davenport bettendorf iowa united states city moline branding wqad general wqad news 8 newscasts my tv 8.3 on dt3 slogan hard work determination that s what we stand for at wqad news 8 . visually displayed as hard work and determination . primary channels digital 38 uhf virtual 8 psip subchannels 8.1 abc 8.2 antenna tv 8.3 mynetworktv affiliations abc owner tribune broadcasting wqad license llc first air date august 1 1963 1963 08 01 call letters meaning quad cities former channel number s analog 8 vhf 1963 2009 transmitter power 1 000 kw height 1096.1 ft 334.1 m facility id 73319 transmitter coordinates 41 18 44.5 n 90 22 46.2 w 41.312361 n 90.379500 w 41.312361 ; 90.379500 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.wqad.com wqad tv is the abc affiliated television station for the quad cities area of west central illinois and eastern iowa that is licensed to moline illinois . it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on uhf channel 38 from a transmitter in orion illinois . owned by tribune broadcasting wqad has studios on park 16th street in moline . contents 1 history 2 programming 3 digital television 3.1 digital channels 3.2 analog to digital conversion 4 news operation 5 references 6 external links history edit station logo until 2009 . 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 ; however concerns about interference with wirl tv in peoria now whoi on channel 19 delayed sign on for two years . 1 before wqad signed on abc programming had been split between woc tv now kwqc tv and whbf tv . from day one wqad aired abc programming in color . cowles communications of des moines iowa 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 llc a subsidiary of oak hill capital officially took over the times nine television stations including wqad . 2 on july 1 2013 local tv llc announced that its stations would be acquired by the tribune company ; 3 the purchase was finalized on december 27 . wqad was branded in the early 1980s as active 8 your 24 hour news source or the best news around and did hourly news cut ins even during the overnight hours . wqad started the active 8 branding in 1978 and used this branding until the early 1990s . wqad was the first television station in the quad cities to be on the air 24 hours a day in the late 1980s until 1991 . programming edit wqad s early years are closely linked to the station s prominent anchor reporter jim king . mr. king began as the sports anchor and soon became the station s main anchorman until 1998 and 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 cameras 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 and for 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 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 . for much of the time since 1988 this station has carried the syndicated program live with regis and kelly weekday mornings at 9 which is produced by wabc tv in new york city and distributed nationally by that channel s corporate sibling disney abc domestic television formerly known as buena vista television . other syndicated programming on this station includes dr. phil and ellen . digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital signal is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 4 8.1 720p 16 9 wqad hd main wqad tv programming abc 8.2 480i 4 3 wqadatv antenna tv 8.3 720p 16 9 mytv8 .3 wqad dt3 mynetworktv the quad cities weather channel was a 24 hour weather service provided by wqad and had been available to television viewers on digital channel 8.2 and on mediacom channel 14 . this was created in 2001 and featured its exclusive live triple doppler and weather updates every fifteen minutes . on march 5 2011 wqad discontinued the quad cities weather channel and digital channel 8.2 became affiliated with antenna tv . analog to digital conversion edit wqad tv shut down its analog signal over vhf channel 8 at 3 59 a.m. on june 12 2009 the official date in which full power television stations in the united states transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate . the station s digital signal remained on its pre transition uhf channel 38 . 5 6 through the use of psip digital television receivers display the station s virtual channel as its former vhf analog channel 8 . also at the same time the wqad tv call sign was transferred from now defunct analog channel 8 to digital channel 38 and the wqad dt calls were discontinued . news operation edit 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 and since the merger of local tv and tribune in december 2013 can also utilize the resources of chicago sister station wgn tv to the east . wqad also uses who s chopper usually during severe weather or flooding . wqad is also affiliated with cnn . on september 4 2007 its weeknight 6 o clock newscast started re airing on wbqd at 9 . its hour long midday newscast news 8 at 11 debuted on september 22 2008 and anchored by the weekday morning team . the station had dropped its midday newscast called newsday in 1996 . on august 6 2010 it was announced that the station would enter into a news share agreement with fox affiliate kljb . this resulted in a nightly prime time broadcast at 9 for a half hour on that station on september 6 . 7 previously kljb had its prime time broadcasts produced by the independent news network which is based in davenport . this agreement ended on december 31 2012 when kljb entered a news share agreement with competitor kwqc tv which then began producing the 9 pm newscasts for kljb . 8 on december 30 2015 the agreement between kwqc and kljb ended 9 and on december 31 2015 whbf tv began producing a one hour 9 pm newscast for kljb . 10 on monday january 4 2016 wqad began producing a new live half hour 9 pm newscast for its digital subchannel station mynetworktv affiliate wqad dt3 . 11 12 the new 9 pm broadcast competes directly against the 9 pm newscast on marshall broadcasting owned fox affiliate kljb which has its newscasts produced by current ssa partner and nexstar sister station whbf tv . on september 12 2011 wqad s news operation upgraded its newscasts to high definition becoming the last in the market to do so . news anchor matt hammill left the station in january of 2013 after 32 years 13 references edit dumont television network historical web site . dumonthistory.tv . retrieved 2014 08 11 . ny times co. sell tv group to equity firm for 530m ; second equity group to buy a media business in two weeks . newsinc . via highbeam research january 8 2007 . channick robert july 1 2013 . acquisition to make tribune co. largest u.s. tv station operator . chicago tribune . retrieved july 1 2013 . rabbitears tv query for wqad 1 dead link dtv tentative channel designations for the first and the second rounds pdf . retrieved 2012 03 24 . wqad tv to take over of newscast production . qctimes.com . 2010 08 06 . retrieved 2014 08 11 . burke david 2012 09 29 . kwqc excited about expanding their reach . quad city times . lee enterprises . retrieved 2016 01 09 . nielsen brianna december 30 2015 . kwqc to stop production of fox 18 news at nine . kwqc tv . retrieved january 9 2016 . ortega roly december 31 2015 . kljb will now air its newscasts produced by whbf starting tonight . the changing newscasts blog . retrieved january 9 2016 . sharp angie 2015 12 27 . the sharp side on workin weekends actually that s about to change . wqad tv . tribune broadcasting . retrieved 2016 01 09 . ortega roly december 28 2015 . wqad is ready to switch from a rebroadcast to live at 9 00 p.m. on its mytv digital subchannel . the changing newscasts blog . retrieved january 9 2016 . burke david . hammill signs off at wqad . retrieved 2016 08 25 . external links edit wqad.com official wqad tv website query the fcc s tv station database for wqad tv v t e television stations in the quad cities metropolitan area stations whbf 4.1 cbs 4.2 the cw jtv 4.3 grit 4.4 escape kwqc 6.1 nbc 6.2 ion 6.3 cozi wqad 8.1 abc 8.2 antenna tv 8.3 mntv kljb 18.1 fox 18.2 metv w19cx w51dt silent k20kf d 3abn wqpt 24.1 pbs 24.2 mhz worldview 24.3 create kgcw 26.1 the cw jtv 26.2 this tv 26.3 laff 26.4 bounce tv kqin kiin 36.1 12.1 pbs iptv 36.2 12.2 create kids 36.3 12.3 world k42hi silent w48ck 48 pbs wqpt wmwc 53.1 tbn kqct lp 61 silent rtv ; coming soon defunct stations wbqd lp 26 upn mntv cstv kstt 18 kdio 36 market coverage in iowa counties scott clinton muscatine louisa henry des moines jackson market coverage in illinois counties rock island henry mercer henderson warren knox bureau whiteside carroll jo daviess largest communities served in iowa davenport bettendorf clinton burlington muscatine largest communities served in illinois rock island moline east moline see also cedar rapids iowa city champaign decatur springfield peoria bloomington rockford quincy madison tv v t e abc network affiliates in the state of illinois wsil 3 harrisburg khqa 7.2 quincy wls 7 chicago wqad 8 moline wtvo 17 rockford wics 20 wicd 15 springfield champaign week 25.2 peoria defunct wjjy 14 jacksonville quincy see also abc cbs cw fox ion mynetworktv nbc pbs other stations in illinois v t e tribune media corporate directors bruce karsh chairman peter liguori president and ceo chandler bigelow cfo tribune broadcasting tv stations by primary affiliations tv networks broadcast antenna tv this tv1 cable cltv food network 30 % wgn america cbs kfsm whnt wreg wtkr2 wttv wttk wtvr the cw kdaf kiah kplr krcw ktla kwgn wcct wdcw wgnt2 wnol wpix wsfl fox kcpq kdvr kfct kstu kswb ktvi ktxl wdaf wghp witi wjw wpmt wtic wxin wxmi other abc wgno wnep2 wqad mynet kxnw kzjo wphl nbc kfor who ind. wgn tv kaut tv programs 100 000 fortune hunt adventure inc. american idol rewind andromeda animal rescue around the world for free the 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