News LocalCenterQuad Cities Il Ia

WVIK The Cities (Quad Cities)

Center local news. Over-indexes on Housing Affordability (27.0×) and Taxes (19.8×).

As described by the publisher
The Cities is a local features program hosted by Jim Mertens, broadcast on WQPT on Thursdays at 7:00 P.M.
21
Episodes transcribed
Feb 2026Aug 2026 covered
5
Episodes analyzed
8 tone reads — one per figure per episode
Mixed
No clear favorite or target
thin read

What This Tone Is Based On

The tone scores on this page come from analyzing how this show covers each political figure it mentions. Below is the breakdown of how many of those reads were positive, neutral, or negative.

Positive338%
Neutral338%
Negative225%

Net media tone Neutral across 8 figure-in-episode tone reads (not audience/impressions).

That average is a partisan split, not genuine neutrality38% of reads are positive and 25% negative, and they cancel to the middle.

How WVIK The Cities (Quad Cities) Differs from Other Shows

Overall this show runs marginally more favorable than the rest of the media — mean tone -0.07 vs the media's -0.14.

Coverage Volume

Transcribed episodes per week — last 26 weeks

Sentiment Trajectory

Average weekly tone toward figures — green favorable, red critical

Show organizations & places →
Organizations
House of Representatives7
Western Illinois University7
Senate6
WQPT6
Augustana College3
Bears2
Places
Quad Cities18
Illinois15
United States15
Mississippi River5
Midwest5
Centennial Bridge4
East Moline3
Washington DC3

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