WQAD-TV
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| WQAD-TV | |
|---|---|
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| Moline/Rock Island, Illinois/Davenport, Iowa | |
| Branding | Quad Cities' News 8 |
| Slogan | The Quad Cities News Leader; Live, Local, Latebreaking |
| Channels | |
| Subchannels | 8.1 ABC 8.2 Quad Cities Weather Channel 8.3 My TV 16 |
| Affiliations | American Broadcasting Company |
| Owner | Local TV, LLC (Local TV Illinois License, LLC) |
| First air date | August 1, 1963 |
| Call letters’ meaning | QuAD Cities |
| Former channel number(s) | 8 Analog (1963-2009) |
| Transmitter Power | 1000 kW |
| Height | 334 m |
| Facility ID | 73319 |
| Transmitter Coordinates | 41°18′44.5″N 90°22′46.2″W / 41.312361°N 90.3795°W |
| Website | www.wqad.com |
WQAD-TV, known as " (The) Quad Cities' News 8," is the ABC affiliate for the Quad Cities television market (the Davenport, Iowa/Moline, Illinois/Rock Island, Illinois DMA). The station is licensed to Moline, with transmitter located in Orion, Illinois. It is owned by Local TV, a subsidiary of the private equity group Oak Hill Capital Partners.
Contents |
[edit] History
WQAD-TV signed on for the first time on August 1, 1963. It was owned by the Moline Television Corporation, a group of 24 local investors. They had actually won the license in 1961, but challenges delayed sign-on for two years. Before WQAD signed on, ABC programming had been split between WOC-TV (now KWQC-TV) and WHBF-TV. From day one, WQAD-TV broadcast ABC network programming in color.
Cowles Communications of Des Moines purchased WQAD in 1978. In 1985, the Cowles family sold off their various media interests, with WQAD going to the New York Times Company.
On May 7, 2007, Local TV, a subsidiary of Oak Hill Capital, officially took over the Times' 9 television stations, including WQAD.
The station began news operations from the first day it signed on the air in 1963. At times, it shares news stories with sister station WHO-TV in Des Moines. WQAD also uses WHO's chopper, usually during severe weather or flooding.
WQAD is also an affiliate with the CNN network, and uses much CNN footage on WQAD News at 6:30.
Station Identifications
- News Scope 8 - 1966-1975
- Eyewitness News - 1975-1978
- Active 8 - 1978-1994
- NewsChannel 8 - 1994-2008
- WQAD NewsChannel 8 - 2007-2008
- Quad Cities' NewsChannel 8 - 2008-2009
- Quad Cities' News 8 - 2009-Present
[edit] Quad Cities Weather Channel
The Quad Cities Weather Channel is a 24 hour weather service provided by WQAD and is available to television viewers in the Quad Cities and surrounding areas via WQAD's digital channel 8.2 and on Mediacom Cable's analog channel 14. This channel was created in 2001, and featured its Exclusive Live Triple Doppler, and weather updates every 15 minutes. Since, the station has added the 5, and 14 day outlook, with the latest weather around the region with an "L Bar". As of May 2009, The Quad Cities Weather Channel is now powered by Accuweather.com. The channel shows local weather on the side and at the bottum of the screen, and Accuweather video is shown, along with local updates from Storm Team 8. As of August 13, 2007, its main competitor is the KWQC 24-7 Weather Channel which is offered by rival NBC affiliate station KWQC.
[edit] Digital Television
WQAD-DT broadcasts on digital channel 38.
Digital channels
| Channel | Name | Video | Aspect | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8.1 | WQAD-DT | 720p | 16:9 | Main WQAD/ABC Programming |
| 8.2 | WQAD-WX | 480i | 4:3 | Quad Cities Weather Channel |
| 8.3 | MyNetworkTV | 480i | 4:3 | Simulcast of WBQD-LP |
At 3:59am on Friday, June 12, 2009,[1] WQAD-TV shut off its analog signal on channel 8, continuing digital broadcasts on its pre-transition channel number 38, and using PSIP to display WQAD's virtual channel as 8.[2]
[edit] Programming History
WQAD-TV's early years are closely linked to the station's prominent anchor/reporter, Jim King. He was the station's main anchorman from the day the station first signed on until 1998, doubling as news director for most of that time. His sign-off at the end of his newscasts was always, "Thank you for inviting us into your home." King took camera and gear to Vietnam for two tours of reporting on local troops. He was long the staple on the anchor desk and was known for his "On The Road" series of reports as well as his longtime role as the emcee of the station's annual Muscular Dystrophy Association telethons from 1971 to 1998. He died of a heart attack while shoveling his sidewalk on January 2, 1999.
WQAD-TV was one of the organizations which founded the Quad City Open golf tournament in 1971. The PGA tournament is now called the John Deere Classic and has been the topic of special broadcasts on the television station for more than 35 years.
Quad-Cities baby boomers fondly remember WQAD's weekly midnight Chuck Acri Creature Feature - showing early Creature Features films - including science fiction and monster movies. WQAD's early days are also remembered for being the local outlet for Romper Room and its host Miss Peggy.
On September 4th, 2007, WQAD's 6:00 PM news started a re-broadcast show on WBQD MyTv16 Quad Cities at 9PM.
[edit] The first 24-Hour Television Station in the Quad Cities
WQAD was branded in the early 1990s as "Active 8, your 24 hour News Source" and did hourly news cut-ins even during the overnight hours. On January 6, 1992, ABC World News Now was started by the ABC Television Network as an overnight newscast and is still on the air to this day. While the overnight news cut-ins and "24 hour news source" branding are now long gone from WQAD, the station still continues to carry World News Now every weekday morning from upon the conclusion of the previous night's programming until 4:30 am when it picks up America This Morning. WQAD is one of several ABC affiliates nationwide that carry World News Now, an overnight news program which has gained viewership over the years, partly due to the growing number of stations in smaller and mid-sized markets launching 24 hour schedules instead of signing off for the night like they did in olden days. WQAD was the first television station in the Quad Cities to be on the air 24 hours a day in the late 1980s/early 1990s and for awhile was the only 24 hour station in the Quad Cities as local competitors KWQC and KLJB continued with their nightly sign-off and daily Sign-on rituals either part of the time or all the time until the fall of 1997 when both stations finally followed suit and launched 24 hour schedules as well. Competitor WHBF and local PBS member station WQPT both still sign-off during the overnight hours even to this day, the former of which leaves its transmitters on all night and airs a Test Pattern with its station logo and legal ID for its analog and digital signals superimposed over the Test Pattern, while the latter cuts the carriers to both its analog and digital signals shortly after sign-off, airing the Test Pattern only very briefly after sign-off and for about 10 to 15 minutes prior to sign-on.
[edit] Live with Regis and Kelly
For much of the time since 1988, WQAD has carried the syndicated program Live with Regis and Kelly at 9 am local time on weekday mornings, which is produced by ABC O&O station WABC in New York City and distributed nationally by WABC's corporate sibling Disney-ABC Domestic Television, formerly known as Buena Vista Television. Although "Live" is a syndicated program available to any station regardless of network affiliation, ironically, most of the stations in the United States that carry it are in fact, ABC affiliate stations, including WQAD. However, for a period of time, "Live with Regis and Kelly" (formerly "Live with Regis and Kathie Lee") was actually carried by rival CBS affiliate station WHBF after they won the rights to broadcast it in the Fall of 1997, making WHBF one of the few non-ABC affiliate stations in the nation to do so. In September 2007, "Live with Regis and Kelly" finally returned to WQAD after being on WHBF for an entire decade and so remains on WQAD's weekday lineup to this day.
Live with Regis and Kelly is now broadcast in High Definition on WQAD. The program began HDTV broadcasts on Monday January 5, 2009. "Live" is one of three syndicated programs to be broadcast in HDTV by WQAD, with Dr. Phil and The Ellen DeGeneres Show being the other two.
[edit] Programming Preemptions
During the 1980s and 1990s, WQAD had pre-empted some of ABC's lower rated daytime soap operas including Loving and The City, both of which had previously occupied all or parts of the same late-morning time slot on ABC that is now occupied by The View, in favor of higher rated syndicated programming. Also, from August 1997 to September 1999, WQAD even pre-empted the first two seasons of The View, instead the station aired The People's Court during the 10AM Central Time time slot in its place. WQAD finally added The View to its weekday morning lineup in September 1999 and today, The View is broadcast in High Definition, in the 720p widescreen format utilized by ABC for all its HDTV programs.
Today, WQAD rarely ever pre-empts any programming from ABC or any of its local or syndicated programming. The only notable exception to this is the traditional "Muscular Dystrophy Association" telethon which begins the Sunday night before Labor Day at 10:35 pm after the 10 pm newscast and ends at 6 pm on Labor Day Monday. In the process, all regularly scheduled programming, from its Sunday late-night and overnight lineup of syndicated programming to the Labor-Day Monday editions of World News Now, America This Morning, and Good Morning America, and all regularly scheduled daytime network and syndicated programming all the way up to 6 pm, including World News with Charles Gibson, are pre-empted by WQAD in favor of the MDA telethon. However, the Labor-Day Monday editions of the soap operas on ABC are aired during the late-night and overnight hours of Monday night, with All My Children airing at 12:35 am, followed by One Life to Live at 1:35 am, and General Hospital at 2:35 am, with the Tuesday-after-Labor-Day edition of World News Now being joined in progress at 3:35 am (WNN is usually joined in progress at or around 2:05 am on most early weekday mornings). Also, local newscasts Good Morning Quad Cities, News 8 at 11, and News 8 at 5 are pre-empted on Labor Day as the station's news anchors are instead emceeing the local portions of the MDA telethon.
[edit] Midday Newscast
WQAD has now joined the fray of a midday newscast. News 8 at 11 debuted on September 22nd, 2008. The show is anchored by the morning newsteam. The station had dropped its midday newscast called "Newsday" in 1996. WQAD is not the only QC station to have a midday news, as KWQC has an hour newscast at Noon. The station is competing against KWQC's Who Wants To Be a Millionaire, and an infomercial on WHBF.
[edit] Promo Controversey
On Tuesday September 2 2008, WQAD brought back Jim Albrecht, a former WQAD-TV sportscaster from the 1980s, as well as a former radio commentator who had most recently hosted a morning talk show called "Albrecht in the AM" on Quad Cities radio station WOC, to host a commentary segment 3 times a week called "The Quad Cities' According to Jim." Mr. Albrecht had been dismissed from his morning slot at WOC in December 2007 and coincidentally, former KWQC-TV chief meteorologist Terry Swails had been shown the door just a month later. From mid-August 2008 all the way up until the day Jim Albrecht's commentary segment debuted on WQAD, there were promos on WQAD, as well as in local newspapers, that a mystery person would be joining the WQAD News Team on Tuesday September 2. The on-air promos consisted of a mystery man in a silhouette in the WQAD news studio with the station's weather set in the background and the promo scripts went along the lines of: "He 'Weathered' being fired from another Quad Cities' station and he's willing to 'Take the Heat' for what he's going to do next."[3] This led many viewers, especially fans of Terry Swails, to believe that WQAD had hired Terry Swails to be a part of its weather team. However, once Jim Albrecht was revealed as the "Mystery Man" during the 6pm and 10pm newscasts on Tuesday September 2, many Quad Cities television viewers, particularly those who had high hopes of Terry Swails being back on the airwaves at a new home on channel 8, were disgusted and outraged with WQAD for airing promos that they considered misleading.[4]
"The Quad Cities' According to Jim" is aired Sundays during the 5:30pm and 10pm newscasts and Tuesdays and Thursdays during the 6pm and 10pm newscasts.
Nearly 9 months later, WQAD made an announcement that Meteorologist Terry Swails will in fact join WQAD and Storm Team 8 on July 6th, 2009 as the stations 6PM Weather Anchor. He will be accompanied by Chief Meteorologist James Zahara, who replaced Neil Kastor after he had retired in April.[5]
[edit] Personalities
[edit] News 8 Anchors
- Matt Hammill- News 8 at 6,10
- Vanessa Van Hyfte- News 8 at 5,6,10
- Jason Fechner- News 8 at 5,6:30
- Jim Mertens- Good Morning Quad Cities, News 8 at 11
- Julie Sisk- Good Morning Quad Cities, News 8 at 11
- Kia Carter- News 8 Weekend Newscasts
[edit] News 8 Reporters
- Brian Boesen- Total Travel
- Pam Cunningham
- John David
- Kristy Merganthal- Morning Reporter
- Chris Minor
- Nicole Murphy
- Chris Williams- 8 On Your Side
- Thom White- Entertainment Review
[edit] Storm Team 8
- Cheif Meteorologist James Zahara- News 8 at 5,6:30, and 10
- Meteorologist Anthony Peoples- Good Morning Quad Cities, News 8 at 11
- Meteorologist Terry Swails- News 8 at 6 (starting July 13th)
- Meteorologist Cassie Heiter- News 8 Weekends
[edit] News 8 Sports
- Mick Moninghoff- Sports Director, News 8 at 6,10, Quad Cities Sports Spotlight
- Matt Randazzo- Assistant Sports Director, Weekends.
- Scott Doll- Sports Reporter- Good Morning Quad Cities
[edit] Ratings
As the third station to go on air in the Quad Cities, and as an affiliate of then-weak ABC, WQAD had a hard time with ratings at first. WQAD finally jumped into 2nd place by beating out WHBF in the late 80's. As of November 2008, WQAD's 5PM Newcast beat KWQC's 5PM newscast in the key demographic of men and women 25-54. But in the following ratings period of March 2009, KWQC ratings double WQAD's at 5 pm in that same demographic. KWQC still takes the number one spot overall with ratings more than double WQAD and WHBF combined. News management veteran Bill Carey became station manager/news director as of October 13, 2008.
[edit] Syndicated programs
Syndicated programs on WQAD-TV's schedule include Live with Regis and Kelly, Extra, Dr. Phil, Monk, and The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Live, Dr. Phil, and Ellen are now broadcast in High Definition on WQAD.
[edit] Station notes
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Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (February 2009) |
- Former Chief Meteorologist Neil Kastor worked as Chief Meteorologist at WHBF-TV in Rock Island, as the Quad Cities first certified meteorologist in 1979. In 1983, he made his way to WQAD. Neil Kastor retired in April 2009.
- In 1984, WQAD was the first, and still is the only station in the Quad Cities to have live radar.
- In 2005, WQAD was the first, and only station in the area to get a Satellite Mobile Newsroom
- Almost all the WQAD News team grew up in the Illinois, or have been covering Illinois news for more than 10 years.
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.wqad.com/Global/story.asp?S=9806810
- ^ http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf
- ^ http://rockfromtherock.wordpress.com/2008/09/05/why-ill-never-work-for-wqad/
- ^ http://sharedwww.localtvllc.com/wqad/vanilla/comments.php?DiscussionID=369&page=2
- ^ http://www.wqad.com/news/wqad-terry-swails-partnership-061009,0,4483083.story
[edit] External links
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