KWQC-TV

Construction and early years

On March 12, 1948, the Central Broadcasting Company applied to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for permission to build a new television station on channel 5 in Davenport, Iowa, which it was granted on June 2.^[2] Central, a company owned by the chiropractor B. J. Palmer, also owned radio station WOC in Davenport and WHO in Des Moines. In preparation for the establishment of a television station, Palmer purchased the former Ryan residence, which was located across the street from Palmer's chiropractic school on Brady Street. To provide television network programming, Palmer proposed the establishment of a series of microwave relays between Chicago and Davenport, then to serve a WHO television station at Des Moines and one owned by fellow NBC affiliate WOW at Omaha, Nebraska.^[3] Later that year, the FCC imposed a freeze on new TV station grants to sort out possible changes to television broadcast standards.^[4] By the time of the freeze, Iowa proper had only been assigned two stations: the new WOC-TV for Davenport and WOI-TV at Iowa State College in Ames. Also assigned in the Quad Cities area was WHBF-TV to go on the air from Rock Island, Illinois.^[5]

Construction on the WOC-TV transmitter at Bettendorf, Iowa, was completed by September 1949, and on September 27, the station sent out its first test patterns, which were received as far away as Des Moines and Peoria, Illinois.^[7] Regular programming debuted on October 31, 1949, making WOC-TV the first television station in Iowa.^[8] WOC-TV operated at the outset for three hours a night and was off the air on Saturdays.^[9] The station was an NBC affiliate, in keeping with WOC radio.^[10] Originally, there was no direct link for network programs, which were kinescoped—recorded off a monitor onto film—and then shipped to Davenport for air.^[11] Local programming originated from studios built in a purpose-built annex to the Ryan house.^[10] With no direct network connection, the station produced a wide range of local shows to fill its airtime, ranging from quiz shows to audience programs as well as telecasts of high school sports and even women's wrestling.^[12] Remote broadcasting, however, relied on bulky equipment and was soon dropped.^[13] Series with titles such as Musical Moods, Pay or Play, and Pages of Melody co-existed with WOC-TV's network presentations.^[14] WOC-TV also offered local children's programming, beginning with Ken Wagner's Comic Cutups, which went to air less than two weeks after the station's first broadcast; in 1956, Ken became "Cap'n Ken", the first in a line of four such hosts at WOC-TV including Cap'n Vern, Cap'n Don, and Cap'n Ernie (Ernie Mims) that lasted until 1974.^[15] The sculptor Isabel Bloom hosted a program that used clay figures to illustrate fairy tales.^[16] All commercials were produced live as well.^[17]

WHBF-TV began on channel 4 on July 1, 1950, bringing to the area programming from the other networks—CBS, ABC, and DuMont.^[18] On September 30, both stations began receiving live network programming.^[19] WOC-TV went from broadcasting 28 hours a week to 65+1⁄2 hours a week by the end of 1950 with the advent of live network coverage.^[12] Within 13 months, WOC-TV was profitable and surpassed WOC radio in gross advertising billings.^[20] The station also used programming from the Paramount Television Network, which delivered all its programs by kinescope instead of live.^[21]

In April 1952, the FCC lifted the freeze after three and a half years with major changes to television allocations, including the addition of ultra high frequency (UHF) channels to the existing 12 in the very high frequency (VHF) band and new station spacing requirements. In doing so, it made a total of 30 changes to the channels of existing stations, including WOC-TV, which would be moved from channel 5 to channel 6.^[22] The actual channel change came 20 months later, on November 30, 1953, when power was raised from 25,000 watts to the maximum 100,000 watts.^[23]

B. J. Palmer died on May 27, 1961.^[24] Later that year, WOC-TV erected a 979-foot (298 m) tower at Bettendorf, 377 feet (115 m) taller than the original mast.^[25] The area gained a third station in 1963, when WQAD-TV (channel 8) began at Moline, Illinois, as an ABC affiliate;^[26] WOC-TV had aired some ABC programming in the years leading up to channel 8's establishment.^[27]

Construction of Broadcast Centre and later Palmer years

Quick facts Location, Coordinates ...

WOC Broadcasting Center
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
KWQC (WOC) Broadcasting Center in 2006
Show map of Iowa Show map of the United States
Location	805 Brady St. Davenport, Iowa
Coordinates	41°31′43″N 90°34′25.6″W
Area	less than one acre
Built	1963
Architectural style	Modern Movement
NRHP reference No.	100006171[28]
Added to NRHP	February 17, 2021

Close

In early 1962, WOC purchased a nearby apartment building and demolished it to make way for a new studio facility at 809 Brady Street, north of the existing studios at 805 Brady. Ground was broken that June,^[29] and WOC Broadcast Centre opened in 1963.^[30] The building, designed by Stewart-Robison-Laffan of Davenport and built by the Priester Construction Company,^[31] contained 68,000 square metres (730,000 ft²) of space. For television, it featured two studios, the largest of which contained an 18-foot (5.5 m) turntable and could hold an audience of 200. It also contained full studios for WOC radio and a radio and television newsroom.^[32] Draperies in the building were inspired by those David Palmer had seen at a New York City hotel.^[33] The Ryan house was demolished, but the 1949 annex was incorporated into the new structure.^[34] Though the studio had some color facilities, local color programming did not begin until 1967, when the station purchased color cameras.^[35] Broadcast Centre (as the WOC Broadcasting Center) was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2021.^[28]

Later Palmer years

In 1977, David Palmer died, spurring the transfer of Palmer Broadcasting—with the WOC stations and KIIK FM radio in Davenport, the WHO stations in Des Moines, and radio stations in Naples, Florida—to a consortium including the company's president, two Washington lawyers, a Davenport banks, and trusts for David Palmer's daughters.^[36] Palmer Broadcasting became Palmer Communications by 1980.^[37] In 1982, the previous mast at Bettendorf was replaced by a 1,383-foot (422 m) tower shared by WOC-TV and WHBF-TV to increase their coverage areas.^[38] In addition to improving reception in and around the Quad Cities, a goal was to improve coverage to the west, an area also served by stations in the Cedar Rapids market, where viewers in Cedar, Johnson, and Washington counties in Iowa were dependent on a translator for reception of WOC-TV.^[39]

One of David Palmer's daughters, Vickie Miller, and her husband Doug agreed to buy WOC and KIIK radio from Palmer Communications in 1986 under the banner of Signal Hill Communications.^[40] As part of the negotiations, it was decided that WOC-TV would change its call sign.^[41] Because of its location west of the Mississippi River, any new call sign would be a four-letter assignment beginning with K. Station management selected KWQC-TV, containing QC for Quad Cities, which was adopted on December 6, 1986.^[42][43] After the sale, WOC and KIIK radio remained in the Broadcast Centre until relocating to new studios in late 1987.^[44]

Broad Street and Young ownership

Even though WOC and KIIK radio had been sold, Vickie Miller retained ownership interests in Palmer Communications.^[45] This meant that even though the stations had been sold, the FCC considered them a monopoly for tax purposes. The commission at the time offered tax deferments if part of the monopoly was sold off and reinvested in another media entity, allowing Palmer to put off considerable capital gains taxes. It was also unclear how long Vickie Miller would continue to own Signal Hill Communications. Palmer Communications decided to take advantage of these circumstances to essentially trade KWQC-TV for another station in a larger market. In February 1989, Palmer bought KTVY in Oklahoma City, and two weeks later, KWQC-TV was put up for sale.^[46][47] The station was acquired by Broad Street Television Corporation of New Haven, Connecticut, a return to broadcast ownership for Richard Geismar and Fred Walker, who had previously sold a firm to Clear Channel Communications in 1984.^[48] The new owners conducted studies on moving the station's studio to the transmitter site in Bettendorf, citing a lack of parking and outdated facilities at the Broadcast Centre.^[49]

After Prudential, an equity partner in Broad Street, wished to sell, the firm sold KWQC-TV to Young Broadcasting for $55 million in a deal announced in 1995. By this time, plans to move the studio to Bettendorf had been abandoned.^[50]

Media General and Gray ownership

In 2013, Media General acquired Young Broadcasting.^[51][52] Two years later, Media General initially agreed to merge with the Des Moines–based Meredith Corporation before receiving and accepting a higher offer from Nexstar Broadcasting Group in 2016.^[53][54] Nexstar owned WHBF-TV and, under FCC rules of the time, could not own two of the four highest-rated stations in the same media market. It opted to keep WHBF-TV and sell KWQC-TV and WBAY-TV in Green Bay, Wisconsin, to Gray Television for $270 million^[55][56] in a sale completed on January 17, 2017.^[57]