KWQC-TV
FCC | |
Facility ID | 6885 |
---|---|
ERP | 1,000 kW |
HAAT | 375.1 m (1,231 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 41°32′48.8″N 90°28′37.8″W / 41.546889°N 90.477167°W |
Links | |
Public license information | |
Website | www |
KWQC-TV (channel 6) is a television station licensed to Davenport, Iowa, United States, serving the Quad Cities area as an affiliate of NBC. Owned by Gray Television, the station maintains studios on Brady Street in downtown Davenport, and its transmitter is located near Orion, Illinois.[2]
History
KWQC first signed on the air on October 31, 1949, as WOC-TV. The station was founded by
WOC-TV lost CBS when Rock Island–based WHBF-TV (channel 4) was launched in 1950. The two stations shared ABC until WQAD-TV (channel 8) signed on from Moline in 1963, and has since served as an exclusive NBC station. The station was also affiliated with the short-lived Paramount Television Network; in fact, it was one of that network's strongest affiliates, carrying programs such as Dixie Showboat,[5] Hollywood Reel,[6] and Hollywood Wrestling.[7]
Channel 6 remained with the Palmer family's broadcasting division after Dr. Palmer's death in 1961. In 1986, Palmer Communications sold its Quad Cities radio properties to Vickie Anne Palmer and her then-husband J. Douglas Miller. Due to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules at the time, channel 6 changed its calls to the current KWQC-TV on December 8 so as not to confuse the two properties. KWQC was sold to Broad Street Television in 1989 and to Young Broadcasting in 1995.
On June 6, 2013, Media General announced they would acquire Young Broadcasting in an all-stock deal.[8] The merger was completed on November 12.[9] The addition of KWQC to Media General's portfolio marked a return to Iowa for Media General, who had owned KIMT in Mason City from 2000 to 2006, though they would regain ownership of that station upon acquiring LIN Media in 2014. In September 2015, Media General announced the acquisition of Meredith Corporation in a cash and stock deal valued at $2.4 billion.[10] If the deal was completed, KWQC and KIMT would have become Meredith's first television stations in its home state of Iowa.
Media General announced on January 27, 2016, that it was terminating the Meredith deal, and also announced that it was being acquired by
On February 1, 2021, Gray Television announced its intent to purchase
Subchannel history
KWQC-DT2
KWQC-DT2 is the
On August 13, 2007, KWQC launched a local digital weather service called the "KWQC 24/7 Weather Channel" on over-the-air digital subchannel 6.2 and on Mediacom digital channel 247 in the Quad Cities and surrounding areas. The subchannel's display was similar in format to Young Broadcasting's other digital weather subchannel offerings on sister stations
On November 1, 2015, the KWQC 24/7 Weather Channel was discontinued and replaced with entertainment programming from Ion Television.
KWQC-DT3
KWQC-DT3 is the Cozi TV–affiliated third digital subchannel of KWQC-TV, broadcasting in 16:9 widescreen standard definition on UHF channel 6.3.
In June 2013, KWQC began testing a third digital subchannel (6.3) with an ID still. The still was replaced on Labor Day of that year with programming from NBCUniversal-owned classic television network Cozi TV. The channel is also available on Mediacom cable channel 106.[21]
Heroes & Icons (6.4) and Start TV (6.5)
On February 1, 2019, the station added Weigel Broadcasting's Heroes & Icons and Start TV to their subchannel lineup on channels 6.4 and 6.5, respectively.
Programming
In January 2008, KWQC began broadcasting syndicated programs, and NBC network programs in high definition. The first two programs aired in the format, Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, are recorded and broadcast in high definition every weekday. The Saturday evening reruns of Wheel of Fortune are also broadcast in high definition. KWQC's local programs soon followed, converting their broadcasts to HD on October 27, 2010.
The station also produces a half-hour daytime talk/discussion program called Quad Cities Live at 3 p.m. weekdays. The program focuses on current events in the Quad Cities area, along with a variety of other segments.
On December 2, 2020, KWQC chose not to air a rare Wednesday late afternoon Baltimore Ravens vs. Pittsburgh Steelers game, which had been originally been a Thanksgiving night matchup for NBC Sunday Night Football that was postponed three times in one week due to COVID-19 issues. Instead, Sands' daytime show and local newscasts aired as usual, with the station justifying the decision to provide local news and a platform for local businesses during the pandemic that would have been delayed due to a game without any overall regional interest.[22]
News operation
KWQC is known by Quad Cities residents for the Highlight Zone, an Emmy award-winning Friday night sports segment (which airs during the station's 10 p.m. newscast from roughly late August through early March, with a break in December), showcasing highlights from area high school football and basketball games. The segment debuted in 1989, and its format has since been copied by many stations around the United States. Each member of the news anchor staff, along with the meteorologist who does weather forecasts on that particular evening, take turns recapping a featured game. The camera crews invite fans from each of the games they cover to participate in a skit related to the night's theme. The theme usually centers on a holiday (e.g., Valentine's Day) or local promotion (e.g., The Student Food Drive, an initiative by area high schools to collect food for the needy).
On July 31, 2007, KWQC debuted drastic changes to its graphics and newscast music, dumping
On September 25, 2008, KWQC introduced a new graphics package during its 5 p.m. broadcast, which also brought significant changes to its weather forecast presentation. The station introduced a new graphics system that allows the First Alert Weather team to provide more interactive weather forecasts and severe weather coverage, through animation,
On October 27, 2010, beginning with the 5 p.m. newscast, KWQC became the first television station in the Quad Cities market and the first station owned by Young Broadcasting to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition. A high definition-ready news set was constructed for the newscasts (a "compact" news desk was temporarily placed in the newsroom during the construction phase so that only three on-air staffers could be seen at a given time). Logos, call signs and on-air graphics were changed as well to refer to its newscasts as KWQC-HD News. The station returned to their original KWQC-TV 6 News branding in 2012 after all the market's stations converted to high definition news operations.
On November 4, 2013, KWQC introduced brand new weather graphics. The whole Young Broadcasting Association had been working on the new graphics for over six months. The change brought a new banner to the top of the screen, entitled "KWQC Weather", not "First Alert", though "First Alert" is still the official name of the weather on KWQC. The radar, 7 Day Forecast, Current Temperatures, and Watches/Warnings were all given a new look. Some new features include being able to put pictures from Facebook right on the screen and being able to put LIVE video of the meteorologists right over the radar or other image. On December 12, 2013, KWQC took away the KWQC Weather logo and replaced it again with the First Alert logo.
Starting on September 6, 2014, KWQC introduced Quad Cities Today: Weekend Edition. It runs before NBC's Today Show at 6 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. A half-hour newscast follows at 8:30 a.m. Saturdays, and a 60-minute newscast airs at 8 a.m. Sundays. Meet the Press has been moved to 9 a.m. Sundays; and This Week in Agribusiness and U.S. Farm Report airs at 5 a.m. Saturdays and Sundays.[25] KWQC had canceled its Saturday morning newscasts in 2008 due to financial struggles.[26]
In July 2017, KWQC reinstated the longtime slogan "The Station That Cares for You" for KWQC's special coverage of the Quad Cities Times Bix 7 Road Race. The slogan was used from the early 1990s until being phased out during the station's HD switch in 2010. The slogan was featured on news team T-shirts and was introduced in different promos and station commercials. The slogan came back permanently on January 18, 2024, when KWQC launched their new news package under GrayONE.
KWQC radio content
KWQC has news and weather updates broadcast for iHeartMedia's Quad Cities stations, among them KMXG, WLLR-FM, and its former sister station WOC (AM). The news updates are mostly heard in the morning, from Quad Cities Today anchors Dustin Nolan and Jenna Jackson. KMXG morning personalities McFadden & Evans also present the entertainment-themed "Showbiz Buzz" segment daily during KWQC-TV 6 News at 4.
The audio of the Monday through Friday 5 p.m. newscast is rebroadcast on WOC 1420 at 5:30 p.m.
KWQC/KLJB partnership
On September 29, 2012, KWQC announced they would be partnering with Fox affiliate KLJB to produce a 9 p.m. newscast starting New Year's Eve and planned to expand the news staff to accommodate the move.[27] The fate of this partnership was unknown with the June 2014 announcement that KLJB would be purchased by Marshall Broadcasting Group; competitor station WHBF from Citadel Communications was acquired by Nexstar Broadcasting Group, which universally operates Marshall Broadcasting Group stations through LMA and JSA agreements. On December 30, 2015, KWQC announced that its contract to produce KLJB's newscast had expired and that KLJB chose not to renew it.[28] On December 31, 2015, WHBF took over production of KLJB's Fox 18 News at Nine and expanded the newscast to a full hour.[29] Nearly 13 months earlier, the sale of KLJB to Marshall Broadcasting Group was completed,[30] and Nexstar (which already owned WHBF and KGCW at the time) entered into its existing SSA with KLJB.
Ratings
KWQC has been the ratings leader in the Quad Cities for most of its history. It briefly lost the lead to WHBF in the mid-1970s but regained it in 1980, and its newscasts have been the highest-rated in the market ever since. According to the
Technical information
Subchannels
The station's digital signal is
Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
---|---|---|---|---|
6.1 | 1080i | 16:9 |
KWQC-TV | Main KWQC-TV programming / NBC |
6.2 | 480i | 4:3 |
ION | Ion Television |
6.3 | 16:9 | COZI TV | Cozi TV | |
6.4 | H&I | Heroes & Icons | ||
6.5 | StartTV | Start TV | ||
6.6 | 720p | Outlaw | Outlaw | |
6.7 | 480i | Defy | Defy TV |
Analog-to-digital conversion
KWQC-TV shut down its analog signal, over
KWQC's audio signal transmitted on a frequency of 87.76
Analog nightlight service
After June 12, KWQC continued using its analog channel 6 for Nightlighting for the next two weeks strictly for the purpose of informing the public about the need to switch over to digital. This included the details on purchasing and installation of DTV converter boxes and television sets, as well as how digital TV works. This service is known as "Nightlighting."
Transmitter
The KWQC-TV Tower is a 1,381-foot (421 m) high
KWQC's digital transmission tower is located in Orion, Illinois. KWQC no longer transmits a signal from Bettendorf, as Orion is now its new permanent home for transmission facilities, as of June 12. KWQC's analog transmitter in Bettendorf was broadcasting the Quad City Market's
July 2015 carriage dispute with Mediacom
On July 14, 2015, KWQC-TV and its
References
- ^ "Facility Technical Data for KWQC-TV". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
- ^ "KWQC-TV DAVENPORT IA DIGITAL TV STATION". FCCdata.org. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
- ISBN 978-1-57806-396-3
- ISBN 978-0-9718323-1-2
- ^ "Television Log". Burlington Hawk-Eye Gazette. Burlington, IA. September 8, 1951. p. 8.
- ^ The Cedar Rapids Gazette. Cedar Rapids, IA. November 29, 1951. p. 33.
{{cite news}}
: Missing or empty|title=
(help) - ^ "Television Programs". The Waterloo Daily Courier. Waterloo, IA. June 15, 1951. p. 23.
- ^ "TV Companies Media General and New Young Broadcasting to Merge". The Hollywood Reporter. June 6, 2013. Retrieved June 7, 2013.
- ^ "Media General, Young Now Officially One". TVNewsCheck. November 12, 2013. Retrieved November 12, 2013.
- ^ "Media General to Buy Meredith Corp. for $2.4 Billion". The Wall Street Journal. September 8, 2015. Retrieved September 8, 2015.
- ^ "Nexstar-Media General: It's A Done Deal". TVNewsCheck. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
- ^ Picker, Leslie (January 27, 2016). "Nexstar Clinches Deal to Acquire Media General". The New York Times. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
- ^ "Gray Buying Two Nexstar Spinoffs For $270M". TVNewsCheck. June 3, 2016. Retrieved June 3, 2016.
- LLC. Retrieved June 18, 2016.
- ^ Carros, Adam (June 3, 2016). "KCRG parent company buys Quad Cities station". KCRG-TV. Gray Television. Retrieved January 26, 2017.
- ^ "Gray Closes Green Bay, Davenport, and Fairbanks Acquisitions". PR Newswire. January 17, 2017. Retrieved January 26, 2017.
- ^ Howell, Jr., Hilton (August 2, 2021). "Gray Television Closes Quincy Acquisition". Gray Television (Press release). GlobeNewswire. Retrieved August 10, 2021.
- ^ Goldsmith, Jill (February 1, 2021). "Gray Television Acquires Quincy Media For $925 Million In Cash". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 15, 2021.
- ^ "Byron Allen's Allen Media Will Buy 7 Stations From Gray TV for $380 Million". Variety. April 29, 2021. Retrieved May 6, 2021.
- ^ Miller, Mark K. (October 28, 2015). "KWQC Davenport Adds Ion TV On Subchannel". TVNewsCheck. Retrieved October 29, 2015.
- ^ Lense, Marcia (September 5, 2013). "KWQC-TV Announces COZI-TV On Channel 6.3". KWQC. Archived from the original on September 19, 2013. Retrieved November 8, 2013.
- ^ "TV6 not airing Baltimore Ravens vs. Pittsburgh Steelers game". KWQC.com. Gray Television. December 2, 2020. Retrieved December 5, 2020.
- ^ ‘Hello’ again: KWQC brings back ‘Hello’ campaign, KWQC-TV, October 31, 2023.
- ^ "Why KWQC Quad Cities Is Reviving A News Branding Campaign From 1991", TVNewsCheck, November 13, 2023, Retrieved February 8, 2024.
- ^ "KWQC adding weekend morning newscasts". The Quad-City Times. August 9, 2014. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
- ^ Schorpp, Doug (February 8, 2008). "KWQC-TV6 lays off 12, cancels Saturday morning newscasts". The Quad-City Times. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
- ^ "KWQC excited about expanding their reach". September 29, 2012.
- ^ Nielsen, Brianna (December 30, 2015). "KWQC to stop production of Fox 18 News at Nine". KWQC-TV6. Archived from the original on January 1, 2016. Retrieved January 1, 2016.
- ^ Ortega, Roly (December 31, 2015). "KLJB will now air its newscasts produced by WHBF, starting tonight". The Changing Newscasts Blog. Retrieved January 2, 2016.
- ^ Consummation Notice for KLJB, CDBS Public Access, Federal Communications Commission, Retrieved January 2, 2016.
- ^ RabbitEars TV Query for KWQC
- ^ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 29, 2013. Retrieved March 24, 2012.
- ^ http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-291375A1.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ^ "OurQuadCities". Whbf.com. August 10, 2022. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
- ^ "KWQC off Mediacom cable". Quad-City Times. Lee Enterprises. July 15, 2015. Retrieved August 22, 2015.
- ^ Farrell, Mike (July 15, 2015). "Media General Stations Go Dark on Mediacom". Multichannel News. NewBay Media. Retrieved July 18, 2015.
- ^ "KWQC-TV returns to Mediacom cable lineup". The Dispatch / The Rock Island Argus. The Small Newspaper Group. July 30, 2015. Retrieved August 1, 2015.
Further reading
- Fybush.com (2001). "The Big Travelogue, Part Four". Retrieved April 8, 2006.
- KWQC.com. "The History of KWQC-TV 6". Archived from the original on September 25, 2005. Retrieved March 22, 2006.
- KWQC On-Air accessed 2007-04-03
- Stein, Jeff (2004). Making Waves: The People and Places of Iowa Broadcasting. Cedar Rapids, Iowa: WDG Communications. ISBN 0-9718323-1-5.
- KWQC.com (2007). "KWQC-TV6 News and Weather For The Quad Cities - First Alert Weather 24/7". Retrieved August 21, 2007.
External links
- KWQC.com - Official KWQC TV-6 Website
- "Listing 1035417". Antenna Structure Registration database. U.S. Federal Communications Commission.
- WOC's Captain Ernie's Cartoon Showboat website
- The Unofficial WOC Broadcast Center Website