KWQC-TV

KWQC-TV is an NBC-affiliated television station licensed to Davenport, Iowa, USA serving the Quad Cities area of Southeastern Iowa and Northwestern Illinois. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 36 (or virtual channel 6 via PSIP) from a transmitter in Orion, Illinois. Owned by Gray Television, KWQC-TV maintains studio facilities on Brady Street in downtown Davenport. On cable, the station is available on Mediacom channel 6 in standard definition and on digital channel 706 in high definition.[1]

History
KWQC originally signed on the air on October 31, 1949, as WOC-TV. The station was founded by B. J. Palmer, founder of the Palmer College of Chiropractic (located directly across the street from the station's studios) along with WOC radio (1420 AM and 103.7 FM, now WLLR-FM). The WOC stations were also sister stations to WHO-AM/FM/TV in Des Moines. According to local legend, the WOC calls stood for "Wonders of Chiropractic", though the Palmer family never acknowledged the phrase in print or otherwise. WOC-TV has the distinction of being both Iowa's and the Quad Cities' first television station, carrying programming from all four networks at the time: (NBC, CBS, ABC and DuMont). However, it has always been a primary NBC affiliate owing to WOC radio's long affiliation with the network. Originally on channel 5, WOC-TV moved to channel 6 in 1952 because of interference with Iowa State University's WOI-TV in Ames. During its early years, original programming on WOC-TV included the daily Show Boat children's show hosted by Cap'n Ernie from 1964 to 1974.[2][3]

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. 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,[4] Hollywood Reel,[5] and Hollywood Wrestling.[6]

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.[7] The merger was completed on November 12.[8] 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.[9] 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 Nexstar Broadcasting Group with the new company named Nexstar Media Group. As Nexstar already owns WHBF-TV, and since both WHBF and KWQC rank among the top four stations by daily ratings in the market, in order to comply with FCC ownership rules as well as planned changes to rules regarding same-market television stations which would prohibit future joint sales agreements, the company was required to sell either KWQC or WHBF to another company. WHBF's sister station KGCW was not affected, and could have either remained in its duopoly with WHBF or created a new duopoly with KWQC, as its ratings are below the top-four threshold.[10][11] On June 3, 2016, it was announced that Nexstar would keep its existing assets and sell KWQC to Gray Television for $270 million. It represents a reunion of sorts as Gray previously managed the station when Young was encountering financial difficulties, but this time Gray acquired the station outright. That makes KWQC a sister station to KCRG-TV in Cedar Rapids, WIFR in Rockford and fellow NBC affiliate WMTV in Madison.[12][13][14] The sale was completed on January 17, 2017.[15]

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;00 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 Frank Gari's Hello News package that had been in use since 1990. KWQC added a "cube" ID graphic (similar to the on-screen logo bug used by Fox News Channel), which stirred up some controversy among viewers. Eventually, KWQC slowed the cube down as a result of a vote by nearly 2,000 people on its website. KWQC began using U-Phonix, a syndicated music package composed by Stephen Arnold Music. Just eight weeks later on September 24, KWQC switched back to the Hello News package, making KWQC the first station to use a syndicated music package for the least amount of time. KWQC was the only station that continued to use the original Hello News package, but on January 16, 2012, it was dropped once again and was replaced by Breakthrough by 360 Music as the music package for its newscasts.

On September 25, 2008, KWQC introduced a new graphics package during its 5:00 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, touch-movement and wireless transition of graphics. KWQC also introduced a revised station logo, the first change to its on-air logo since 1990. While it was similar to the one previously used, the TV suffix was replaced with a DT suffix (for digital television), though KWQC-TV remained as the station's official call sign.

On October 27, 2010, beginning with the 5:00 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.

Longtime sports director Thom Cornelis retired on September 16, 2014, after 30 years at the station. He had worked at WQAD prior to coming to KWQC.

Starting on September 6, 2014, KWQC introduced Quad Cities Today: Weekend Edition. It runs before NBC's Today Show at 6:00 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. A half-hour newscast follows at 8:30 a.m. Saturdays, and a 60-minute newscast airs at 8:00 a.m. Sundays. Meet the Press has been moved to 9:00 a.m. Sundays; and This Week in Agribusiness and U.S. Farm Report airs at 5:00 a.m. Saturdays and Sundays.

In July 2017, KWQC reinstated the longtime slogan "The Station that Cares for You" for KWQC 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.

Newscast titles

 * Update on News
 * NewsCenter 6 (1980s–1990s)
 * KWQC-TV News (early 1990s)
 * KWQC-TV 6 News (1990s–2010 & 2012–present)
 * KWQC-HD News (2010–2012)

Station slogans

 * The Station that Cares for You (early 1990s–2012)

Anchors

 * Paula Sands - weeknights at 6 p.m. and host of Paula Sands Live
 * David Nelson - weeknights at 6 and 10:00 p.m.
 * Marcia Lense - weekdays at noon
 * Sharon DeRycke - weekdays at 4, and weeknights at 5 and 10:00 p.m.
 * Morgan Ottier - weekday mornings on Quad Cities Today
 * Jenna Jackson - weekend evenings; also reporter

First Alert Weather Team

 * Erik Maitland (NWA Seal of Approval) - chief meteorologist;
 * Theresa Bryant - meteorologist; weekdays at noon
 * Kevin Phelps - meteorologist; weekday mornings on Quad Cities Today
 * Cedric Haynes - meteorologist;

Sports team

 * Joey Donia - sports director;
 * Skubie Mageza - sports anchor;

Reporters

 * Sarah Jones
 * Rebecca David
 * Austin Hansen
 * Emily Blume
 * Ryan Scott
 * Judith Palma
 * Chris Carter