WREX-TV

WREX-TV
Rockford, Illinois
Branding	13 WREX 13 News
Channels	Analog: 13 (VHF) Digital: 13 (VHF)
Affiliations	NBC The CW (DT2)
Owner	Quincy Newspapers, Inc. (WREX Television, LLC)
First air date	1953[1]
Call letters’ meaning	Rex, the first name of the son of one of the station's founders, L.E. Caster
Former affiliations	Primary: CBS (1953-1965) ABC (1965-1995) Secondary: DuMont (1953-1955) ABC (1953-1965)
Transmitter Power	316 kW (analog) 163.9 kW (digital) 12400 watts (after 2009)
Height	216 m (analog) 197 m (digital)
Facility ID	73940
Transmitter Coordinates	42°17′47.9″N, 89°14′22″W
Website	http://www.wrex.com/

WREX-TV (Channel 13) is the NBC television affiliate serving the Rockford, Illinois area. It is the market's only full-powered VHF station and is Rockford's second oldest television station. Its studios and transmitter are located at 10322 Auburn Road, west of Rockford and north of Winnebago. The station's call letters were selected in honor of Rex N. Caster, the son of the station's founding shareholder and president L.E. Caster. Rex Caster was a First Lieutenant in the United States Army who was killed in France during World War II. The station has been owned by Quincy Newspapers, Inc. of Quincy, Illinois since 1995.

WREX-TV provides three and a half hours of newscasts per day. WREX also operates Stateline CW 14, a digital broadcast affiliate of The CW Television Network via The CW Plus. Stateline CW is seen on channel 14 on most Rockford area cable systems, as well as on WREX's digital subchannel 13.2. From 2004 until 2007, WREX produced a 9 o'clock newscast on the CW.

WREX-TV has a unique partnership with the Rockford Register Star, the city's daily newspaper. Staff of the newspaper appears on nearly all of WREX-TV's news programs. In return, the newspaper promotes upcoming news stories and programming on Channel 13.

WREX-TV also has a partnership with Maverick Media which owns five radio stations in the Rockford market. WREX-TV provides weather reports for the stations and in return the radio stations provide promotion for WREX-TV's programming.

WREX's signal reaches as far away as Madison and northern Chicagoland

History

WREX began operation in Fall 1953, as an affiliate primarily of CBS and secondarily of ABC and DuMont. Besides serving its immediate area, WREX attracted viewers early on in its history from parts of the neighboring Madison, Wisconsin area. In fact, the two areas still share overlapping coverage among their television stations, especially in Rock County, Wisconsin (technically in the Madison television market). Until Madison's WISC-TV signed on in 1956, WREX was the only VHF station for both the Rockford and Madison areas.

In 1963, the station was sold to the Gannett Company. WREX became a full-time ABC affiliate in 1965, when WCEE-TV signed on the air. In 1966, WREX became the first television station in Rockford to broadcast in color.

The station was sold in 1969 to the Gilmore Broadcasting Corporation, owner of WEHT in Evansville, Indiana. Gilmore served as WREX's longest-standing owner. In 1987, Gilmore sold the station to MP Media Partners; under their new ownership, WREX created its own Eyewitness News format, and finally added the ABC soap opera All My Children to its daytime schedule.

In August 1995, Quincy Newspapers purchased WREX and switched network affiliations with WTVO.

On-air personalities

• Marissa Alter — morning anchor; reporter
• Ryan Cummings — morning anchor; reporter
• Nate Daugherty — evening sports
• Justin Gehrts — weekend meteorologist
• Laura Gibbs — evening reporter; fill-in anchor
• Jeannie Hayes — CW update anchor; reporter
• Dani Maxwell — evening anchor
• Mike Morig — weekend sports
• Adam Painter — morning meteorologist
• Gretchen Ross — reporter
• Eric Sorensen — chief meteorologist
• Eric Wilson — evening anchor

Former WREX-TV On Air Personalities

• Bret Baier (now at Fox News Channel)
• Michael Born (now at WOWT-TV)
• Michelle Chipalla (now at Amcore Bank)
• Roj Chohan (now at KCNC-TV)
• Mark Craft (now at Duke Energy Corp.)
• Patrick Crawford (now at KHBS)
• Katie Crowther (now at WTVO)
• Chad Franzen (now at WSAW-TV)
• Chris Frye (now at WKRG-TV)
• Mike Garrigan (now at WIFR)
• Jodi (Mueslin) Juhl (now at WBBM Radio)
• Smita Kalokhe (now at WXMI-TV)
• Brendan Keefe (now at WCPO-TV)
• Troy Kehoe (now at WSBT-TV)
• Lindsay Kus (now at WXMI-TV)
• Jen Lada (now at WITI)
• Joanie Lum (now at WBBM-TV)
• Pat McCraney (now at WITI)
• Jo McKee (freelance)
• Eric Nefstead (now at WTVO)
• Katie Nilsson (now in marketing at LDR Construction)
• Jennifer Pascua (now at WZZM-TV)
• Heather Pick (now at WBNS)
• James Rosen (now at Fox News Channel)
• Lot Tan (now at Ohio News Network)
• Paul Youngblood (now at WTVO)

External links

• 13 WREX website
• Stateline CW 14 website
• 13 Weather Authority Blog
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WREX
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WREX-TV

References