Iowa PBS

Type	Non-commercial educationalbroadcast television network
Country	United States
Availability	statewideIowa
TV transmitters	9
Headquarters	6450 Corporate Drive,Johnston, Iowa
Owner	Iowa Public Broadcasting Board
Launch date	April 27, 1959; 66 years ago (1959-04-27)(KDIN-TV) 1969; 56 years ago (1969)(statewide network launch)
Picture format	480i (SDTV) (1959–2009) 1080i (HDTV) (2009–present)
Affiliations	PBS,APT
Affiliates	See§ Stations and§ Translators
Formeraffiliations	NET (1959–1970)
Official website	www.iowapbs.org

Iowa PBS, formerlyIowa Public Television (IPTV), is a network of Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)member stations in theU.S. state ofIowa. It is operated by theIowa 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 inJohnston, Iowa, a suburb ofDes Moines.

Iowa is a pioneer in educational broadcasting; it is home to two of the oldest educational radio broadcast stations in the world, theUniversity of Iowa'sWSUI andIowa State University'sWOI.

The electrical engineering department at the State University of Iowa (SUI) inIowa 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 W9XUI.^[1] This early attempt at educational broadcasting ended by December 1941, with the entrance of the United States intoWorld 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]

TheFederal 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 toDes Moines for an educational television station there.^[7]

Meanwhile,Iowa State University'sWOI-TV inAmes avoided the 1948 Freeze and began commercial broadcast operations in 1950 and carried someNational 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 (fromNebraska ETV's KYNE-TV inOmaha), and the northwest (fromSouth Dakota ETV's KUSD-TV inVermillion).

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 northwesternIllinois. 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 ofQuad Cities PBS stationWQPT-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 beforeGovernorTerry 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, andWisconsin.

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

Nine full-power TV stations make up the network; all stations have callsigns beginning with the letter K, as licensed by the 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.

• K18GU-DOttumwa (translating KIIN)
• K19KX-DKeokuk (translating KIIN)
• K24IM-DKeosauqua (translating KIIN)
• K25PE-DDecorah (translating KYIN)
• K26JI-DSibley (translating KSIN-TV)
• K28JD-DFort Madison (translating KIIN)
• K31NJ-DLansing (translating KYIN)
• K33PV-DRock Rapids (translating KSIN-TV)

In 2012, an application was filed for a digital replacement translator to extend coverage of KRIN into Dubuque.^[11] The application was withdrawn in October 2024.^[12]

The signals of the Iowa PBS stations are multiplexed:

Iowa PBS (as IPTV) shut down its stations' analog signals on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United Statestransitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital channel allocations post-transition are as follows:^[15]

• KBIN-TV shut down its analog signal, overUHF channel 32; the station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 33, usingvirtual 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, using virtual 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, using virtual 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, using virtual 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, using virtual 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, using virtual 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, using virtual channel 24.

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 Moinesheadend, 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 subchannels.

The network restored over-the-air 24-hour service on January 15, 2019; late night programming mainly consists of the national PBS schedule.^[16]

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

• Crafts from the Past, a crafting show.
• Fair, live show from theIowa State Fair every year.
• Gardening with Steil, a gardening show hosted by Aaron Steil.
• Greetings from Iowa, a lifestyle show.
• Historic Buildings of Iowa, a historical documentary show.
• In Their Words, featuring the youth of Iowa.
• Iowa Ingredient, a cooking show.
• Iowa Life, a human interest, magazine-style show.
• Iowa PBS Sports, a series ofhigh school girls' championship events sanctioned by theIGHSAU includingbasketball,bowling,cross country,golf,soccer,softball,swimming anddiving,tennis,track and field, andvolleyball.
• Iowa Press, a political panel discussion show.
• Market to Market, a nationally distributed show aboutagribusiness.
• Road Trip Iowa, a travel documentary show.
• Studio 3 LIVE, a live music show.
• The Film Lounge, showcases short films.
• The Great American Recipe, a cooking competition show.
• Woodsmith Shop, a woodworking show.

Iowa PBS first began airingDoctor Who in 1974, shortly after theBBC first made it available to PBS stations viaTime-Life Television. With the exception of a hiatus between 1979 and 1984, the station has aired the serial continuously since, one of the longestDoctor Who runs in the world.^[17]

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.^[18] When IPTV rebranded as Iowa PBS in December 2019, Friends of Iowa Public Television changed its name toFriends of Iowa PBS.

• IPTV History from the Iowa Public Television web site, accessed April 1, 2006

• Iowa PBS' official website

• PBS member networks
• Television stations in Iowa
• Television channels and stations established in 1959
• 1959 establishments in Iowa
• Johnston, Iowa

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