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WQAD-TV
Moline/Rock Island, Illinois/Davenport, Iowa
Branding	Quad Cities' NewsChannel 8
Slogan	Hey Quad Cities, Have You Seen Us Lately
Channels	Analog: 8 (VHF) Digital: 38 (UHF)
Subchannels	(see article)
Affiliations	ABC
Owner	Local TV, LLC (Local TV Illinois License, LLC)
First air date	August 1, 1963
Call letters’ meaning	QuAD Cities
Transmitter Power	309 kW (analog) 1000 kW (digital)
Height	308 m (analog) 334 m (digital)
Facility ID	73319
Transmitter Coordinates	41°18′44″N 90°22′45″W / 41.31222, -90.37917 (analog) 41°18′44.5″N 90°22′46.2″W / 41.312361, -90.3795 (digital)
Website	www.wqad.com

WQAD-TV, known as " (The) Quad Cities' NewsChannel 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.

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 a lot of CNN footage on WQAD's news at 6:30 PM.

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-present

WQAD Storm Track 8000 doppler weather channel

The WQAD Storm Track 8000 doppler 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 Tripple 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 August 13, 2007, its main competitor is the KWQC 24-7 Weather Channel which is offered by rival NBC affiliate station KWQC.

Digital Television

Digital channels

In 2009, WQAD-TV will leave channel 8 and move to channel 38 when the analog to digital conversion is complete.^[1]

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 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.

WQAD's early days are also remembered for being the local outlet for Romper Room and its host Miss Peggy. Quad-Cities baby boomers also fondly remember WQAD's weekly midnight Chuck Acri Creature Features - showing early science fiction and monster movies.

On September 4th, 2007, WQAD's 6:00 PM news started a re-broadcast show on WBQD MyTv16 Quad Cities at 9PM.

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.

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.

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 also broadcast in High Definition on WQAD's main digital signal, Channel 8.1 and Mediacom Cable Channel 708, 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, Midday at 11, and NewsChannel 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.

Midday Newscast

WQAD has now joined the fray of a midday newscast. Midday 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 WHBF's Family Feud.

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. Other than the 5PM News, WQAD is 2nd place overall. News management veteran Bill Carey became station manager/news director as of October 13, 2008.

Syndicated programs

Syndicated programs on WQAD-TV's schedule include Live with Regis and Kelly, Extra, Dr. Phil, Monk, and The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

Station notes

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (February 2008)

• WQAD's news currently uses First News by composer Frank Gari as a theme.
• 8 On Your Side reporter Amy Barrilleaux is married to KLJB anchor John Beard
• Neil Kastor also worked as Chief Meteorologist at WHBF-TV in Rock Island for two years, then later made his way to WQAD
• In 1984, WQAD was the first, and only station in the Quad Cities to add a 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.

References

External links

• WQAD's website
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WQAD

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