WREX (channel 13) is a television station in Rockford, Illinois, United States, affiliated with NBC. Owned by Allen Media Broadcasting, it is the market's only full-powered VHF station and is Rockford's second oldest television station. WREX's studios and transmitter are located on Auburn Road just west of Rockford. History WREX began operation on October 1, 1953, as a primary affiliate of CBS. It shared ABC with NBC affiliate WTVO, channel 17 (which signed on five months earlier), and also aired programming from the DuMont Television Network. It was owned by Greater Rockford Television, a group of local businessmen. The station's call letters were selected in honor of Rex N. Caster, the son of station president L. E. Caster. Rex Caster was a First Lieutenant in the United States Army who was killed in France during World War II. Besides serving its immediate area, WREX attracted viewers early on in its history from parts of the neighboring Madison area. In fact, the two areas still share overlapping coverage among their television stations, especially in Rock County, Wisconsin (technically in the Madison television market), and that market's ABC affiliate, WKOW (channel 27) is a sister station to WREX, assisting with newsgathering in the northern part of the Rockford market. Until Madison's WISC-TV (channel 3) signed on in 1956, WREX was the only VHF station for both the Rockford and Madison areas. This was because Rockford and Madison were sandwiched between markets where other VHF channels were already assigned—Chicago (channels 2, 5, 7, 9, and 11) to the east; Milwaukee (channels 4, 6, 10, and 12) to the northeast; Davenport, Iowa–Rock Island, Illinois (Quad Cities) channels 4 and 6 (as well as 8 starting in August 1963) to the southwest; Cedar Rapids–Waterloo (channels 2, 7, and 9) to the west in eastern Iowa; and La Crosse–Eau Claire (channels 8 and 13) to the northwest, leaving room for only one VHF license in each market. During the late 1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network. The station lost DuMont when that network shut down in 1956. In 1963, the station was sold to the Gannett Company; during the mid-1960s, WREX was briefly co-owned with the Rockford Morning Star. WREX became a full-time ABC affiliate in 1965, when WCEE-TV signed on the air. In 1966, WREX became the first television station in Rockford to broadcast in color. In 1969, Gannett