WQOW-TV
Encyclopedia
WQOW is the ABC
-affiliated television station
for Eau Claire, Wisconsin
. It broadcasts a high definition
digital signal on UHF channel 15. Owned by Quincy Newspapers
, the station has studios on Old Town Hall Road in Eau Claire (although its address says WIS 93). Syndicated
programming on the station includes: Who Wants to Be a Millionaire
, The Doctors
, Rachael Ray
, and The Dr. Oz Show
.
WQOW is considered a semi-satellite of WXOW in La Crosse
, though it identifies as a station in its own right. It clears all of WXOW's syndicated programming but airs separate newscasts, station identifications, and commercials. WQOW serves the northern half of the market
while WXOW serves the southern half. The two stations are counted as a single unit for ratings purposes.
channel 15 is the area's CW affiliate. On WQOW-DT3 and Charter digital channel 968 is This TV
.
Following the collapse of WEAU-TV
's tower on March 22, 2011, WQOW temporarily discontinued This TV on 18.3, in order to provide space to broadcast WEAU temporarily in that subchannel until a new tower is erected.
. Its original studios were on Business U.S. 53
/Hastings Way east of the London Square Mall and then-current interchange with WIS 93 on the southeast side of Eau Claire.
Originally, WQOW was a straight simulcast of WXOW, except for identifications and commercials. WQOW started airing local newscasts in 1982 under the moniker Newsource 18. Weather segments originated from WXOW's studios in La Crescent, as WQOW did not have a weather department. Owner Tak Communications canceled WQOW's newscasts in March 1990 as a cost-cutting measure, and WQOW once again began simulcasting WXOW's newscasts.
Local newscasts resumed on WQOW in October 1996 and the broadcasts became known as News 18. Since the new U.S. 53 Bypass was set to be constructed on the site of WQOW's building, the station moved in January 2001. The old building's site is located approximately in the northbound lane of the bypass near the WIS 93 northbound bridge. The new building is on WIS 93 immediately south of I-94
on the south side of Eau Claire. WQOW/WXOW began operating cable-only
WB "WBCZ" in 1998. This was on channel 15 on most systems in the Eau Claire and La Crosse areas.
WQOW/WXOW replaced "WBCZ" with new digital broadcast subchannels WQOW 18.2 and WXOW 19.2 simulcasting The CW when the new network launched in the fall of 2006. WQOW began airing solely in digital, effective February 17, 2009, with the analog transmitter operating for sixty additional days broadcasting only local news and information about the digital transition. In July 2009, Dish Network
announced it would add WQOW to its local channel lineup in the Eau Claire area after previously only offering WXOW. WQOW/WXOW launched This TV simulcasted on new digital third digital subchannels of the stations in February/March 2010.
On September 2011, WQOW began to air newscasts in high definition. The station is the third in the La Crosse/ Eau Claire DMA to convert. That leaves WLAX/ WEUX as the only "Big 4" station in the market not to fully transition to high definition for original programming.
StormTracker 18 Meteorologists
Sports
Reporters
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
-affiliated television station
Television station
A television station is a business, organisation or other such as an amateur television operator that transmits content over terrestrial television. A television transmission can be by analog television signals or, more recently, by digital television. Broadcast television systems standards are...
for Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Eau Claire is a city located in the west-central part of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 65,883 as of the 2010 census, making it the largest municipality in the northwestern portion of the state, and the 9th largest in the state overall. It is the county seat of Eau Claire County,...
. It broadcasts a high definition
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
digital signal on UHF channel 15. Owned by Quincy Newspapers
Quincy Newspapers
Quincy Newspapers, Inc. is a family-owned media company that originated in the newspapers of Quincy, Illinois. The company's history can be traced back to 1835, when the Bounty Land Register was one of only four newspapers in all of Illinois. Over the next century, a number of mergers followed...
, the station has studios on Old Town Hall Road in Eau Claire (although its address says WIS 93). Syndicated
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
programming on the station includes: Who Wants to Be a Millionaire
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (US game show)
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire is an American television quiz show which offers a maximum prize of $1,000,000 for correctly answering 14 consecutive multiple-choice questions of random difficulty. Until 2010, the format required contestants to correctly answer 15 consecutive questions of increasing...
, The Doctors
The Doctors (2008 TV series)
The Doctors is an American syndicated talk show airing daily in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Ireland, Sweden and Finland. It debuted on September 8, 2008. The hour-long daytime program is produced by Phil McGraw and his son Jay McGraw and is distributed domestically and globally by CBS Television...
, Rachael Ray
Rachael Ray (TV series)
Rachael Ray, also known as The Rachael Ray Show, is a talk show starring Rachael Ray that debuted in syndication in the United States and Canada on September 18, 2006....
, and The Dr. Oz Show
The Dr. Oz Show
The Dr. Oz Show is an American syndicated television talk show, hosted by Dr. Mehmet Oz, a cardiothoracic surgeon and teaching professor at Columbia University who became famous for his appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show from 2004 until 2009....
.
WQOW is considered a semi-satellite of WXOW in La Crosse
La Crosse, Wisconsin
La Crosse is a city in and the county seat of La Crosse County, Wisconsin, United States. The city lies alongside the Mississippi River.The 2011 Census Bureau estimates the city had a population of 52,485...
, though it identifies as a station in its own right. It clears all of WXOW's syndicated programming but airs separate newscasts, station identifications, and commercials. WQOW serves the northern half of the market
Media market
A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area , Television Market Area , or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same television and radio station offerings, and may also include other types of media including newspapers and Internet content...
while WXOW serves the southern half. The two stations are counted as a single unit for ratings purposes.
Digital programming
On WQOW-DT2 and CharterCharter Communications
Charter Communications is an American company providing cable television, high-speed Internet, and telephone services to more than 4.7 million customers in 25 states. By revenues, it is the fourth-largest cable operator in the United States, behind Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Cox Communications...
channel 15 is the area's CW affiliate. On WQOW-DT3 and Charter digital channel 968 is This TV
This TV
This TV is a United States general entertainment television network, with a large emphasis in its programming on movies....
.
| Subchannel | Programming |
|---|---|
| 18.1 | main WQOW programming/ABC HD |
| 18.2 | WQOW-DT2 "La Crosse-Eau Claire CW" |
| 18.3 | WQOW-DT3 This TV (temporarily WEAU-TV WEAU-TV WEAU-TV is the NBC affiliate for much of western Wisconsin, including Eau Claire and La Crosse. WEAU is licensed to Eau Claire and its transmitter is located in Fairchild, Wisconsin. WEAU is currently broadcasting from a tower near the station's studio in Eau Claire due to a collapse of its main... /NBC NBC The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago... ) |
Following the collapse of WEAU-TV
WEAU-TV
WEAU-TV is the NBC affiliate for much of western Wisconsin, including Eau Claire and La Crosse. WEAU is licensed to Eau Claire and its transmitter is located in Fairchild, Wisconsin. WEAU is currently broadcasting from a tower near the station's studio in Eau Claire due to a collapse of its main...
's tower on March 22, 2011, WQOW temporarily discontinued This TV on 18.3, in order to provide space to broadcast WEAU temporarily in that subchannel until a new tower is erected.
History
WQOW signed-on September 1, 1980 as a semi-satellite of WXOW. For its first decade on the air, WXOW had been hampered by an inadequate signal in the northern half of the market. Unlike the other stations in the market, WXOW's transmitter is located alongside its studios in La Crescent, MinnesotaLa Crescent, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 4,923 people, 1,940 households, and 1,367 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,634.4 people per square mile . There were 2,014 housing units at an average density of 668.6 per square mile...
. Its original studios were on Business U.S. 53
U.S. Route 53
U.S. Route 53 is a north–south U.S. highway that runs for 403 miles from La Crosse, Wisconsin to northern Minnesota. It is the primary north–south route in northwestern Wisconsin, serving as a vital link between I-94 at Eau Claire, Wisconsin and the city of Duluth, Minnesota...
/Hastings Way east of the London Square Mall and then-current interchange with WIS 93 on the southeast side of Eau Claire.
Originally, WQOW was a straight simulcast of WXOW, except for identifications and commercials. WQOW started airing local newscasts in 1982 under the moniker Newsource 18. Weather segments originated from WXOW's studios in La Crescent, as WQOW did not have a weather department. Owner Tak Communications canceled WQOW's newscasts in March 1990 as a cost-cutting measure, and WQOW once again began simulcasting WXOW's newscasts.
Local newscasts resumed on WQOW in October 1996 and the broadcasts became known as News 18. Since the new U.S. 53 Bypass was set to be constructed on the site of WQOW's building, the station moved in January 2001. The old building's site is located approximately in the northbound lane of the bypass near the WIS 93 northbound bridge. The new building is on WIS 93 immediately south of I-94
Interstate 94 in Wisconsin
In the U.S. state of Wisconsin, Interstate 94 runs east–west through the western, central and southeastern portions of the state.-Route description:A total of of Interstate 94 lie in Wisconsin....
on the south side of Eau Claire. WQOW/WXOW began operating cable-only
The WB 100+ Station Group
The WB 100+ Station Group was a group of primarily non-broadcast local cable television outlets for The WB Television Network, for markets below the top 100 television media markets in the United States. Dayparts with no WB programming were programmed by the network...
WB "WBCZ" in 1998. This was on channel 15 on most systems in the Eau Claire and La Crosse areas.
WQOW/WXOW replaced "WBCZ" with new digital broadcast subchannels WQOW 18.2 and WXOW 19.2 simulcasting The CW when the new network launched in the fall of 2006. WQOW began airing solely in digital, effective February 17, 2009, with the analog transmitter operating for sixty additional days broadcasting only local news and information about the digital transition. In July 2009, Dish Network
Dish Network
Dish Network Corporation is the second largest pay TV provider in the United States, providing direct broadcast satellite service—including satellite television, audio programming, and interactive television services—to 14.337 million commercial and residential customers in the United States. Dish...
announced it would add WQOW to its local channel lineup in the Eau Claire area after previously only offering WXOW. WQOW/WXOW launched This TV simulcasted on new digital third digital subchannels of the stations in February/March 2010.
On September 2011, WQOW began to air newscasts in high definition. The station is the third in the La Crosse/ Eau Claire DMA to convert. That leaves WLAX/ WEUX as the only "Big 4" station in the market not to fully transition to high definition for original programming.
Current on-air staff
Anchors- Amie Winters - weekday mornings
- Krista Hostetler - weeknights at 5 p.m.
- Jerry Gallagher - weeknights at 6 p.m. (also Assistant News Director)
- Andrea Albers - Sunday-Thursday at 6 and 10 p.m.
- Chris Stanford - weeknights at 10 p.m.
- Megan Wiebold - Saturdays at 6 and 10 p.m. and weekday reporter
StormTracker 18 Meteorologists
- Doug Michaels - Chief Meteorologist weeknights at 5,6 and 10 p.m.
- LeAnn Lombardo - (AMSAmerican Meteorological SocietyThe American Meteorological Society promotes the development and dissemination of information and education on the atmospheric and related oceanic and hydrologic sciences and the advancement of their professional applications. Founded in 1919, the American Meteorological Society has a membership...
Seal of Approval) - weekday mornings - Alex Kirchner - Weekends (WXOW Meteorologist)
Sports
- Bob Bradovich - Director seen weeknights at 6 and 10 p.m.
- Stephen Kelley - Weekend Anchor/ weekday reporter
Reporters
- Trent Artus
- Keith Edwards
- Mike Joyce - news and sports reporter