WGEM-TV

WGEM-TV is the NBC-affiliated television station for the Tri-States area of Western Illinois, Northeastern Missouri, and extreme Southeastern Iowa that is licensed to Quincy, Illinois. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 10 from a transmitter east of the city on Cannonball Road near I-172. The station is the flagship of Quincy Newspapers, and is a sister operation to the company's namesake, The Quincy Herald-Whig, and WGEM-AM-FM. Its studios are located in the New Tremont Apartments (formerly the Hotel Quincy) on Hampshire Street in Downtown Quincy.

History

The station signed on for the first time on July 5, 1953. WGEM has always been an NBC affiliate, but maintained a secondary ABC affiliation until 1969, shared with CBS affiliate KHQA-TV during the 1960s. WJJY-TV in Jacksonville was the ABC affiliate for Quincy between 1969 and 1971; when WJJY went bankrupt and shut down, WGEM resumed carrying a few ABC shows until the mid-1990s. The station also had a secondary affiliation with Fox between 1990 and 1994. It is one of the few and longest operating television stations in the country, outside of network owned-and-operated stations that has had the same call letters, owner, channel number, and primary network affiliation throughout its history.

WGEM

WGEM may refer to:

WGEM (AM)

WGEM (1440 AM; "ESPN 1440") is a radio station in Quincy, Illinois broadcasting a sports radio format. The station is owned by Quincy Newspapers and is an affiliate of ESPN Radio.

History

WGEM signed on January 1, 1948; its debut was hampered by an ice storm that forced the station off the air just twenty minutes into its first broadcast. The station was owned by Quincy Broadcasting Company, which was purchased by a partnership of transmitter manufacturer Parker Gates and Quincy Newspapers a few months later. Gates had previously attempted to enter station ownership by applying for a new station, WFAR, which was never built; meanwhile, WGEM was Quincy Newspapers' second broadcast property, as the company had launched FM radio station WQDI (105.1 FM) on August 1, 1947. Quincy Newspapers would assume full ownership of the station in 1950, after Gates chose to sell his stake in Quincy Broadcasting to focus exclusively on manufacturing. (WQDI would become WGEM-FM in 1953 to match the AM station and the then-new WGEM-TV; it would eventually become a simulcast of WGEM.) The station became an affiliate of the ABC Radio Network on October 1, 1948.