Senator Seeks F.C.C. Review of WWOR-TV’s License

WWOR, the New Jersey-based television station, faced a new challenge to its license on Tuesday from United States Senator Robert Menendez.

Mr. Menendez, a Democrat, wrote to the Federal Communications Commission to urge a “prompt and thorough review” of the license that permits WWOR to profit from the public airwaves. His letter came one day after the station replaced its traditional half-hour nightly newscast, the only daily news on its schedule, with a tabloid-style magazine program called “Chasing New Jersey.”

“In light of WWOR’s decision to drop their nightly news programming, a decision which affects millions of New Jerseyans, it is becoming increasingly critical that the F.C.C. make a determination about WWOR’s license and whether they are adequately serving New Jersey as the law and F.C.C. rules stipulate,” Mr. Menendez wrote to Mignon L. Clyburn, the acting chair of the commission.

WWOR, the only big commercial station in the state and wedged between the New York and Philadelphia media markets, has been controversial for some time because its license specifically asserts that the station must pay special attention to the people of northern New Jersey. Since 2001, the station had been owned by the News Corporation, which last month split into two companies, the News Corporation and 21st Century Fox. WWOR is now part of 21st Century Fox.

When the station’s license expired in 2007, the F.C.C. declined to renew it, but did not revoke it either, allowing the station to continue operating in the interim. Station licenses are typically renewed every eight years, so WWOR is now approaching its next scheduled review period.

In his letter on Tuesday, Mr. Menendez hinted that he believed that the license should be taken away from 21st Century Fox. Such a move by the F.C.C. is extremely rare.

With the letter, Mr. Menendez appeared to be picking up where his late Senate colleague, Frank R. Lautenberg, left off. Mr. Lautenberg, a longtime critic of WWOR, died last month. The New Jersey governor, Chris Christie, appointed Jeffrey Chiesa, the state’s attorney general, to be Mr. Lautenberg’s interim replacement in the Senate. A special election to fill the seat is scheduled to take place in October.

“It is my hope and will be my mission to see that Senator Lautenberg’s longstanding and well founded concerns are not forgotten,” Mr. Menendez wrote.

A spokesman for the F.C.C. declined to comment. A spokeswoman for WWOR did not immediately respond to a request for comment.