page_title: WHBF-TV
section_title: Early history
hierarchical_section_title: WHBF-TV / History / Early history
caption_attribution_description: English: The studios for WHBF television in downtown Rock Island, Illinois.
context_page_description: WHBF-TV, virtual and VHF digital channel 4, is a CBS-affiliated television station licensed to Rock Island, Illinois, United States, serving the Quad Cities area of northwestern Illinois and southeastern Iowa. The station is owned by Nexstar Media Group, as part of a duopoly with Burlington, Iowa-licensed CW+ affiliate KGCW; Nexstar also operates Davenport, Iowa-licensed Fox affiliate KLJB under a shared services agreement with owner Marshall Broadcasting Group. The three stations share studios in the Telco Building on 18th Street in downtown Rock Island; master control and some internal operations are based at the facilities of Nexstar sister station and fellow CBS affiliate WROC-TV in Rochester, New York. WHBF-TV's transmitter is located in Bettendorf, Iowa. On cable, the station is available on Mediacom channel 4 in standard definition and digital channel 704 in high definition.
context_section_description: WHBF-TV signed on the air on July 1, 1950. It is the fifth-oldest surviving station in Illinois and the oldest outside Chicago and next to the state of Iowa across the Mississippi River. It was owned by the Potter family, publishers of the Rock Island Argus along with WHBF radio (1270 AM, later known as WKBF (station is now defunct), and 98.9 FM, now WLKU).
  WHBF-TV has been a CBS affiliate since its inception, but carried secondary affiliations with ABC and the DuMont Television Network. After DuMont's demise in 1956, WHBF shared ABC programming with primary NBC affiliate WOC-TV (channel 6, now KWQC-TV) until WQAD-TV (channel 8) signed on as an ABC affiliate in 1963. During the late 1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network.
  The Potters broke up their media holdings in 1986; at that time, Citadel Communications acquired WHBF-TV, and the radio stations moved out of the Telco Building. The following year, Lynch Entertainment acquired a stake in the station; at that time Coronet Communications Company was formed as a partnership between Citadel and Lynch.
  WHBF-TV was the first station in the area to use color radar and now uses the state-of-the-art weather system known as ESP: Live (Exclusive Storm Prediction). This allows the station to alert the Quad Cities about any potential weather hazards. Citadel's other stations also use the ESP: Live branding. On January 29, 2007, WHBF-TV rebranded as "CBS 4". It also adopted a variation of the circle logo shared with Citadel's other major network affiliates.
caption: The WHBF-TV studios in downtown Rock Island.
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