WGEM-TV

WGEM-TV

Quincy, Illinois/Hannibal, Missouri/ Keokuk, Iowa
Branding	WGEM (general) WGEM News (newscasts) Tri-States CW (on DT2) WGEM Fox (on DT3)
Slogan	The Tri-States' News Leader
Channels	Digital: 10 (VHF)
Subchannels	10.1 NBC 10.2 The CW 10.3 Fox
Owner	Quincy Newspapers (Quincy Broadcasting Company)
First air date	July 5, 1953
Call letters' meaning	GEM City (civic slogan of Quincy)
Sister station(s)	WGEM, WGEM-FM
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 10 (VHF, 1953-2009) Digital: 54 (UHF)
Former affiliations	ABC (1953–1969, 1971–mid-1990s) Fox (1990–1994) both secondary
Transmitter power	21.2 kW
Height	238 m
Facility ID	54275
Transmitter coordinates	39°57′4.1″N 91°19′54″W / 39.951139°N 91.33167°W / 39.951139; -91.33167
Website	www.wgem.com

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 has studios in the New Tremont Apartments (formerly the Hotel Quincy) on Hampshire Street in Downtown Quincy. Syndicated programming on WGEM includes: Entertainment Tonight, Dr. Phil, Rachael Ray, and Inside Edition. WGEM clears all NBC programming, although the station airs Days of Our Lives weekdays at 4PM instead of NBC's recommended timeslot of 1PM local time.

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 between 1953 and 1969 as well as from 1971 until the mid-1990s, shared with CBS affiliate KHQA-TV during the 1960s. WJJY-TV in Jacksonville, Illinois was the primary ABC affiliate for Quincy between 1969 and 1971; when WJJY went bankrupt and shut down, WGEM resumed carrying a few ABC shows. 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.

Since the mid to late-1990s, WGEM has not mentioned its channel number on-air, instead choosing to be identified by its call letters.

News operation

Nightly news open at 10.

Appropriately for a station with roots in a newspaper, WGEM-TV has long been the dominant news station in the Tri-State Area. The station has always devoted significant resources to its news department, resulting in a higher-quality product than conventional wisdom would suggest for a station in such a small market. Currently, WGEM-TV airs an hour-and-a-half newscast weekday mornings at 5:30, as well as half-hour newscasts on weekdays at noon, 5, 6 and 10 pm. The main channel does not air early evening news on weekends, but does air a weekly news roundup at 6:30 am. Even with only one live weekend newscast, WGEM-TV airs 25 hours of news per week, far more than conventional wisdom would suggest for a station in the 171st market.

WGEM once produced a weeknight 9 o'clock newscast for its then cable-only Fox sister station. Known as CGEM News at 9, it debuted in April 2006 but was canceled in March 2007. The broadcast was anchored by Jake Miller with Chief Meteorologist Rich Cain and Sports Director Ben Marth. At one point in time, WGEM-DT2 simulcasted WGEM-FM's weekday morning show, WGEM Sunrise: Radio Edition, from 7 to 9. Today it re-airs one WGEM-produced weekly public affair shows, City Desk, along with one other locally-produced programs: WGEM Academic Challenge. In addition to its main studios, the station used to operate a bureau on South Randolph Street in Macomb, Illinois, but it was closed in 2008. Like all CW Plus affiliates in the Central Time Zone, WGEM-DT2 airs the nationally syndicated morning show The Daily Buzz on weekdays from 5 to 8.

Newscast titles

• 3-Star Edition (1953–1961)
• WGEM News (1961–1967, 1998–present)
• The Sixth Hour Report/The Eleventh Hour Report (1967–1974)
• NewsCenter 10 (1974–1981)
• NewsWatch 10/NightWatch 10 (1981–1987)
• Channel 10 News (1987–1994)
• NewsChannel 10 (1994–1998)

Station slogans

• "NewsCenter 10, The Tri-State Area's Number One News Team" (late 1970s)
• "The News Leader in the Tri-State Area" (1982–1986)
• "The Tri-States' Best News Station" (1995–2005)
• "The Tri-States' News Leader" (2005–present)

Newscast music

• WTLV 1972 News Theme by unknown composer (1972–1974)
• NBC TV-Radio Newspulse by Fred Weinberg Productions, Inc. (1974–1979)
• TuesdayC by Tuesday Productions (1979–1982)
• WWL-TV by Tuesday Productions (1982–1986)
• WGEM 1986 News Theme by unknown composer (1986–19??)
• WGEM News Package by NewsTracks (1995–2007)
• Connection by 360 Music (2006–2007)
• Horizon by Stephen Arnold Music (2006–2007)
• Impact by 615 Music (2007–2009)
• The Tower by 615 Music (2009–present)

News team

Anchors

• Natalie Will - weekday mornings and Noon
  • producer
• Kendra Whittle - Saturday and Sunday at 10
• Lesley Van Ness - weeknights at 5, 6 and 10
• Matt Schmidt - weeknights at 5, 6 and 10
  • producer weeknights at 10
  • heard on WGEM-FM 105.1

WGEM News StormTrak meteorologists

• Rich Cain - weekday mornings/noon and heard on WGEM-FM
• Brian Inman - weeknights
• Whitney Williams- weekend evenings/weather reporter

Sports

• Ben Marth - Director seen weeknights at 6 and 10
  • heard on WGEM-AM 1440
• Dylan Austin - weekends

Reporters

• Andy Devine - multimedia journalist
• Jenny Dreasler- multimedia journalist
• Nick Adams - multimedia journalist
• Kaylee Pfeiferling- multimedia journalist
• Kendra Whittle - multimedia journalist
• Whitney Williams - multimedia journalist

Digital television

Digital channels

Analog-to-digital conversion

WGEM's broadcasts have been digital-only since February 17, 2009.^[1]

References

External links

• Official website
• WGEM-DT2 "Tri-States CW"
• WGEM-DT3 "WGEM Fox"
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WGEM-TV