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About WREX TV

13 WREX has been a fixture in the Rockford area since the early days of television. The station went on the air with test pattern on September 18, 1953 and commenced commercial operations October 1, 1953 The stations call letters were dedicated in memory to Rex N. Caster, the son of L.E. Caster, President of Greater Rockford Television, Inc. Rex Caster, 1st Lieutenant U.S. Army, was killed at St. Lo. France in 1944 during the Second World War. He was awarded the Silver Star Posthumously for gallantry in action. A plaque bearing his story still greets visitors at the entrance to the station tod...ay. From the start of its operations, WREX was affiliated with the CBS and ABC networks. The stations original network affiliation was ABC-CBS Dumont. However in 1965, the station relinquished the CBS affiliation to WCEE and Dumont was eventually dropped. The station remained the ABC affiliate from 1954 until August 1995 when it became the NBC affiliate. The Lion and Crown were WREX logos for the first decade of its existence. While network affiliation has changed throughout the years, our call letters and channel number have been the same since 1953. By 2002, the station will add a new channel number when it begins broadcasting both digital (ch. 54) and analog (ch.13) signals. In 1963, The Gannett Group purchased 13 WREX. Paul Miller of Rochester, New York became President. The station was purchased by Gilmore Broadcasting Corporation in 1969 with James S. Gilmore, Jr. as President. In 1987, 13 WREX was purchased by M.L. Media Partners, L.P. I. Martin Pompadour was President, IMP Media Management, Inc. corporate co-venturer to general partner. In August 1995, Quincy Newspapers, Inc. purchased 13WREX when it became the NBC affiliate with Thomas A. Oakley, President, Treasurer and Chief Executive officer, and Ralph M. Oakley, Vice President/Broadcast Operations.In April, 1997, John Chadwick became Vice President/General Manager. More
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