WHBF-TV (channel 4) is a television station licensed to Rock Island, Illinois, United States, serving as the CBS affiliate for the Quad Cities area.

The three stations share studios in the Telco Building on 18th Street in downtown Rock Island; WHBF-TV's transmitter is located in Bettendorf, Iowa.

It was owned by the Potter family, publishers of the Rock Island Argus along with WHBF radio (1270 AM, later known as WKBF, now defunct; and 98.9 FM, now WLKU).

[3] The Potters broke up their media holdings in 1986; at that time, Citadel Communications acquired WHBF-TV, and the radio stations moved out of the Telco Building.

[4] WHBF-TV was the first station in the area to use color radar and now uses the state-of-the-art weather system known as ESP: Live (Exclusive Storm Prediction).

On September 16, 2013, Citadel announced that it would sell WHBF-TV, along with WOI-DT in Des Moines and KCAU-TV in Sioux City to the Irving, Texas–based Nexstar Broadcasting Group for $88 million.

[7] The deal followed Citadel founder and CEO Phil Lombardo's decision to "slow down," as well as a desire by Lynch Entertainment to divest its investments in WHBF and WOI.

Nexstar was able to acquire KGCW directly as, under FCC regulations in effect at the time, the Davenport–Moline–Rock Island market had eight independent, full-power station owners—the minimum required to permit a duopoly—through the existing KLJB/KGCW combination (even though that duopoly originated through the latter's 1996 conversion into a KLJB satellite).

Due to FCC ownership regulations that prohibited ownership of two or more of the four highest-rated television stations in the same media market, KLJB was spun off to Marshall Broadcasting Group, a newly formed minority-controlled company headed by Pluria Marshall Jr.; Nexstar subsequently assumed the operations of KLJB through a shared services agreement, forming a virtual triopoly with WHBF and KGCW.

[10] On January 27, 2016, Nexstar announced that it would acquire Richmond, Virginia–based Media General—which had owned NBC affiliate KWQC-TV since November 2013—for $4.6 billion, in exchange for giving right of first refusal to the Meredith Corporation to acquire any broadcast or digital properties that may be divested (a clause that Meredith did not exercise) as compensation for terminating a concurring acquisition agreement with Media General to accept Nexstar's counterbid.

(Furthermore, any attempt by Nexstar to assume the operations of WQAD through local marketing or shared services agreements would have been subject to regulatory hurdles that could have delayed completion of the FCC and Justice Department's review and approval process for the acquisition.)

Each week, News Director Ken Gullette (From November 1993 to July 1997) followed Robb as he went to doctors offices, enjoyed his family and worked to renovate a home for HIV and AIDS patients.

Working as a one-man producer, videographer and editor, he told Robb's story through video, natural sound, interviews and music.

Robb's Life raised awareness, changed viewer opinions about AIDS and won awards from the Illinois and Iowa Associated Press organizations.

Fifteen years after it aired, the Dispatch/Argus ran a story about the impact of the series, and interviewed Robb's parents, Lorney and Hattie Dussliere of East Moline, Illinois.

On December 31, 2015, it was announced that WHBF would begin producing a one-hour 9 p.m. newscast for its SSA partner station, Fox affiliate KLJB (owned by Marshall Broadcasting Group).

In November 2014, while Nexstar was still waiting for the completion of its sale of KLJB to Marshall Broadcasting Group, there was speculation by other local media that KGCW might move to a WHBF subchannel.

[51] The fill-in translator is located on the station's Rock Island tower at the telco building-based studios in downtown and operates at an ERP of 2300 watts.

Also, as of October 22, 2009, WHBF has been operating its digital fill-in translator on UHF channel 47 from its studio location in downtown Rock Island.