Re: Markets with No Affiliation Changes--western Illinois
Examples from Western Illinois:
The Peoria/Bloomington market has not had any major affiliation changes in the last 50 years (not counting the whole CW/MyNetwork TV-related switches).
19--WHOI (formerly WTVH, WIRL-TV, WRAU, and WHOI since 1985) was originally CBS back when Peoria was a two-station market (which doesn't count), but switched to (and has stayed with) ABC since WMBD-31 (whose sister station was then a CBS Radio affiliate) took the CBS affiliation on Jan. 1, 1958. Their CW subchannel was originally part of the WB 100+ group of stations.
25--WEEK (NBC)--originally on channel 43 from sign-on on Feb. 1, 1953 to Oct. 1964, when switching to channel 25.
31--WMBD (CBS)--as stated above, CBS since Day 1 on New Year's Day 1958.
(Peoria had already had each of the "Big 3" affiliates established by '58).
43--WYZZ (Fox)--signed on Oct. 1982 as indy/religious WBLN (with local Bloomington news in its infancy), changed calls to WYZZ in fall 1985, joined the fledging Fox network in fall '86 when "The Late Show with Joan Rivers" debuted, and has remained Fox ever since.
47--WTVP (PBS)--signed on June 1971.
59--WAOE (MY)--originally "signed on" with very low power, test patterns, and only UPN network programming in summer 1999, with their power reaching their current levels about spring 2000. Picked up MyNetwork TV after the shutdown of UPN (WHOI-DT picked up the CW 100+).
The Quad Cities (Davenport/Rock Island/Moline) market also has not seen major "Big 3" network changes (other than KLJB-18 briefly losing their Fox affiliation from 1988-90 because of too many preemptions of the fledging network's shows):
4--WHBF (CBS, Rock Island)--signed on July 1, 1950 (first downstate IL television station). Shared ABC with the then WOC-6 until WQAD's Aug. 1, 1963 sign-on.
6--KWQC (NBC, Davenport, IA) (formerly WOC-TV until fall 1986). NBC since Day 1 on Oct. 31, 1949; first television station in Iowa. Originally on channel 5 until the post-freeze reallocations moved it to channel 6 in 1953 to reduce interference with WMAQ-Chicago. As stated above, shared ABC with channel 4 until WQAD's sign-on.
8--WQAD (ABC, Moline). Full-time ABC since sign-on Aug. 1, 1963. Channel 8 was originally allocated to Peoria, moved to Moline as a result of deintermixture (IMO, had 8 remained in Peoria, this would have made that market volatile to affiliation swaps over the years, similar to Evansville and Rockford). MyNetwork is offered as a subchannel on WQAD-DT.
18--KLJB (Fox, Davenport). Signed on July 19, 1985 as an indy, originally joined Fox when Joan Rivers' show debuted in fall '86, lost their Fox affiliation over the preemption issue in 1988 and reverted to an independent for two years. Rejoined Fox in fall '90 upon the success of "The Simpsons."
24--WQPT (PBS, Moline). PBS (run by Black Hawk Junior College) since signing on in fall 1983. Significantly increased their power in December 1997 with their new transmitter near Orion, IL, near those for WQAD and KLJB (as well as the present KWQC-DT tower, and the former tower of WHBF-TV before moving to their current stick near Bettendorf, IA--shared with KWQC--in late 1982).
26--KGCW (CW, Burlington, IA)--Signed on around 1984-87 as an indy, joined Fox in fall '86 despite the station's very low power (could only be received reliably for about 20 miles from Burlington). Acquired by the owners of KLJB around the late '90s, IIRC, and converted to a satellite of channel 18. About 2002, converted to a standalone as WB affiliate KGWB (operated by KLJB), and then to CW in fall 2006. Has a CP for a new transmitter in Mercer County, IL, halfway between the Quad Cities and Burlington.
36-KQIN (PBS, Davenport--Iowa Public Television). Formerly a translator for WQPT, was sold by Black Hawk College and acquired by IPTV about 2003 or so (I'm not sure on the exact date, so your help on this one would be appreciated).
Although this example may not count as it is still a "two-station" market (not counting PBS and the religious WTJR-16), Quincy/Hannibal has not had any "Big 2" (in that case, CBS and NBC) affilation switches since KHQA-7 (CBS) and WGEM-10 (NBC) both signed on in 1953. The de facto ABC station has generally been KTVO-3 Kirksville/Ottumwa (as well as two years of the ill-fated WJJY-14 Jacksonville, IL from 1969-71), which actually did not become a full-time ABC station until about 1968.
