View source for WIFR-LD

{{Short description|Television station in Rockford, Illinois}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2024}}
{{Infobox television station
| callsign = WIFR-LD
| logo = WIFR logo 2024.svg
| logo_upright = 1
| image = WIFR Studios.jpg
| image_upright = 1
| caption = WIFR's studios and transmitter west of Rockford on North Meridian Road.
| branding = WIFR
| digital = 28 ([[UHF]])
| virtual = 23
| affiliations = {{ubl|'''23.1:''' [[CBS]]|''for others, see {{section link||Subchannels}}''}}
| country = United States
| founded = {{Start date |2011|5|17}}
| airdate = {{start date and age|2017|5|31|p=y}}
| location = [[Rockford, Illinois]]
| former_affiliations = [[The CW Plus]] (23.5, 2021–2025)
| callsign_meaning = Wisconsin, Illinois, Freeport, Rockford
| former_callsigns = W22EE-D (2011–2017){{efn|name=DTVAm|While the station was licensed as early as 2011, it had not been in operation until its purchase by Gray in 2017.{{r|tvnc-w22eegray}}}}
| former_channel_numbers = {{ubl|'''Digital:''' 41 (UHF, 2017–2020)}}
| owner = [[Gray Media]]
| licensee = Gray Television Licensee, [[LLC]]
| sister_stations = [[WSLN]]
| erp = 15 [[kW]]
| haat = {{convert|215.8|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}
| facility_id = 183744
| class = [[low-power broadcasting#Television|LD]]
| coordinates = {{coord|42|17|48.3|N|89|10|15|W|type:landmark_scale:2000}}
| licensing_authority = [[FCC]]
| website = {{URL|https://www.wifr.com/}}
}}
{{Infobox television station
| callsign = WIFR
| above = Former license
| digital = 41 (UHF)
| virtual = 23
| affiliations = CBS
| airdate = {{start date|1965|9|12}}
| last_airdate = {{ubl|{{end date|2017|5|31}}|({{age in years and days|1965|9|12|2017|5|31}})}}
| location = [[Freeport, Illinois|Freeport]]–[[Rockford, Illinois]]
| country = US
| city = Freeport, Illinois
| former_callsigns = {{ubl|WCEE-TV (1965–1977)|WIFR-TV (1977–1991)|WIFR (1991–2017)}}
| former_channel_numbers = {{ubl|'''Analog:''' 23 (UHF, 1965–2009)|'''Digital:''' 41 (UHF, 2003–2017)}}
| owner = Gray Television
| licensee = Gray Television Licensee, LLC
| erp = 170 kW
| haat = {{convert|219.7|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}
| facility_id = 4689
| coordinates = {{coord|42|17|48|N|89|10|15|W|type:landmark_scale:2000}}
| licensing_authority = FCC
}}

'''WIFR-LD''' (channel 23) is a [[low-power television station]] in [[Rockford, Illinois]], United States, affiliated with [[CBS]]. The station is owned by [[Gray Media]] alongside [[Freeport, Illinois|Freeport]]-licensed [[The CW|CW]] affiliate [[WSLN]] (channel 19). The two stations maintains studios and transmitter facilities on North Meridian Road in Rockford.

Until 2017, WIFR operated as a full-power television station licensed to nearby Freeport. Under its current low-power license, WIFR-LD continues to use channel 23 as its [[virtual channel]]. WIFR is the only television station in the Rockford market to retain the same network affiliation since it first signed on.

Since WIFR's over-the-air coverage area is effectively limited to Rockford itself and close-in suburbs in [[Winnebago County, Illinois|Winnebago County]], it relies mostly on cable and satellite for its viewership. Its primary CBS channel is simulcast on a subchannel of [[NBC]] affiliate [[WREX]] (VHF channel 13.6, mapped to virtual channel 23.10).

==History==
The station went on the air as WCEE-TV on September 12, 1965. It was the third station in the Rockford market, and was originally locally owned by [[Rock River (Mississippi River tributary)|Rock River]] Television Corporation. The area's previous CBS affiliate, WREX-TV, switched to [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] full-time, sending CBS to WCEE-TV, whose calls and branding were inspired by the CBS Eyemark logo. It has been with CBS ever since, and is the only station in the market to have never switched affiliations. The call letters were changed to the present WIFR on June 1, 1977. General Media sold the station to Worrell Newspapers of [[Charlottesville, Virginia]], in September of that year. Worrell sold all three stations WIFR, [[WHSV-TV]] in [[Harrisonburg, Virginia]], and now-defunct [[WBNB-TV]] in the [[U.S. Virgin Islands]] to [[Benedek Broadcasting]] in 1986. When Benedek went [[Bankruptcy in the United States|bankrupt]] in 2002, WIFR and WHSV were acquired by current owner Gray Television.

On the morning of July 5, 2003, a severe wind storm swept through Rockford. WIFR's transmitter tower, located behind the studio and office building on North Meridian Road in Rockford, collapsed, with various sections of the tower falling harmlessly onto a field behind the studio facility and causing no damage to the building, nor any injuries. Four months later, a new tower was erected and WIFR's signal was restored to full power. The concrete guy footings of the former tower around the property have not been removed and remain ''in situ'' as removing them would be impractical and superfluous.

===Spectrum reallocation===
Gray Television sold WIFR's spectrum in the [[Federal Communications Commission]] (FCC)'s [[incentive auction]] for $50,060,965; at the time, the station indicated that it planned to enter into a post-auction channel sharing agreement.<ref name="fcc-wifrsale">{{cite web|title=FCC Broadcast Television Spectrum Incentive Auction Auction 1001 Winning Bids|url=http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2017/db0413/DA-17-314A2.pdf|publisher=[[Federal Communications Commission]]|access-date=May 15, 2017|format=PDF|date=April 4, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170414082807/http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2017/db0413/DA-17-314A2.pdf|archive-date=April 14, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> On April 21, 2017, Gray requested [[special temporary authority]] to move the license of W22EE-D (channel 22), a low-power station it owns in Rockford, to channel 41 with the intent of using it to maintain CBS service in the market; in its request, Gray disclosed that the full-power WIFR license would be surrendered on May 31, 2017, though WIFR's existing transmitter would be still be used, but with its power restricted to meet the transmitting requirements for W22EE-D.<ref name="fcc-w22eewifrld1">{{cite web|title=LPTV Engineering STA Application|url=https://enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov/dataentry/public/tv/draftCopy.html?displayType=html&appKey=25076ff35b8874f9015b8e203af5055e&id=25076ff35b8874f9015b8e203af5055e&goBack=N|website=Licensing and Management System|publisher=[[Federal Communications Commission]]|access-date=May 15, 2017|date=April 21, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020034827/https://enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov/dataentry/public/tv/draftCopy.html?displayType=html&appKey=25076ff35b8874f9015b8e203af5055e&id=25076ff35b8874f9015b8e203af5055e&goBack=N|archive-date=October 20, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="fcc-w22eewifrld2">{{cite web|title=Request for Special Temporary Authority|url=https://enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov/dataentry/api/download/attachment/25076ff35b8874f9015b91b315f0075e|website=Licensing and Management System|publisher=[[Federal Communications Commission]]|access-date=May 15, 2017|date=April 21, 2017|format=PDF|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020035411/https://enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov/dataentry/api/download/attachment/25076ff35b8874f9015b91b315f0075e|archive-date=October 20, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> The full-power license was cancelled on that date.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/sta_det.pl?Facility_id=4689 |title=Station Search Details - Federal Communications Commission |access-date=June 5, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020035818/http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/sta_det.pl?Facility_id=4689 |archive-date=October 20, 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref> Gray had acquired W22EE-D from [[DTV America]] in an eight-station deal in 2016; it had never commenced any previous on-air operations since the call letters were issued on May 17, 2011, nor constructed any facilities.<ref name="tvnc-w22eegray">{{cite news|title=Station Trading Roundup: 1 Deal, $720,000|url=http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/96676/station-trading-roundup-1-deal-720000|access-date=May 15, 2017|work=TVNewsCheck|date=August 2, 2016|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190220235807/https://tvnewscheck.com/article/96676/station-trading-roundup-1-deal-720000/|archive-date=February 20, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

On November 18, 2019, WIFR-LD attempted a transfer to its post-reallocation channel 28 from a temporary lower-power antenna lower on their transmitter tower, but moved back to 41 in a matter of days with the permission of [[T-Mobile US|T-Mobile]], which would eventually hold that spectrum. This is due to channel 28 also being allocated to the northeast in [[Milwaukee]] to full-power ABC affiliate [[WISN-TV]] and causing cross-channel interference in portions of [[Boone County, Illinois|Boone]] and [[McHenry County, Illinois|McHenry]] counties. The station again transitioned to channel 28 permanently on January 15, 2020, this time arranging with [[Weigel Broadcasting]] to simulcast 23.1 over their low-power station in the market, [[WFBN-LD]] (channel 35) as subchannel 23.11 to address those over-the-air viewers experiencing interference from WISN-TV. Gray's transition of WIFR-LD's regular higher-power signal at the former position of the channel 41 antenna was delayed several months from spring 2020 due to the [[COVID-19 pandemic in Illinois|COVID-19 pandemic]] causing a lack of tower maintenance crews across the United States.<ref name="wifr-reallocation">{{cite web|url=https://www.wifr.com/spectrum|title=WIFR Spectrum Reallocation FAQ|date=November 22, 2019|publisher=WIFR-LD|access-date=February 6, 2020}}</ref>

Through all of this, on-air operations continued mostly unchanged, though viewers were asked to rescan their sets to continue watching the station. In practice, few viewers lost access to CBS programming due to the high penetration of cable and satellite, along with streaming options, including the station's livestream on [[Paramount+|CBS All Access/Paramount+]].

===Gray Television acquisition of Quincy Media===
On February 1, 2021, Gray Television announced it had acquired [[Quincy Media]], owner of [[NBC]] affiliate [[WREX]], for $925&nbsp;million in a cash transaction. [[FCC]] rules governing television [[duopoly (broadcasting)|duopolies]] permit the common ownership of a full-power station and a low-power station in the same market.<ref name="graybuysquincy">{{cite news|url=https://deadline.com/2021/02/gray-television-quincy-media-for-925-million-in-cash-1234684531/|title=Gray Television Acquires Quincy Media For $925 Million In Cash|first=Jill|last=Goldsmith|work=[[Deadline Hollywood]]|date=February 1, 2021|access-date=February 21, 2021}}</ref> Despite this, Gray elected to retain WIFR and sell WREX to Allen Media Broadcasting, a subsidiary of Los Angeles based [[Entertainment Studios]], on April 29, in a $380&nbsp;million transaction that included several of WREX's Quincy Media sister stations in overlapping markets, including [[WKOW]]/[[Madison, Wisconsin|Madison]], [[WAOW]]/[[Wausau, Wisconsin|Wausau]], [[WXOW]]/[[La Crosse]] (and its semi-satellite [[WQOW]]/[[Eau Claire, Wisconsin|Eau Claire]]), [[KWWL]]/[[Waterloo, Iowa|Waterloo]]–[[Cedar Rapids]], and [[WSIL-TV]]/[[Carbondale, Illinois|Carbondale]] (and its satellite KPOB-TV/[[Poplar Bluff]]).<ref name="quincytoallen">{{cite news|url=https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/byron-allen-allen-media-tv-stations-gray-1234963299|title=Byron Allen's Allen Media Will Buy 7 Stations From Gray TV for $380 Million|work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|date=April 29, 2021|access-date=May 6, 2021}}</ref> While Gray will not have any direct ownership or control of WREX, it hammered out a 10-year agreement with Allen Media which called for WREX to carry WIFR-LD's main channel on a WREX subchannel, which provides WIFR full-market coverage over-the-air.<ref>[https://www.northpine.com/blog/2021/05/16/fcc-monitor-more-low-power-tv-sales-extensions/ "FCC Monitor: More Low-Power TV Sales, Extensions,"] from Northpine.com, May 16, 2021</ref>

==Technical information==
===Subchannels===
The station's signal is [[multiplex (TV)|multiplexed]]:
{| class="wikitable"
|+Subchannels of WIFR-LD<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=WIFR#station |title=RabbitEars TV Query for WIFR|website=[[RabbitEars]]|accessdate=July 17, 2024}}</ref>
! scope = "col" | [[Digital subchannel#United States|Channel]]
! scope = "col" | [[Display resolution|Res.]]
! scope = "col" | [[Aspect ratio (image)|Aspect]]
! scope = "col" | Short name
! scope = "col" | Programming
|-
! scope = "row" | 23.1
| [[1080i]] || rowspan=6|[[16:9]] || WIFR || [[CBS]]
|-
! scope = "row" | 23.2
| rowspan=5|[[480i]] || Antenna || [[Antenna TV]]
|-
! scope = "row" | 23.3
| WIFROUT || [[Outlaw (TV network)|Outlaw]]
|-
! scope = "row" | 23.4
| ION || [[Ion Television]]
|-
! scope = "row" | 23.6
| IONPLUS || [[Ion Plus]]
|-
! scope = "row" | 23.7
| DEFY || [[Defy (TV network)|Defy]]
|}

As noted in the last section, channel 23.11 is the fourth subchannel of [[Weigel Broadcasting]]'s WFBN-LD (channel 35), which uses physical channel 23 post-spectrum.

WIFR added [[Tribune Broadcasting]]'s [[Antenna TV]] as their second subchannel on December 17, 2012, replacing [[The Local AccuWeather Channel|Local AccuWeather]] (known on-air as "23 WeatherNow"). The subchannel carries live local and regional sports, including [[Rockford IceHogs]] hockey. Until the 2020 move of all market sports rights to cable via [[NBC Sports Chicago]] and [[Marquee Sports Network]], it carried the regional telecasts from [[WGN Sports]] of selected [[Chicago Bulls]], [[Chicago Cubs|Cubs]], and [[White Sox]] games. On May 28, 2015, its third subchannel launched, taking an affiliation with the [[Justice Network]] on July 27; in the interim it carried that year's [[Rockford Public School District 205]] graduation and overflow games unable to be aired on 23.2. 23.3 would carry White Sox games, with 23.2 carrying all Cubs games. During September 2017, WIFR announced via commercials running on the main signal that the subchannel would change affiliation to [[Cozi TV]] that month. 23.5 began carrying [[The CW Plus|Stateline CW]] after it moved from WREX-DT2 in 2021; this would become expanded to a full-power signal on new station WSLN-TV on channel 19 upon its sign-on in 2023, though the station continues to carry the 23.5 simulcast and the two stations are frequently co-branded in local promotional materials, most notably the WIFR website.

The Bulls and White Sox, alongside the [[Chicago Blackhawks]] (the team the IceHogs had been the minor league affiliate of since their American Hockey League promotion in 2007), would make a ''de facto'' return to the station in 2024, when their new [[Chicago Sports Network]] announced it would add an over-the-air affiliate in Rockford on the WSLN 19.3 subchannel, with 19.4 also carrying the network to accommodate potential overflow in a manner similar to how the WIFR subchannels had previously. On June 6, 2025, following [[Comcast]]'s carriage agreement with CHSN, the network left the station.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.chsn.com/ota-faq-june-6-25|title=CHSN OTA FAQ|publisher=[[Chicago Sports Network]]|date=June 6, 2025|accessdate=June 7, 2025}}</ref>

===Analog-to-digital conversion===
WIFR shut down its analog signal, over [[UHF]] channel 23, at noon on February 17, 2009, the original target date on which full-power television stations in the United States were to [[Digital television transition in the United States|transition from analog to digital broadcasts]] under federal mandate (which was later pushed back to June 12, 2009). The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 41, using [[virtual channel]] 23.<ref>[http://www.wifr.com/news/headlines/39139752.html DTV Switch in Rockford Still on for February 17th] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20090208141111/http://www.wifr.com/news/headlines/39139752.html|date=February 8, 2009}}, WIFR, Feb 5, 2009]</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf|title=DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds|format=PDF|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130829004251/http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf|archive-date=August 29, 2013|access-date=March 24, 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref>

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{officialwebsite|https://www.wifr.com/}}

{{Rockford TV}}
{{Illinois TV}}
{{Gray TV}}

[[Category:1965 establishments in Illinois]]
[[Category:Antenna TV affiliates]]
[[Category:CBS affiliates]]
[[Category:Defy (TV network) affiliates]]
[[Category:Gray Media]]
[[Category:Ion Plus affiliates]]
[[Category:Ion Television affiliates]]
[[Category:Low-power television stations in Illinois|IFR-LD]]
[[Category:Television channels and stations established in 1965]]
[[Category:Television stations in Rockford, Illinois|IFR-LD]]