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WQRF-TV is the Fox-affiliated television station for Northern Illinois that is licensed to Rockford. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 42 (or virtual channel 39.1 via PSIP) from a transmitter at its studios on North Meridian Road/IL 24 in Rockford. The station can also be seen on Comcast channel 6 and in high definition on digital channel 910. Owned by the Nexstar Broadcasting Group, WQRF operates ABC/MyNetworkTV affiliate WTVO (owned by Mission Broadcasting) through joint sales and shared services agreements (the two outlets share a facility). ==History== The station signed-on November 27, 1978 as the market'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-power analog television station to sign-on in Rockford while other stations in the area since then have either been low-powered, cable-only, or a digital 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 an Independent, "family-oriented" alternative to the area's big 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 classic sitcom ''Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.''. Among some of the earlier programs to also air on the station were ''I Love Lucy'', ''The Bob Newhart Show'', ''The Jeffersons'', ''The Dick Van Dyke Show'' and first-run fare such as ''Entertainment Tonight'', the original nighttime edition of ''Family Feud'', ''The PTL Club'' and ''The 700 Club''. As it was the only Independent outlet in the market, WQRF stocked up much of its programming schedule with live sports including Major League Baseball (Chicago White Sox, St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers), the National Basketball Association (Chicago Bulls and Milwaukee Bucks), National Football League preseason action (Chicago Bears) and college sports (specifically Big Ten Conference football and basketball). Orion Broadcasting sold WQRF to Family Group Broadcasting in May 1986. 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 and, until that point, programming from the network was offered through Chicago's WFLD, Madison's WMSN-TV, or Milwaukee's WCGV (Fox affiliate at the time) depending on 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. Of course with the expansion of Fox's primetime programming and due to the lack of a fifth commercial station in the market, much of WQRF's off-network reruns from yesteryear and sports coverage had gradually disappeared. 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 from Young Broadcasting for $21 million, entered into a shared services agreement with WQRF, with WQRF moving into WTVO's studio. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「WQRF-TV」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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