WQAD-DT3

WQAD-DT3 is the MyNetworkTV-affiliated television station for the Quad Cities of Eastern Iowa and West-Central Illinois. It is a third digital subchannel of ABC outlet WQAD-TV that is owned and operated by Tribune Broadcasting. Over-the-air, the station broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 38.3 (or virtual channel 8.3 via PSIP) from a transmitter in Orion, a village of Western Township, Illinois. WQAD-DT3 can also be picked up on Mediacom cable channel 3 and in high definition on digital channel 716.

History

Northwest Television, the original owner of Galesburg licensed WMWC-TV, had applied for a license to broadcast a digital signal on channel 53 and had planned to sign on September 1, 2001 as the UPN affiliate for the Quad Cities television market, with operations for the proposed station to be handled by Second Generation of Iowa, owner of KFXA in Cedar Rapids. However, the application for the new station was challenged by Grant Broadcasting System II, then-owner of KLJB-TV and KGWB-TV. In May 2002 after receiving permission to begin broadcasting an analog signal on UHF channel 26, the predecessor of this digital subchannel station began transmitter tests and on June 1, signed-on as WBQD-LP with the UPN network affiliation that was originally to have gone to WMWC. The owner of the low-power television station was Four Seasons Broadcasting; a partnership between Malibu Broadcasting in Cleveland, Ohio and Venture Technologies Group, LLC in Los Angeles, California. In November 2004, it was announced that WBQD would enter into a joint sales agreement with WQAD. On September 5, 2006, WBQD became a MyNetworkTV affiliate. It adopted the nickname "My TV 16" in reference to its channel number on Mediacom. WBQD's over-the-air signal did not reach the entire market due to its low-power status, but most viewers watched WBQD via its simulcast on this station, WQAD's third digital subchannel, which covers the entire market.