WHBF-TV

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WHBF-TV CBS 4 is the CBS affiliate for the Quad Cities (Davenport, Iowa/Moline/Rock Island, Illinois television market). The station is licensed to Rock Island, and broadcasts on channels 4 (analog) and 58 (digital). It is owned by Coronet Broadcasting Company, a subsidiary of Citadel Communications (no relation to the large company Citadel Broadcasting, who owns numerous radio stations across the country). Its transmitter is located in Bettendorf, Iowa, and its studios are located in the Telco Building on 18th Street in downtown Rock Island.

WHBF-TV can be seen on Mediacom cable channel 3 in the Quad Cities area.

History

WHBF-TV signed on the air on July 1, 1950. It was the largest Illinois station outside of the Chicago ares, the second station in the Quad Cities and the fifth-oldest television station in Illinois. When it signed on it was owned by the Potter family, publishers of the Rock Island Argus, as well as WHBF radio (AM 1270, now WKBF; and FM 98.9, now WLKU). It has always been a CBS affiliate, but carried secondary affiliations with ABC and DuMont.

After DuMont's demise in 1956, WHBF shared ABC programming with WOC-TV (now KWQC-TV) until WQAD-TV signed on as an ABC affiliate in 1963.

The Potters broke up their media holdings in 1986, and the radio stations moved out of the Telco Building. Citadel bought it in the mid-1990s.

On January 29th, 2007, WHBF rebranded the station to CBS4, to better identify the station, and afilliate, and Quad City product. It also adopted a version of the circle logo. Coronet's other stations adopted a similar branding identity.

WHBF-TV was the first station in the area to use color radar, and now, CBS4 uses the state-of-the-art weather system known as ESP: Live. This allows the station to alert the Quad City area of any potential weather hazards.

Station Identifications:

• Channel 4 Action News - 1977-1985
• 4 News - 1985-1990
• Channel 4 News - 1990-1998
• News 4 - 1999-2002
• Channel 4 Eyewitness News - 2002-2007
• CBS4 News - 2007-present

Programming

Syndicated programs on WHBF's schedule include Entertainment Tonight, Family Feud, Inside Edition, and Martha.

Ratings

WHBF was a solid-runner-up to rival WOC-TV until the mid-1970s, when it surged to first place. It lost the lead to WOC-TV around 1980. The station was able to hold up the number 2 spot for the first part of the 80's, until WQAD took that spot. Since then, WHBF has clearly been the 3rd ranked station in the Quad Cities market.

Personalities

Anchors

• Tambrey Laine- weekdays
• Brandy Auterson- weekday morning updates for The Early Show
• Andrea Stankevych- weekends

Reporters

• Deven Clarke
• Kegan Feney
• Elizabeth Fields
• Rachel Gabrielsen
• Nava Ghalili
• Cayce Mallen

ESP:Live Weather

• Andy McCray- Chief Meteorologist
• Ted McInerney- Weekend Meteorologist

Sports

• Jay Kidwell- Sports Director
• Mike Laskasky- Weekend Sports Anchor

CBS4 Trivia

• WLS-TV General Assignment Reporter, Paul Meincke anchored the news at WHBF from 1976 to 1981. Meincke began his reporting career at WHBF-AM/FM/TV in 1972 where he served as a radio reporter for news and high school sports play-by-play.
• Former Illinois 17th District Republican candidate Andrea Zinga was a former anchor and reporter for WHBF-TV.
• Former Good Morning America weather anchor Mike Barz was once an anchor at WHBF, while former ESPN personality and original Big Ten Network studio host Dave Revsine was a weekend sports anchor there in 1995-1996.
• WHBF currently uses the CBS Enforcer Package as their news music.
• Quad Cities television directing legend Mark "Hoppy" Koster directed more than 5,000 newscasts in a ten-year span.
• Charles Kuralt did a promo for CBS News Sunday Morning on WHBF-TV

External links

• Station website
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• The Unofficial Grandpa Happy Website