WQRF-TV (channel 39) is a television station in Rockford, Illinois, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which provides certain services to dual ABC/MyNetworkTV affiliate WTVO (channel 17) under joint sales and shared services agreements (JSA/SSA) with Mission Broadcasting. The two stations share studios on North Meridian Road in Rockford, where WQRF-TV's transmitter is also located.
History
The station signed on November 27, 1978, as the market's fourth television outlet, first broadcasting from studios located on Kishwaukee Street between State and 1st streets in downtown Rockford, under the ownership of Marvin Palmquist, a local entrepreneur who founded several different businesses, including a hearing aid company which served as WQRF's original licensee. It was the last full-power analog television station to sign on in Rockford, while other stations in the area since then have either been low-power, cable-only, or on digital subchannels, and re-used the former channel 39 allocation of WTVO utilized from its sign-on until its move to channel 17 in 1967. It was promoted as an independent, "family-oriented" alternative to the area's big three network affiliates, along with serving as a local alternative to