WQOW

WQOW signed-on for the first time on September 22, 1980; the station was originally owned by Liberty Television, which had acquired WXOW two years earlier. For its first decade on-the-air, WXOW had been hampered by an inadequate signal in the northern half of the market. Unlike the area's other stations, WXOW's transmitter is located alongside its studios in La Crescent, Minnesota. As a result, viewers in Eau Claire and the Chippewa Valley could only watch the station on cable.

Its original studios were on Business US 53/Hastings Way east of the London Square Mall and then-current interchange with WIS 93 on the southeast side of Eau Claire. Originally, WQOW was a straight simulcast of WXOW, except for identifications and commercials. However, since 1982, it has evolved into a more localized station. In 1985, WQOW was acquired by Tak Communications, which would file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy six years later. A group of creditors seized Tak's assets in 1994, and the company's Wisconsin stations were purchased by Shockley Communications in 1995 as part of Tak's liquidation.

Since the new US 53 Bypass was set to be constructed on the site of WQOW's building, the station moved in January 2001, six months before it was acquired by Quincy Media (then known as Quincy Newspapers). The old building's site is located approximately in the northbound lane of the bypass near the WIS 93 northbound bridge. The new building is on WIS 93 immediately south of I-94 on the south side of Eau Claire. WQOW/WXOW began operating a cable-only affiliate of The WB in 1998 known as "WBCZ".[4]

This was seen through a simulcast on channel 15 on most systems in La Crosse and Eau Claire. It would be replaced with new second digital subchannels (simulcasting The CW) when it launched in the fall of 2006. After The CW Plus national service was upgraded to 720p high definition level in Fall 2012, an HD feed became available on Charter digital channel 610. WQOW began airing solely in digital, effective February 17, 2009, with the analog transmitter operating for sixty additional days broadcasting only local news and information about the digital transition.[5]

In July 2009, Dish Network announced it would add WQOW to its local channel lineup in the Eau Claire area after previously only offering WXOW.[6] WQOW/WXOW launched This TV simulcast on new digital third digital subchannels of the stations in February/March 2010. Following the collapse of WEAU's tower on March 22, 2011, WQOW temporarily discontinued This TV on 18.3 in order to provide space to broadcast WEAU temporarily on its subchannel until a new tower was erected.[7]

In January 2021, Gray Television purchased Quincy Media for $925 million.[8] As Gray already owns the market's WEAU, it plans to keep WEAU and sell both WQOW and WXOW in order to satisfy FCC requirements.[1]

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Syndicated programming on WQOW includes The Doctors, Inside Edition, Dr. Phil, Rachael Ray and Live with Kelly and Ryan, among others. The station is also a part of the Green Bay Packers and WIAA sports networks; the former allows WQOW to carry Packers preseason games and official team programming, and to brand itself as "Your Official Packers Station" for the Eau Claire market.

With the launch of WQOW, WXOW began to simulcast its newscasts on that station. In 1982, WQOW established a separate news operation with local newscasts focusing on Eau Claire and the surrounding areas. Since it did not operate an in-house weather department of its own, all segments originated from WXOW's studios in a tape-delayed arrangement. The effort was cancelled in March 1990 as a cost-cutting measure and, as a result, WQOW once again began simulcasting WXOW's newscasts.

It would not be until October 1996 when WQOW would relaunch its own local news operation for a second time which remain to this day. Although this incarnation of news production includes a separate weather department from WXOW, meteorologists from that station can fill-in on WQOW (this is the case especially on weekends and for severe weather coverage transitioning between each station's coverage area). In September 2011, WXOW became the second television station in the market to perform an upgrade to high definition newscast production. Included in the change was a new studio and updated graphics package. The news department at WQOW was upgraded to HD level at the same time.

• WQOW
• WQOW mobile
• WQOW-DT2 "La Crosse-Eau Claire CW+"