NHL on RKO General relates to a small, syndicated network of stations owned by RKO General which broadcast National Hockey League games.

Background

In the United States, the clinching game of the 1966 Stanley Cup Finals on the evening of Thursday, May 5 aired on RKO General's stations, such as WOR-TV in New York City and WHCT in Hartford, Connecticut. Bob Wolff, who at the time did play-by-play for New York Rangers games seen on WOR, called the game that night with Emile Francis. Although the TV listings page of the May 5, 1966 edition of the Boston Globe indicated that RKO-owned WNAC-TV in Boston would not carry the game, the then-ABC-affiliated station 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, starting 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.

Schedule (1966–67 season)

Announcing crews and combinations

History of NHL coverage on RKO stations

RKO also owned WHBQ-TV in Memphis during this period. WHBQ-TV is notable for having pre-empted ABC's coverage of the "Miracle on Ice" gold medal championship game during the 1980 Winter Olympics.