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| Channels | |
| Branding |
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| Programming | |
| Affiliations |
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| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| WTVO | |
| History | |
First air date | November 27, 1978 (46 years ago) (1978-11-27) |
Former channel number(s) |
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| Independent (1978–1989) | |
Call sign meaning | Quality Rockford |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 52408 |
| ERP | 910 kW |
| HAAT | 148.1 m (486 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 42°17′14″N89°10′15″W / 42.28722°N 89.17083°W /42.28722; -89.17083 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | www |
WQRF-TV (channel 39) is atelevision station inRockford, Illinois, United States, affiliated with theFox network. It is owned byNexstar Media Group, which provides certain services to dualABC/MyNetworkTV affiliateWTVO (channel 17) underjoint sales andshared services agreements (JSA/SSA) withMission Broadcasting. The two stations share studios on North Meridian Road in Rockford, where WQRF-TV's transmitter is also located.
The station signed on November 27, 1978, as themarket's fourth television outlet, first broadcasting from studios located on Kishwaukee Street between State and 1st streets in downtown Rockford. It was the last full-poweranalog television station to sign on in Rockford, while other stations in the area since then have either beenlow-power,cable-only, or ondigital subchannels. Airing an analog signal on UHF channel 39, WQRF was founded by local businessman Marvin Palmquist. The channel allotment was previously used by WTVO from its sign-on in 1953 until 1967. It was promoted as anindependent, "family-oriented" alternative to the area'sbig three network affiliates. Palmquist sold the station to Orion Broadcasting in 1984.
Overcoming a four-month wait to finally get on-the-air, WQRF's first program was an episode of the classicsitcomGomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.. Among some of the earlier programs to also air on the station wereI Love Lucy,The Bob Newhart Show,The Jeffersons,The Dick Van Dyke Show and first-run fare such asEntertainment Tonight, the original nighttime edition ofFamily Feud,The PTL Club andThe 700 Club.
As it was the only independent station in the market, WQRF stocked up much of its programming schedule with live sports includingMajor League Baseball (Chicago White Sox,St. Louis Cardinals andMilwaukee Brewers), theNBA (Chicago Bulls andMilwaukee Bucks),NFL preseason action (Chicago Bears) and college sports (specificallyBig Ten Conferencefootball andbasketball). Orion Broadcasting sold WQRF toFamily Group Broadcasting in May 1986, sharing ownership and graphical imaging withWGBA-TV inGreen Bay, Wisconsin,WVFT-TV inRoanoke, Virginia,WPGX inPanama City, Florida,WFGX inFort Walton Beach, Florida, andWLAX inLa Crosse, Wisconsin. The station later relocated its operations to a new building located on South Main Street/IL 2 in Rockford.
The station joined Fox in August 1989. For the network's first three years of existence, cable subscribers watched Fox throughChicago'sWFLD,Madison'sWMSN-TV, orMilwaukee'sWCGV-TV, depending on the location. Within four years of joining Fox, WQRF ranked as one of the network's highest-rated stations. On September 12 of that year, Family Group sold the station to Petracom Broadcasting. Petracom in turn sold it to Quorum Broadcasting in 1998.
With the expansion of Fox's prime time programming and the move ofBig Ten Conference sports rights to Fox, WQRF has become more competitive over the years. The station joined Nexstar as part of the company's acquisition of Quorum Broadcasting in late 2003. On November 22, 2004, Mission Broadcasting bought WTVO fromYoung Broadcasting for $21 million, entered into a shared services agreement with WQRF, with WQRF moving into WTVO's studio, though WQRF is technically the senior partner.
In March 2006, WTVO began producing the market's second prime time newscast on WQRF known asFox 39 News at 9. The broadcast only aired on weeknights unlike the area's original prime time show that was seen every night oncable-onlyWB affiliate "WBR" (produced by WREX). This distinction made WQRF's news Rockford's first over-the-air newscast at 9 p.m. Competition between "WBR" and WQRF was short-lived because, in late 2007, the former had its news canceled by WREX for an unknown reason. The time slot is currently used to replay the NBC outlet's weeknight 6 p.m. show on what is now CW affiliate WREX-DT2.
Another addition to local newscasts on WQRF occurred January 14, 2008, when WTVO launchedFox 39 Evening News at 6:30. Eventually, WQRF expandedFox 39 News at 9 to a seven-night operation and lengthened the weeknight version to a full hour. This station would eventually drop the 6:30 show for an unknown reason. WQRF's weeknight prime time newscast at 9 p.m. maintains a separate news anchor but features the samemeteorologist and sports anchor as WTVO.
On March 5, 2012, WTVO launched a two-hour-long extension of its weekday morning show on WQRF. Known asFox 39 News in the Morning, this can be seen from 7 to 9 a.m. offering a local alternative to the national morning programs that air on the area's big three outlets. WIFR was the first television station in Rockford to upgrade its newscasts to high definition followed by WREX on December 12, 2010. On December 18, 2012, WTVO and WQRF debuted a brand new set, news music package, and graphics scheme that is based on theEyewitness News branding seen on other Nexstar/Mission television stations. On April 24, 2013, WQRF began broadcasting local news content in high definition.
The station's signal ismultiplexed:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 39.1 | 720p | 16:9 | WQRF-DT | Fox |
| 39.2 | 480i | WQRF-D2 | Bounce TV | |
| 39.3 | Mystery | Ion Mystery | ||
| 39.4 | 4:3 | Rewind | Rewind TV |
WQRF-TV shut down its analog signal, overUHF channel 39, on February 17, 2009, the original target date on which full-power television stations in the United States were totransition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate (which was later pushed back to June 12, 2009). The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 42,[3] usingvirtual channel 39.
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