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KLJB
CityDavenport, Iowa
Channels
BrandingFox 18
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
OwnerMission Broadcasting, Inc.
OperatorNexstar Media Group
KGCW, WHBF-TV
History
First air date
July 28, 1985 (39 years ago) (1985-07-28)
Former call signs
KLJB-TV (1985–2009)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog: 18 (UHF, 1985–2009)
  • Digital: 49 (UHF, until 2020)
Independent (1985–1986, 1988–1990)
Call sign meaning
Lee J. Blumberg, father of the Hanna brothers, founders of the station[1]
Technical information[2]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID54011
ERP1,000 kW
HAAT328.1 m (1,076 ft)
Transmitter coordinates41°18′44.5″N 90°22′46.2″W / 41.312361°N 90.379500°W / 41.312361; -90.379500
Links
Public license information
Websitewww.ourquadcities.com

KLJB (channel 18) is a television station licensed to Davenport, Iowa, United States, serving as the Fox affiliate for the Quad Cities area. It is owned by Mission Broadcasting, which maintains a shared services agreement (SSA) with Nexstar Media Group, owner of Rock Island, Illinois–licensed CBS affiliate WHBF-TV (channel 4) and Burlington, Iowa–licensed CW owned-and-operated station KGCW (channel 26), for the provision of certain services. The three stations share studios in the Telco Building on 18th Street in downtown Rock Island; KLJB's transmitter is located near Orion, Illinois.

KLJB began broadcasting in 1985 as the first independent station in the Quad Cities area, owned by a group of local and out-of-area partners. The station affiliated with Fox when it launched in 1986, though it left the network in March 1988 before returning two years later because of the popularity of The Simpsons. After emerging from bankruptcy in 1990, it was purchased by Grant Communications, which owned mostly mid-market independent stations and Fox affiliates. The station began airing local news programming at the end of 1999 in a partnership with a Davenport production company that evolved into the Independent News Network, specializing in the outsourced production of local TV newscasts.

Grant expanded with the launch of The WB programming in 1999, which was spun off as a separate station (KGWB-TV, now KGCW) in 2001. Black-owned Marshall Broadcasting Group acquired the station in 2014 as part of Nexstar's acquisition of Grant; Nexstar entered into an SSA to provide services. Nexstar-owned WHBF began producing the station's newscast at the end of 2015. Mission purchased Marshall's stations in 2019 after the latter company filed for bankruptcy.

History

[edit]

Early history

[edit]

Five applications were designated for comparative hearing in March 1983,[3] though community surveys and filings had begun the year prior.[4] Davenport Communications, Limited Partnership, was granted the construction permit in November after the five applicants entered into a settlement agreement;[5] partners in the station included brothers Ed and Lee Hanna of New York, former Rock Island mayor James R. Davis, and Gary Brandt, who served as general manager.[6] In June 1984, the board of supervisors in Henry County, Illinois, approved the rezoning of land at Orion for the station's transmitter; a Christmas launch was announced at that time,[7] but the timeline had slipped to midyear by November.[8] Station officials noted that the Quad Cities' comparatively high cable TV penetration and its status as one of the larger remaining markets without an existing independent station.[9]

KLJB-TV began broadcasting on July 28, 1985; it was named for the Hanna brothers' father, Lee J. Blumberg. As with other independents, its programming consisted of children's cartoons, syndicated reruns and movies, and sports.[1][10] It operated from studios on 53rd Street in Davenport.[11] In 1987, the station debuted Live on Tape, a local Saturday night sketch comedy program wrapped around a feature film.[12]

The station was a charter affiliate of Fox when it launched in October 1986, but by early 1988, Brandt was expressing serious distaste with the network's constantly shifting programming. In January, he submitted a cancellation notice to Fox—which took effect on March 20—and shunted the network's Saturday night lineup to late nights.[13][14] Meanwhile, in order to get out from expensive programming leases that had been made at the station's launch in 1985—some for titles KLJB-TV never aired—Davenport Communications filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.[15] While the station was in bankruptcy, the Fox network found its stride with shows such as The Simpsons, but Quad Cities viewers had no access to the network's programming, even on cable.[16] Even though station management said they had no desire to affiliate with Fox for the foreseeable future as late as April 1990,[16] the stronger ratings and more stable identity convinced Brandt to return the station to the Fox network beginning that September.[17] The move did result in fewer sports telecasts on the station to accommodate Fox programming.[18]

Grant Broadcasting ownership

[edit]

In December 1990, Davenport Communications emerged from bankruptcy and debtor-in-possession status, having met the terms of a repayment schedule that saw $250,000 to $350,000 in payments on what was originally a $2 million debt.[19] Two months later, the company agreed to sell KLJB-TV to Florida-based Grant Communications. Its founder, Milton Grant, had only the year before returned to television station ownership with the purchase of WZDX in Huntsville, Alabama.[20] Grant extended the station's reach in 1996 by buying and restoring to air KJMH (channel 26) in Burlington, Iowa, which began to simulcast KLJB. The Burlington station, whose signal did not reach the Quad Cities, had gone on the air in January 1988 as a Fox affiliate. However, in May 1994, it lost the network affiliation (picking up Channel America programming to fill the void[21]), and six months later, it went off the air.[22]

KLJB-TV acquired the rights to programming from The WB in the Quad Cities market in September 1999 as a result of Superstation WGN ceasing carriage of WB programming nationally. Selected WB shows aired in late night time slots on channel 18.[23] Grant then relaunched KJMH as KGWB-TV, a separately programmed The WB affiliate, in January 2001.[22] However, it was not even the only channel 26 in the market. WBQD-LP, a low-power UPN affiliate, went on the air from Moline in 2002.[24] As early as 2003, KGWB-TV's programming was added to a digital subchannel of KLJB-TV, making it available over-the-air in the Quad Cities.[25] KGWB-TV became the local affiliate of The CW upon the merger of The WB and UPN in 2006 under new KGCW-TV call letters.[26][27]

Nexstar ownership

[edit]

On November 6, 2013, Irving, Texas–based Nexstar Broadcasting Group announced that it would purchase the Grant stations, including KLJB and KGCW, for $87.5 million. Due to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ownership regulations (as Nexstar was also in the process of acquiring WHBF-TV, the local CBS affiliate), KLJB was to then be spun off to Mission Broadcasting, with Nexstar providing operational support through a shared services agreement as with other Mission-owned stations.[28] However, on June 6, 2014, Nexstar announced that it would instead sell KLJB and two other Fox stations to Marshall Broadcasting Group—a new, minority-controlled company headed by Pluria Marshall Jr.—for $58.5 million. While this company acquired much of the station's assets, Nexstar entered into a shared services agreement to provide non-programming resources (such as master control) and advertising sales for Marshall's three stations.[29] The sale was completed on December 1, 2014.[30]

In November 2014, while Nexstar was still waiting for the completion of its sale of KLJB to Marshall Broadcasting, there was speculation by other local media that KGCW might move to a WHBF subchannel.[31] This occurred in May 2015 as a direct consequence of the sale.[32] The simulcast was then discontinued in 2020, when KGCW was relocated from a tower at Seaton, Illinois, halfway between Burlington and the Quad Cities, to Orion.[33]

Nexstar twice acquired other companies that owned Quad Cities-area television stations, selling them off to retain WHBF-TV and KGCW. In 2016, it acquired Media General, owner of NBC affiliate KWQC-TV; that station was spun off to Gray Television.[34] When Nexstar acquired Tribune Media in 2019, it spun off ABC affiliate WQAD-TV (channel 8) to Tegna Inc.[35][36]

On December 3, 2019, Marshall Broadcasting Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.[37] Mission Broadcasting agreed to purchase Marshall Broadcasting's stations for $49 million on March 30, 2020.[38] The transaction was completed on September 1, 2020.[39]

Newscasts

[edit]

Independent News Network

[edit]
Further information: News Hub

On December 31, 1999, KLJB-TV launched a 30-minute prime time newscast known as the Fox 18 Nine O'Clock News, airing Sunday through Friday.[40][41] In an unusual arrangement, production of the newscast was outsourced to Davenport video production house EBI Video, with Grant providing marketing and sales support. EBI provided the news presenters and facilities.[42] The station previously had only aired syndicated weather updates.[43]

For EBI, the KLJB partnership was a springboard to the remote production of TV newscasts for stations elsewhere in the United States. In April 2001, EBI began to produce a second newscast, for WVFX in Clarksburg, West Virginia.[44] EBI was supplanted by Independent News Network (INN), which specialized in the outsourced production of television newscasts for small-market local stations from its Tremont Avenue studios.[45] The company also brought weather production in house in 2003.[46] INN filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in January 2009; a new company, Fusion Communications, acquired the assets and retained most of the staff, the INN name, and nearly all of the clients, including KLJB.[47]

News share agreements

[edit]

After nearly 11 years, KLJB ended its relationship with INN in September 2010 and began having the newscast produced under contract by another local TV station. The first station to do so was WQAD-TV, whose general manager successfully convinced KLJB to partner with it for its newscast. The change in producer also led to the debut of a Saturday night newscast for the first time.[48]

On December 31, 2012, newscast production changed hands again, this time to KWQC-TV.[49][50] This continued until December 30, 2015.[51] By that time, the Nexstar purchase of WHBF-TV and shared services agreement had come into effect; it had been known for months that production of the newscast would be assumed by WHBF-TV.[52]

A two-hour morning news extension to air from 7 to 9 a.m.—the only such local program in the market—was added in September 2017, by which time the late newscast had expanded to one hour.[53]

Technical information

[edit]

Subchannels

[edit]

The station's signal is multiplexed:

Subchannels of KLJB[54]
Channel Res. Aspect Short name Programming
18.1 720p 16:9 KLJB-DT Fox
18.2 480i MeTV MeTV
18.3 Defy Defy
18.4 Bounce Bounce TV

Analog-to-digital conversion

[edit]

KLJB-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 18, at noon on June 12, 2009, the official date on 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 49, using virtual channel 18.[55][56]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Willard, John (June 16, 1985). "Here comes channel 18: New kid on our TV block will be big on entertainment". Quad-City Times. Davenport, Iowa. p. 1C. Archived from the original on March 1, 2023. Retrieved February 27, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ "Facility Technical Data for KLJB". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  3. ^ "Hearing: New TV rights". Quad-City Times. Davenport, Iowa. March 4, 1983. p. 11. Archived from the original on March 1, 2023. Retrieved February 28, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ Schechter, David M. (May 13, 1982). "A new channel for Q-C?". Quad-City Times. Davenport, Iowa. p. 3. Archived from the original on March 1, 2023. Retrieved February 28, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "For the Record" (PDF). Broadcasting. November 14, 1983. p. 90. ProQuest 1014705392. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 31, 2023. Retrieved February 28, 2023.
  6. ^ Davidson, Tom (July 19, 1985). "TV station hits airwaves July 28". Quad-City Times. Davenport, Iowa. p. 3. Archived from the original on March 1, 2023. Retrieved February 28, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ Ford, George C. (June 18, 1984). "New TV station for QC". The Argus. Rock Island, Illinois. p. 17. Archived from the original on March 1, 2023. Retrieved February 28, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ Sawyer, Gary (November 16, 1984). "New station hits Q-C TV scene". Quad-City Times. Davenport, Iowa. p. 3. Archived from the original on March 1, 2023. Retrieved February 28, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Quad-Cities to get fifth television station by July". The Argus. Rock Island, Illinois. May 29, 1985. p. 25. Archived from the original on March 1, 2023. Retrieved February 28, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "KLJB has made key moves recently". Quad-City Times. Davenport, Iowa. March 22, 1987. p. 5A. Archived from the original on March 1, 2023. Retrieved February 28, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ Willard, John (September 29, 1985). "New kid on block is tough: Upstart TV station hits the deck running". Quad-City Times. Davenport, Iowa. p. 1C. Archived from the original on March 1, 2023. Retrieved February 28, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ Lorenzen, Ron (June 29, 1987). "Saturday night, it's 'Live on Tape'". Quad-City Times. Davenport, Iowa. p. 13. Archived from the original on March 1, 2023. Retrieved February 28, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ Lorenzen, Ron (January 4, 1988). "Q-C's Channel 18 may jump ship as Fox flounders". Quad-City Times. Davenport, Iowa. p. 11. Archived from the original on March 1, 2023. Retrieved February 28, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ VanDeWostine, Lee (March 13, 1988). "KLJB—the gamble pays off". Quad-City Times. Davenport, Iowa. p. Businesses & Commerce 16. Archived from the original on March 1, 2023. Retrieved February 28, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ Willard, John (June 8, 1989). "KLJB files Chapter 11 to shed leases of previous owners". Quad-City Times. Davenport, Iowa. p. 29. Archived from the original on March 1, 2023. Retrieved February 28, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ a b Schneeberger, Gary (April 26, 1990). "OutFoxed? 'The Simpsons' and other shows are big hits on the Fox television network, but the Q-C may never see them". Quad-City Times. Davenport, Iowa. p. 19. Archived from the original on March 1, 2023. Retrieved February 28, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ Schneeberger, Gary (August 3, 1990). "'The Simpsons' comes to Quad-City television screens". Quad-City Times. Davenport, Iowa. p. 1A. Archived from the original on March 1, 2023. Retrieved February 28, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ Schneeberger, Gary (September 2, 1990). "A Fox primer; KLJB faces some other changes too". Quad-City Times. Davenport, Iowa. p. 1G. Archived from the original on March 1, 2023. Retrieved February 28, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ Willard, John (December 13, 1990). "KLJB-TV gets out of bankruptcy". Quad-City Times. Davenport, Iowa. p. 7B. Archived from the original on March 1, 2023. Retrieved February 28, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ^ Willard, John (February 20, 1991). "Florida man buys KLJB: Station becomes part of chain". Quad-City Times. Davenport, Iowa. p. 7A. Archived from the original on March 1, 2023. Retrieved February 28, 2023 – via Newspapers.com. This article misidentifies the Huntsville station Grant owned.
  21. ^ "Channel America welcomes... (advertisement)". Electronic Media. June 6, 1994. p. 24.
  22. ^ a b Burke, David (December 31, 2000). "WB makes its home in Quad-Cities". Quad-City Times. Davenport, Iowa. p. TV Times 4. Archived from the original on March 1, 2023. Retrieved February 28, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. ^ Leary, Sean (September 26, 1999). "KLJB comes to the rescue of the vampire slayer". The Dispatch. Moline, Illinois. p. H1, H4. Archived from the original on March 1, 2023. Retrieved February 28, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  24. ^ Burke, David (May 18, 2002). "UPN station should be in the Q-C by this summer". Quad-City Times. Davenport, Iowa. p. A1, A2. Retrieved February 28, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  25. ^ "Television". Quad-City Times. Davenport, Iowa. August 24, 2003. p. Answer Book 33. Archived from the original on March 1, 2023. Retrieved February 28, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  26. ^ Burke, David (March 30, 2006). "Networks sort out programming; KGWB lands The CW". Quad-City Times. Davenport, Iowa. p. A10. Archived from the original on March 1, 2023. Retrieved February 28, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  27. ^ "Television". Quad-City Times. Davenport, Iowa. August 20, 2006. p. Answer Book 36. Archived from the original on March 1, 2023. Retrieved February 28, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  28. ^ Malone, Michael (November 6, 2013). "Nexstar to Acquire Seven Grant Stations For $87.5 Million". Broadcasting & Cable. Archived from the original on November 9, 2013. Retrieved November 6, 2013.
  29. ^ "Nexstar Selling 3 Fox Affils For $58.5 Million". TVNewsCheck. June 6, 2014. Archived from the original on June 25, 2014. Retrieved June 7, 2014.
  30. ^ "Consummation Notice". Consolidated Database System. Federal Communications Commission. Archived from the original on January 20, 2015. Retrieved December 3, 2014.
  31. ^ Burke, David (November 10, 2014). "Big changes likely ahead for 3 Quad-City television stations". Quad-City Times. Lee Enterprises. Archived from the original on December 24, 2014. Retrieved May 30, 2015.
  32. ^ "Important Programming Note". Quad Cities CW (Facebook). May 14, 2015. Archived from the original on March 1, 2023. Retrieved February 28, 2023. You spoke and we listened! We are happy to announce that KGCW-TV, the Quad Cities CW, is now being broadcast on channel 4.2. You will remember that FCC Ownership Rules forced us to take The CW off of the channel 18 transport stream (18.2), leaving the station largely unavailable to many over-the-air viewers who were unable to access it on 26.1. So, after overcoming some technical and operational hurdles, as of Thursday afternoon, the Quad Cities CW is now available on channel 4.2. A channel re-scan on your digital tuner will likely be necessary.
  33. ^ "Watch the Quad Cities' CW on Channel 26.1!". Quad Cities CW (Facebook). July 8, 2020. Archived from the original on March 1, 2023. Retrieved February 28, 2023. Recently, some viewers have wondered why they can no longer watch KGCW, The Quad Cities' CW on channel 4.2. KGCW has always been available on channel 26.1, but the KGCW broadcast tower was in Seton, IL and many viewers had issues receiving a clear and consistent signal. In March, the KGCW began broadcasting from Orion, IL and the signal has been more reliable for Quad City viewers. So Monday, WHBF changed 4.2 programming to Court TV in an effort to provide a larger variety of free program choices to Quad City television viewers.
  34. ^ "Gray Buying Two Nexstar Spinoffs For $270M". TVNewsCheck. June 3, 2016. Archived from the original on August 6, 2017. Retrieved June 3, 2016.
  35. ^ "Nexstar Selling 19 TVs In 15 Markets For $1.32B". TVNewsCheck. March 20, 2019. Archived from the original on March 20, 2019. Retrieved March 20, 2019.
  36. ^ Ahmed, Nabila; Sakoui, Anousha (March 20, 2019). "Nexstar to Sell Stations to Tegna, Scripps for $1.32 Billion". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on April 13, 2019. Retrieved March 20, 2019.
  37. ^ "The week in bankruptcies: 7 companies file for bankruptcy protection in Houston". Houston Business Journal. December 26, 2019. Archived from the original on March 1, 2023. Retrieved December 29, 2019.
  38. ^ Aftab, Hassan (April 6, 2020). "Mission Broadcasting to buy certain assets of Marshall Broadcasting TV stations". S&P Global Market Intelligence. S&P Global. Archived from the original on July 22, 2020. Retrieved April 9, 2020.
  39. ^ "Consummation Notice". Consolidated Database System. Federal Communications Commission. September 7, 2020. Archived from the original on March 19, 2022. Retrieved September 10, 2020.
  40. ^ DeWitt, Jennifer (November 11, 1999). "TV newscast wars heat up with new player". Quad-City Times. Davenport, Iowa. p. 1A, 2A. Archived from the original on March 1, 2023. Retrieved February 28, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  41. ^ DeWitt, Jennifer (January 1, 2000). "TV crew celebrates with first newscast ever: KLJB overcomes some minor glitches". Quad-City Times. Davenport, Iowa. p. Good Morning 2000 5. Archived from the original on March 1, 2023. Retrieved February 28, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  42. ^ Wang, Karissa S. (November 15, 1999). "Iowa Fox affil puts new twist on news: Outsources news to video firm with no news experience". Electronic Media.
  43. ^ Lorenzen, Ron (November 15, 1999). "New kind of news is KLJB-EBI aim". Quad-City Times. Davenport, Iowa. p. 3T. Archived from the original on March 1, 2023. Retrieved February 28, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  44. ^ Burke, David (April 24, 2001). "Newscast experiment under way in Davenport: Q-C TV news crew makes news in West Virginia". Quad-City Times. Davenport, Iowa. p. C1, C3. Archived from the original on March 1, 2023. Retrieved February 28, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  45. ^ Cooper, Craig (September 21, 2003). "Live from... Everywhere! Davenport company tries to recreate local news nationally". Quad-City Times. Davenport, Iowa. p. B12, B9. Archived from the original on March 1, 2023. Retrieved February 28, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  46. ^ Lorenzen, Ron (October 6, 2003). "KLJB has local eye on weather". Quad-City Times. Davenport, Iowa. p. B3. Archived from the original on March 1, 2023. Retrieved February 28, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  47. ^ Burke, David (January 7, 2009). "Newscast producer goes bankrupt: KLJB picks up another source". Quad-City Times. Davenport, Iowa. p. A8. Archived from the original on March 1, 2023. Retrieved February 28, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  48. ^ Turner, Jonathan (August 7, 2010). "WQAD to produce KLJB Fox 18's news". The Dispatch. Moline, Illinois. p. A6, A8. Archived from the original on March 1, 2023. Retrieved February 28, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  49. ^ "KWQC Will Produce KLJB Fox 9 O'clock News". KWQC-TV. Archived from the original on October 16, 2012. Retrieved October 11, 2012.
  50. ^ Burke, David (September 29, 2012). "KWQC excited about expanding their reach". Quad-City Times. Archived from the original on October 2, 2012. Retrieved October 4, 2012.
  51. ^ Nielsen, Brianna (December 30, 2015). "KWQC to stop production of Fox 18 News at Nine". KWQC-TV. Archived from the original on January 1, 2016. Retrieved January 2, 2016.
  52. ^ Malone, Michael (June 15, 2015). "Market Eye: Clear Winner Along the Big Muddy". Broadcasting & Cable. Archived from the original on May 26, 2022. Retrieved February 28, 2023.
  53. ^ Ellis, Jon (September 7, 2017). "TV listings indicate FOX 18 (KLJB Davenport) ..." Northpine. Archived from the original on January 27, 2019. Retrieved February 28, 2023.
  54. ^ "RabbitEars query for KLJB". RabbitEars. Archived from the original on May 29, 2021. Retrieved February 28, 2023.
  55. ^ Turner, Jonathan (February 7, 2009). "KLJB, WQPT to delay switch to digital TV". The Dispatch. Moline, Illinois. p. A3. Archived from the original on March 1, 2023. Retrieved February 28, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  56. ^ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds" (PDF). Federal Communications Commission. May 23, 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 29, 2013. Retrieved August 29, 2021.
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