Quad Cities-IA/IL -- Today, Larry Rosmilso, President & General Manager of WQAD and Kathleen DeBoeuf, Assistant General Manager of KLJB are proud to announce that the two stations will partner to bring a more locally-focused newscast to Quad Cities news viewers seven days a week at 9pm.
KLJB's Fox18 Nine O'clock News will be produced by WQAD in their Moline studios beginning Monday, September 6th and will expand Fox's current Sunday - Friday 9pm news to include Saturdays too. The newscast will feature anchor Kim Johnson and a to-be-named male anchor; WQAD Chief Meteorologist James Zahara; and sports with Amy Calderone. The weekend team includes anchor Rebecca Smith; meteorologist Cassie Heiter and sports with Matt Randazzo.
Said DeBoeuf, "We are thrilled with the opportunity to combine our resources with those of proven news leader, WQAD. We are enthusiastic about the opportunity for growth this partnership will bring to us and our loyal 9PM news viewers."
"Fox is a great brand and KLJB 18 is a great station!" Rosmilso stated. "WQAD is pleased and proud that KLJB chose WQAD as the provider of their news product. This is a great partnership and most importantly, a great benefit for KLJB viewers in and around the Quad Cities."
Chimed in John Bain, Director of Programming for the Grant Group, "We are excited to be partnering with WQAD-TV to bring the best fair, balanced and local news to primetime at 9pm. We have done a good job these past 10 ½ years and now teaming up with WQAD-TV will allow us to expand our resources and bring even more local news to our viewers."
"We are more than excited about this partnership with Fox 18," stated WQAD News Director Alan Baker. "We've been fortunate enough to be able to maintain a large local newsroom staff. We have the team and the talent and the resources to be able to sustain a partnership of this magnitude. We'll provide Fox 18 more locally focused news stories, and the Quad Cities' most accurate weather forecast with Chief Meteorologist James Zahara, a 20 year veteran of predicting Quad Cities weather."
The 9pm newscast on KLJB will carry the Fox 18 news brand and will feature reporters and news stories from all across the Quad Cities viewing area.
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