Founded in 1953 by Lee Enterprises, KHQA came into being to bring local television broadcasting to the Tri-State area . The idea sparked when Lee Enterprises, which already owned local newspapers and radio stations, wanted to expand into the emerging TV market; however, strict FCC rules at the time required them to get creative and officially license the station to Hannibal, Missouri, rather than their main studio city to secure a unique call sign . Over the years, the station has changed hands, and today KHQA operates under the ownership of Rincon Broadcasting Group following a recent sale by Sinclair Inc . Today, KHQA is still run under the Rincon Broadcasting Group umbrella and is mainly focused on a wide variety of daily news, covering everything from local politics and extreme weather alerts to agriculture and local sports . They're based with studios in Quincy, Illinois, and have made a name for themselves among those looking for reliable updates on the happenings across the Missouri, Illinois, and Iowa Tri-State region . One interesting fact: A unique fact about KHQA is the literal race it had to get on the air during its inception. In July 1953, the station's television transmitters arrived on the exact same delivery truck as the equipment for their future rival, WGEM-TV, sparking a frantic race between the two broadcasting crews to see who could set up their equipment first to become the premiere television station in the area .