That station's transmitter was located in West Branch, roughly halfway between Cedar Rapids and the Quad Cities, in order to serve both markets.

Cable providers on the Illinois side of the market also piped in WTTW in Chicago or WTVP in Peoria, depending on the location.

The addition of MHz Worldview, originating from Washington, D.C. in 2010, adds international educational programming and provides diverse cultural perspectives.

In 1998, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) mandated that broadcast stations migrate from analog (NTSC) to digital (ATSC) television transmission in United States.

[8] Since 1993, auctions of former television spectrum to the wireless (cellular) telephone and broadband service companies by the FCC generated $52 billion.

WQPT is also the second PBS member station in the state of Illinois to offer programming from MHz Worldview; the first being WYCC in Chicago.

In July 2008, WQPT lost financial support when the station was removed from the Black Hawk College's FY2009 fiscal budget.

Mary Pruess, former president and general manager of WNIT in South Bend, Indiana, was named the Director of WQPT-Quad Cities Public Television at Western Illinois University, effective April 22, 2013, by Joe Rives, Vice President of the Quad Cities and Planning at WIU.

Jamie Lange, who had been serving as the station's interim general manager, resumed her work as WQPT's chief development officer.

A day earlier (June 30) the master control for WQPT returned to Illinois when WIU-QC outsourced this function to WTVP.

[13] Additional capital improvements included replacing microwave links from the transmitter in Orion to the new WQPT studios and a new fiber-optic connection to WTVP in Peoria.

Cable television systems serving Macomb and McDonough County added WQPT-TV when its transmitter site was relocated to Orion and the ownership changed to Western Illinois University-Quad Cities.