Iowa PBS

Iowa PBS, formerly Iowa Public Television (IPTV), is a network of Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member stations in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is owned by the Iowa Public Broadcasting Board, an agency of the state education department which holds the licenses for all the PBS member stations in the state. Iowa PBS' headquarters are located at 6450 Corporate Drive in Johnston, Iowa, a suburb of Des Moines. The nine stations cover almost all of Iowa, as well as portions of Illinois, Minnesota and Nebraska.

Iowa PBS
statewide Iowa
United States
ChannelsDigital: See below
Affiliations.1: PBS (1970–present)
.2: PBS Kids
.3: World
.4: Create
OwnerIowa Public Broadcasting Board
First air dateApril 27, 1959 (1959-04-27)
(KDIN/Des Moines)
1969 (1969)
(statewide network launch)
Call sign meaningAll stations:
K
2nd letter: See below
Iowa Network
Former call signsSee below
Former channel number(s)See below
Former affiliationsNET (1969–1970)
Transmitter powerSee below
HeightSee below
Facility IDSee below
Transmitter coordinatesSee below
Websitewww.iowapbs.org

History
Logo as "Iowa Public Television" used until 2019

Iowa is a pioneer in educational broadcasting; it is home to two of the oldest educational radio broadcast stations in the world, the University of Iowa's WSUI and Iowa State University's WOI.

The electrical engineering department at the State University of Iowa (SUI) in Iowa City demonstrated television with an exhibit at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines on August 28, 1931. J. L. Potter supervised the project. At the conclusion of the Iowa State Fair, the television experiment was set up in the communications laboratory of the electrical engineering building at the University of Iowa in Iowa City.

By 1933, the University of Iowa received an FCC license for experimental TV station W9XK, later W9XUI providing twice a week video programming, with WSUI radio providing the audio channel. By 1939, the FCC allocated TV channels 1 and 12 for the W9XUI television station.[1] This early attempt at educational broadcasting ended by December 1941, with the entrance of the United States into World War II.[2][3][4]

The University of Iowa later applied for a construction permit for station WSUI-TV on channel 11 in February 1948.[5]

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) froze the granting of new television licenses, on September 30, 1948. The FCC, at the time, was swamped with hundreds of requests for licensing. It was creating a problem for allocation and causing interference issues. The FCC wanted time to study the issues and work towards a better overall solution.[6]

The freeze, originally set to last just six months, was extended when the Korean War began. Plus, the issues the FCC was trying to resolve were complicated and many. It ended up taking four years to end the freeze.

The April 14, 1952 FCC “6th Report and Order” effectively lifted the freeze. The decisions had been made on all five dilemmas. In the end, a color standard was chosen, 242 channels were designated for educational non-commercial use, strict rules separated stations sharing channels, channel allocation was resolved with an assignment table, and the entire spectrum of UHF band channels was authorized for use.

In 1951, the university supported the reallocation of channel 11 to Des Moines for an educational television station there.[7]

Meanwhile, Iowa State University's WOI-TV in Ames avoided the 1948 Freeze and began commercial broadcast operations in 1950 and carried some National Educational Television programming.[8] Des Moines Public Schools applied for the channel 11 allocation and signed on KDPS-TV as the educational station for central Iowa in 1959. However, in the 1960s the only other areas of the state with a clear signal from an educational station were the southwest (from Nebraska ETV's KYNE-TV in Omaha), and the northwest (from South Dakota ETV's KUSD-TV in Vermillion).

In 1969, the state of Iowa bought KDPS-TV from the Des Moines Public Schools and changed its calls to KDIN-TV, intending it to be the linchpin of a statewide educational television network. As part of the state's ambition, it rebranded KDIN as the Iowa Educational Broadcasting Network.

The network's second station, KIIN-TV in Iowa City, joined IEBN in 1970 to expand statewide educational programming to eastern Iowa and northwestern Illinois. Soon afterward, IEBN became a charter member of PBS. By 1977 the newly renamed Iowa Public Broadcasting Network had eight full-power stations. The Iowa Public Television name was adopted in 1982 and began on-air January 1, 1983. In 2003, it purchased KQCT-TV in Davenport, which repeated the programming of Quad Cities PBS station WQPT-TV in the Iowa side of the Quad Cities. The calls were changed to KQIN.

IPTV was originally run by the state's General Services Department before Governor Terry Branstad signed a bill creating Iowa Public Television as a separate state agency on May 16, 1983. In 1986, IPTV became part of the state's Cultural Affairs Department, and on July 1, 1992, IPTV became part of the Iowa Department of Education.

Combined, the nine Iowa PBS stations reach almost all of Iowa and portions of the surrounding states of Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.

On December 2, 2019, IPTV announced that it would rebrand as Iowa PBS in 2020, in alignment with PBS' new national brand identity.[9]

Television stations

Nine full-power TV stations make up the network; all stations have callsigns beginning with the letter K, as licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and ending in IN (standing for Iowa Network). Aside from their transmitters, the network's stations (except KDIN-TV) do not maintain any physical presence in their cities of license.

Station City of license
(other cities served)		 Channels
(RF / VC)		 First air date Second letter's meaning ERP HAAT Facility ID Transmitter coordinates Former callsigns Public license information
KBIN-TV Council Bluffs
(Omaha, NE)		 33 (UHF)
32 (PSIP)		 September 7, 1975 (1975-09-07) Council Bluffs 200 kW 98 m (322 ft) 29108 41°15′14.6″N 95°50′8.1″W Profile
CDBS
KDIN-TV Des Moines 11 (VHF)
11 (PSIP)		 April 27, 1959 (1959-04-27) Des Moines 22.5 kW 600 m (1,969 ft) 29102 41°48′33″N 93°36′53″W (Alleman) KDPS-TV (1959–1969) Profile
CDBS
KHIN Red Oak 35 (UHF)
36 (PSIP)		 September 7, 1975 (1975-09-07) 600 kW 475 m (1,558 ft) 29085 41°20′39.4″N 95°15′21.9″W (Hancock) Profile
CDBS
KIIN Iowa City
(Cedar Rapids)		 12 (VHF)
12 (PSIP)		 February 8, 1970 (1970-02-08) Iowa City 57 kW 439 m (1,440 ft) 29095 41°43′15″N 91°20′29.4″W (West Branch) Profile
CDBS
KQIN Davenport
(Bettendorf/
Moline–Rock Island, IL)		 34 (UHF)
36 (PSIP)		 December 16, 1991 (1991-12-16) Quad Cities 368 kW 233 m (764 ft) 5471 41°18′44″N 90°22′46″W (Orion, IL) KQCT (1991–2003) Profile
CDBS
KRIN Waterloo 35 (UHF)
32 (PSIP)		 December 15, 1974 (1974-12-15) WateRloo 250 kW 584 m (1,916 ft) 29114 42°18′58.4″N 91°51′31.1″W (Rowley) Profile
CDBS
KSIN-TV Sioux City 28 (UHF)
27 (PSIP)		 January 4, 1975 (1975-01-04) Sioux City 400 kW 348.3 m (1,143 ft) 29096 42°30′52.8″N 96°18′16″W Profile
CDBS
KTIN Fort Dodge 25 (UHF)
21 (PSIP)		 April 8, 1977 (1977-04-08) 600 kW 355 m (1,165 ft) 29100 42°49′3.1″N 94°24′42″W (Bradgate) Profile
CDBS
KYIN Mason City 18 (UHF)
24 (PSIP)		 May 14, 1977 (1977-05-14) 533 kW 448.5 m (1,471 ft) 29086 43°28′32″N 92°42′30″W (Meyer) Profile
CDBS

Some of the transmitters are located a fair distance from their cities of license:

  • KIIN's transmitter, while listed as residing in Iowa City (Johnson County), is actually situated north of West Branch in Cedar County.
  • KRIN's city of license is Waterloo but its transmitter is near equidistant between Cedar Rapids and Waterloo–Cedar Falls, located on the KCRG-TV (Cedar Rapids' ABC affiliate on channel 9) tower in southern Buchanan County between Rowley and Walker, which also has the transmitting facilities of Cedar Rapids CBS affiliate KGAN (channel 2) and Cedar Falls-based Iowa Public Radio station KUNI-FM, meaning half of the stations on the tower used by KRIN are licensed to Cedar Rapids while the other half are licensed to Cedar Falls or Waterloo.
  • KQIN's analog transmitter for UHF channel 36 was located in central Davenport, between the KWQC-TV studios (no connection to the station, other than giving its analog channel to KWQC for its post-transition DTV channel assignment) and the St. Ambrose University campus, near VanDerVeer Park. However, its digital transmitter is co-located with most of the other Quad Cities market stations along US 150 in Orion, Illinois (including now former parent station WQPT), making KQIN the only Iowa PBS station with its transmitter outside the state of Iowa.
  • KYIN's city of license is Mason City, but its transmitter is located north of the town of Meyer. The transmitter for Mason City CBS affiliate KIMT (channel 3) is co-located on this tower.

Translators
City of license Callsign Channel Translator of
DecorahK25PE-D [10]25KYIN
Fort MadisonK28JD-D [11]28KIIN
KeokukK19KX-D [12]19KIIN
KeosauquaK24IM-D [13]24KIIN
LansingK31NJ-D [14]31KYIN
OttumwaK18GU-D [15]18KIIN
Rock RapidsK33PV-D [16]33KSIN
SibleyK26JI-D [17]26KSIN

In 2012, an application was filed for a Digital Replacement Translator to extend coverage of KRIN into Dubuque, but as of 2020 this application is still pending.[18]

Digital television

Digital channels

The digital signals of Iowa PBS' stations are multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27]
xx.1 1080i 16:9 IOWAPBS Main Iowa PBS programming / PBS
xx.2 720p PBS Kids
xx.3 480i World
xx.4 Create

Analog-to-digital conversion

Iowa PBS (as IPTV) shut down its stations' analog signals on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital channel allocations post-transition are as follows:[28]

  • KBIN-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 32; the station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 33. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 32.
  • KDIN-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 11; the station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 50 to VHF channel 11.
  • KHIN shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 36; the station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 35. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 36.
  • KIIN shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 12; the station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 45 to VHF channel 12.
  • KQIN shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 36; the station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 34. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 36.
  • KRIN shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 32; the station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 35. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 32.
  • KSIN-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 27; the station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 28. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 27.
  • KTIN shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 21; the station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 25. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 21.
  • KYIN shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 24; the station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 18. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 24.

Late night programming

Starting August 31, 2013, Iowa PBS (as IPTV) had gone off-the-air nightly from midnight to 5 a.m. over-the-air due to budget concerns, reduced from a 24-hour schedule. Mediacom continued to carry the network in their markets with 24-hour programming due to their direct fiber connection from IPTV in Johnston to their Des Moines headend, which distributes the four IPTV channels statewide. The national satellite services carry the network's primary HD channel (IPTV.1) and have a fiber connection so the channel was available 24/7 to their subscribers. At the present time, they do not carry the three sub-channels.

The network restored over-the-air 24-hour service on January 15, 2019; late night programming mainly consists of the national PBS schedule.[29]

Programming

Although Iowa PBS provides PBS programming and also coordinates several political debates during the Iowa Caucuses, it also produces original programs, such as:

  • Iowa Press, a political panel discussion show.
  • Iowa Ingredient, with host Charity Nebbe, highlighting various foods grown, raised and produced in Iowa.
  • Iowa Outdoors, with hosts Scott Siepker and Kellie Kramer, highlighting outdoor recreation, environmental issues, conservation initiatives and Iowa's outdoor natural resources.
  • Market to Market, a nationally distributed show about agribusiness.
  • Iowa PBS Sports, a series of high school girls' championship events sanctioned by the IGHSAU including basketball, bowling, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, track and field, and volleyball.

Dan Wardell is the host of the children's programming block, featuring shows such as Curious George, Sesame Street, and Kids Clubhouse Adventures.

Friends of Iowa PBS

In 1970, Friends of Iowa Public Television (Iowa Public Television Foundation Board) was created for the development, growth and support of Iowa PBS through the building of a strong statewide membership base. Its 65,000 member households across Iowa and bordering states contribute nearly 90% of the out-of-pocket costs for acquiring and producing general audience programming.[30] When IPTV rebranded as Iowa PBS in December 2019, Friends of Iowa Public Television changed its name to Friends of Iowa PBS.

References
  • IPTV History from the Iowa Public Television web site, accessed April 1, 2006
  1. "Television stations authorized by the FCC, January 1, 1941". RCA Radio Travel-Log. 1941. Archived from the original on August 18, 2012. Retrieved August 12, 2012.
  2. "The FCC: Seventy-Six Years of Watching TV" (PDF). FCC. Summer 2003. Retrieved 14 July 2012.
  3. Rick Plummer. "A Short History of Television Station W9XK/W9XU". Early Television Museum. Retrieved 14 July 2012.
  4. "The Untold Story, W9XK - Iowa City". Wartburg College. Archived from the original on 2 July 2010. Retrieved 14 July 2012.
  5. "Outlook Among [TV] Grantees, CPs, And Applications" (PDF). Broadcasting-Telecasting. April 12, 1948. p. 91.
  6. https://jfredmacdonald.com/onutv/freeze.htm
  7. "Comments on Proposed [Non-Commercial] Allocations" (PDF). Broadcasting-Telecasting. May 14, 1951. pp. 74–75.
  8. "ISC paid for TV with Federal Funds" (PDF). The Daily Iowan. 25 January 1951. p. 1. Retrieved 22 August 2013.
  9. "Iowa Public Television will become Iowa PBS in 2020". IPTV. 2019-12-02. Retrieved 2019-12-02.
  10. Digital TV Market Listing for K25PE-D
  11. Digital TV Market Listing for K28JD-D
  12. Digital TV Market Listing for K19KX-D
  13. Digital TV Market Listing for K24IM-D
  14. Digital TV Market Listing for K31NJ-D
  15. Digital TV Market Listing for K18GU-D
  16. Digital TV Market Listing for K33PV-D
  17. Digital TV Market Listing for K26JI-D
  18. http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/app_det.pl?Application_id=1495389. Retrieved 21 May 2020. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  19. RabbitEars TV Query for KBIN
  20. RabbitEars TV Query for KDIN
  21. RabbitEars TV Query for KHIN
  22. RabbitEars TV Query for KIIN
  23. RabbitEars TV Query for KQIN
  24. RabbitEars TV Query for KRIN
  25. RabbitEars TV Query for KSIN
  26. RabbitEars TV Query for KTIN
  27. RabbitEars TV Query for KYIN
  28. "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-08-29. Retrieved 2012-03-24.
  29. "IPTV Schedule". IPTV. Retrieved 31 August 2013.
  30. "Friends of Iowa Public Television Foundation". IPTV. Retrieved 30 August 2013.

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