| Des Moines, Iowa | |
|---|---|
| Branding | Fox 17 (general) Channel 13 News |
| Slogan | The Time is Right! Iowa's High Definition Leader (newscasts) |
| Channels | Digital: 16 (UHF) Virtual: 17 (PSIP) |
| Subchannels | 17.1 Fox 17.2 TheCoolTV 17.3 The Country Network |
| Owner | Sinclair Broadcast Group (KDSM Licensee, LLC) |
| First air date | March 17, 1983 |
| Call letters' meaning | DeS Moines |
| Sister station(s) | KGAN, KFXA |
| Former callsigns | KCBR (1982-1986) |
| Former channel number(s) | 17 (UHF analog, 1982-2009) |
| Former affiliations | Independent (1982-1986) |
| Transmitter power | 500 kW |
| Height | 612 m |
| Facility ID | 56527 |
| Website | KDSM17.com |
KDSM-TV is the Fox-affiliated television station for Central Iowa licensed to Des Moines. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 16 (or virtual channel 17.1 via PSIP) from a transmitter in Alleman. The station can also be seen on Mediacom channel 6 and in high definition on digital channel 817. Owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group, KDSM has studios on Fleur Drive in Des Moines. Syndicated programming on this station includes Everybody Loves Raymond, Two and a Half Men, The People's Court, and Judge Mathis among others.
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On KDSM-DT2 and Mediacom digital channel 110 is TheCoolTV. On KDSM-DT3 and Mediacom digital channel 111 is The Country Network.
| Channels (physical/virtual) | Name | Video | Aspect | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16.1/17.1 | KDSM-HD | 720p | 16:9 | main KDSM programming/Fox (HD) |
| 16.2/17.2 | KDSM-DT2 | 480i | 4:3 | TheCoolTV (SD) |
| 16.3/17.3 | KDSM-DT3 | 480i | 4:3 | The Country Network (SD) |
Central Iowa's second television station, KGTV, signed-on in 1953 airing an analog signal on UHF channel 17.[1] At the time, all four networks were shoehorned on WOI-TV. KGTV was plagued by financial problems from the start. The Des Moines market is fairly large geographically, and at the time UHF signals didn't travel very far across long distances. It didn't help that very few television sets had UHF capability at the time. As a result, while KGTV should have logically taken the NBC affiliation, that network opted to keep its secondary affiliation with WOI-TV. The death knell for the station sounded a few months after it went on the air, when Palmer Communications, owner of WHO-AM-FM, won a construction permit for WHO-TV (channel 13). As WHO had been an NBC radio affiliate for almost 30 years, it was a foregone conclusion that WHO-TV would take the NBC affiliation. Channel 17 went dark later in 1953.
The KGTV calls now reside on the ABC affiliate in San Diego, California. Analog UHF channel 17 remained silent until March 17, 1983 when Independent KCBR (known as "The Great Entertainer") signed-on. It was Iowa's first independent station, as well as the first new commercial station in Central Iowa since KCCI signed-on 28 years earlier. The call letters were picked from the first names of the three original owners: Carl Goldsberry, Bill Trout, and Ray Gazzo. Carl Goldsberry was a Northwestern Bell yellow pages sales representative. Bill Trout and Ray Gazzo were partners in the Des Moines law firm of Coppola Trout Taha & Gazzo. Joe Coppola would later become a partner in KCBR when the company need a cash infusion.
The station was sold to Richard L. Duchossois, a Chicago businessman who would later sell it to River City Broadcasting. KCBR's call letters were changed to KDSM-TV ("KDSM" is the IATA airport code for Des Moines International Airport) on January 17, 1986,[2] and later that year, it became one of the charter affiliates of Fox. It came under the ownership of River City Broadcasting in 1991. In 1996, Sinclair acquired the station as part of its purchase of River City. Sinclair and Fox cut a six-year affiliation contract extension for Sinclair's nineteen Fox affiliates. Thus, Fox will remain on KDSM through at least March 2012.
At midnight on January 6, 2007, Sinclair pulled KDSM from Mediacom systems in Central Iowa, including those in Des Moines and Ames, as part of Mediacom's ongoing retransmission dispute with Sinclair. As a result, KDSM began offering $150 rebates (payable as $10 monthly bill credits) for Mediacom subscribers to switch to DirecTV during that time period. Mediacom offered free dipole antennas to subscribers and aired programming from other cable networks in KDSM's place during the impasse.[3] The dispute, which attracted attention from lawmakers in Iowa and in Washington, D.C., ended on February 2 when Mediacom announced that it had signed a retransmission consent agreement with Sinclair. KDSM was restored to cable systems shortly after the announcement.[4]
The dispute was renewed in late-2009 and threatened to have the station removed from Mediacom once again. The deal that was reached in 2007 expired on December 31, 2009 which meant the primary cable provider in the state of Iowa could have been kept from having access to the 2010 Orange Bowl set to air on Fox with local favorite Iowa Hawkeyes football team playing the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.[5] On December 31, Sinclair and Mediacom agreed to an extension of the retransmission contract until January 8, 2010 thus averting a blackout of the Orange Bowl on cable systems.[6] A week later, the two sides agreed to a one-year retransmission agreement.[7]
On March 4, 2001, KDSM debuted a nightly prime time newscast produced by sister station CBS affiliate KGAN-TV in Cedar Rapids. Known as Fox 17 News at 9, it originated from KGAN's studios on Old Marion Road Northeast in Cedar Rapids and featured that station's on-air personnel. There was regional news coverage and statewide weather forecasts provided. In 2002, the program was added to fellow Fox affiliate and sister station KFXA (also serving Cedar Rapids and housed with KGAN) for Eastern Iowa viewers. On September 2, 2008, NBC affiliate WHO-DT (owned by Local TV) entered into a news share agreement with KDSM. It began producing a Des Moines-based prime time newscast known as Channel 13 News at 9 on Fox 17. Originating from WHO-DT's facilities on Grand Avenue in Downtown Des Moines, this airs for an hour on weeknights and thirty minutes on weekends.
On April 22, 2009, that station became second in Des Moines to air all in-studio news in 16:9 enhanced definition widescreen. Although not truly high definition, broadcasts matched the aspect ratio of HD television screens. The KDSM shows were not included in this change.[8] On May 19, 2010, WHO-TV upgraded further to full high definition local newscasts.[9] However, the prime time broadcasts on this channel were not initially included due to KDSM's lack of an HD master control facility at the time. As a result, the newscasts were still seen in pillarboxed 4:3 standard definition. At some point in December 2010, this station underwent a master-control upgrade and began offering local programming in HD. As of January 2012, KDSM now airs two hours of the three-hour nationally syndicated morning show The Daily Buzz on weekdays from 6 until 8. It is the only Sinclair-owned station in the nation to clear the broadcast.
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