaster best known for his television broadcasting career in Los Angeles from the 1950s through the 1990s. He is also remembered for his role as a boxing commentator in most of the Rocky films. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6549 Hollywood Blvd...
/Win Elliott - Fred CusickFred CusickFrederick Michael Cusick was an American ice hockey broadcaster who served as the Boston Bruins play-by-play announcer from 1971 until 1997 on WSBK-TV in Boston, and from 1984 until 1995 on NESN...
/Win Elliott - Jim GordonJim Gordon (sportscaster)Jim Gordon was an American television and radio newscaster and play-by-play sportscaster in the New York City area for nearly 40 years....
/Stu NahanStu NahanStu Nahan was an American sportscaster best known for his television broadcasting career in Los Angeles from the 1950s through the 1990s. He is also remembered for his role as a boxing commentator in most of the Rocky films. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6549 Hollywood Blvd...
History of NHL coverage on RKO's affiliates
- WORWWOR-TVWWOR-TV, virtual channel 9 , is the flagship station of the MyNetworkTV programming service, licensed to Secaucus, New Jersey and serving the Tri-State metropolitan area. WWOR is owned by Fox Television Stations, a division of the News Corporation, and is a sister station to Fox network flagship...
(Secaucus, NJSecaucus, New JerseySecaucus is a town in Hudson County, New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States Census, the town population was 16,264. Located within the New Jersey Meadowlands, it is the most suburban of the county's municipalities, though large parts of the town are dedicated to light manufacturing, retail, and...
/New York CityNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
) - Channel 9 acquired rights for the NHLNational Hockey LeagueThe National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
's New York RangersNew York RangersThe New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the borough of Manhattan in New York, New York, USA. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . Playing their home games at Madison Square Garden, the Rangers are one of the...
and the NBANational Basketball AssociationThe National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
's New York KnicksNew York KnicksThe New York Knickerbockers, prominently known as the Knicks, are a professional basketball team based in New York City. They are part of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association...
in 1965, holding onto both teams until 1989, when the two teams became cable-exclusive on the MSG NetworkMSG NetworkThe MSG Network, now shortened to simply MSG, is a regional cable television and radio network serving the Mid-Atlantic United States. It is focused on New York City sports teams...
. While WOR/WWOR broadcasts of Rangers' games were generally away games, mainly on Saturday nights, the station broadcast on November 27, 1965 the Rangers' home game against the Chicago Black Hawks on a few hours' tape delay. WOR claimed that this game was the first NHL contest to ever be broadcast in color. The game was also colorcast on WGN-TVWGN-TVWGN-TV, virtual channel 9 , is the CW-affiliated television station in Chicago, Illinois built, signed on, and owned by the Tribune Company. WGN-TV's studios and offices are located at 2501 W...
Chiacgo.
- KHJKCAL-TVKCAL-TV, channel 9, is an independent television station in Los Angeles, California, USA, owned by the CBS Corporation. KCAL-TV shares its studio facilities with KCBS-TV inside CBS Studio Center in the Studio City section of Los Angeles, and its transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson.-Digital...
(Los AngelesLos Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
) - KHJ (now KCAL) was home to the Los Angeles KingsLos Angeles KingsThe Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles, California. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League...
in the early 1980s and again during the mid-to-late 1990s, long after RKO divested itself of the station. The 1966-67 RKO games aired on KHJ because Los Angeles had been one of six cities that were granted expansion teams that would begin play in the Fall of 1967 (although another local station, KTLAKTLAKTLA, virtual channel 5, is a television station in Los Angeles, California, USA. Owned by the Tribune Company, KTLA is an affiliate of the CW Television Network. KTLA's studios are on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, and its transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson...
, began televising Kings' away games from Oakland during the 1967-68 season.
- WHCTWUVNWUVN is the Connecticut affiliate for the Spanish language Univision television network. It is licensed to Hartford. Owned by Entravision, the station broadcasts its digital signal on UHF channel 46...
(HartfordHartford, ConnecticutHartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, it is the second most populous city on New England's largest river, the Connecticut River. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making...
/New Haven, CTNew Haven, ConnecticutNew Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...
) - From 1962 to 1969, the station (now WUVN) ran a subscription television service from 7 p.m. to midnight with scrambled first-run movies and sports events from Madison Square GardenMadison Square GardenMadison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
.
- CKLWCBETCBET, channel 9, is the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's owned-and-operated television station in Windsor, Ontario. The station's signal also covers the Detroit, Michigan area across the international border in the United States, and is counted as a Detroit station for the purposes of...
(Windsor, ONWindsor, OntarioWindsor is the southernmost city in Canada and is located in Southwestern Ontario at the western end of the heavily populated Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. It is within Essex County, Ontario, although administratively separated from the county government. Separated by the Detroit River, Windsor...
/DetroitDetroit, MichiganDetroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
) - The CBCCBC TelevisionCBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster.Although the CBC is supported by public funding, the television network supplements this funding with commercial advertising revenue, in contrast to CBC Radio which are...
's sports programming, including Hockey Night in CanadaHockey Night in CanadaHockey Night in Canada is the branding used for CBC Sports' presentations of the National Hockey League...
and coverage of the Olympic GamesOlympic GamesThe Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
, has historically been quite popular in the Detroit area, sometimes even more popular than American network coverage of the same events. CBC's National Hockey League coverage is not subject to local blackout. Indeed, CKLW (now CBET) generally airs any Detroit Red WingsDetroit Red WingsThe Detroit Red Wings are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League , and are one of the Original Six teams of the NHL, along with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, New York...
game covered by CBC in preference over the default national broadcast. For example, CBET aired all of the 2006 Western Conference Quarterfinal games between the Edmonton Oilers and the Red Wings, although some games were only initially designated to air in the Northern and Central Alberta (CBXTCBXTCBXT-DT is the television call sign for the CBC's television station in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.- History :The station first went on-air on October 1, 1961 as Edmonton's second television station; the previous CBC affiliate, CFRN, switched to the newly-established CTV on the same day. Initially,...
/Edmonton) region.
- WNAC-TVWHDH-TVWHDH, digital channel 42 , is an NBC-affiliated television station in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest NBC station not owned by the network. Owned by Sunbeam Television, WHDH is a sister station to CW affiliate WLVI...
- Boston was the first station in that city to televise games of the Boston BruinsBoston BruinsThe Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The team has been in existence since 1924, and is the league's third-oldest team and its oldest in the...
in the 1948-49 season, the first after the birth of commercial television in Boston, but would not continue carrying games after that one season. While WNAC carried the sixth game of the 1966 Finals (clearing it on the day of the broadcast, bumping network programs), it did not air the 1966-67 NHL package even though it was an RKO-owned station in a city that had an NHL team. The station could not do so because at the time, WNAC was an affiliate of the ABC television NetworkAmerican Broadcasting CompanyThe American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
, and elected to air ABC's National Basketball Association games, some of which featured the Boston CelticsBoston CelticsThe Boston Celtics are a National Basketball Association team based in Boston, Massachusetts. They play in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. Founded in 1946, the team is currently owned by Boston Basketball Partners LLC. The Celtics play their home games at the TD Garden, which...
. Instead, the NHL games were broadcast on newly-launched UHF station WKBG-TVWLVI-TVWLVI, digital channel 41, is a television station licensed to Cambridge, Massachusetts which serves as the CW affiliate for the Boston, Massachusetts television market. WLVI is owned by Sunbeam Television, and is a sister station to WHDH, Boston's NBC affiliate. The two stations share studios at...
, which also broadcast a few games of the Boston BruinsBoston BruinsThe Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The team has been in existence since 1924, and is the league's third-oldest team and its oldest in the...
during the 1966-67 season. WNAC carried NHL games produced by CBS from the 1956-57 through 1959-60 seasons as part of its affiliation with that network from June 21, 1948 through December 31, 1960; when WNAC regained CBS affiliation on March 19, 1972, it carried the remainder of the 1971-72 NHL on CBS schedule. Today, as NBC affiliate WHDH, the station carries the full NHL on NBC schedule. WHDH often gets the highest ratings for NBC's NHL games among stations in "neutral markets" (that is, markets whose local team is not playing in a particular network telecast).