Iowa Public Television

Iowa Public Television (IPTV) is a state network of Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member non-commercial educational Public television stations in the state of Iowa. A member of the PBS, 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. IPTV's studios are located in Johnston, Iowa; a suburb of Des Moines.

History

Iowa is a pioneer in educational broadcasting; it is home to two of the oldest educational stations in the world, the University of Iowa's WSUI and Iowa State's WOI. However, it was a relative latecomer to educational television, at least compared to other Midwestern states. WOI-TV in Ames had signed on in 1950 as a sister station to WOI radio, and had carried some National Educational Television programming until Des Moines Public Schools signed on KDPS-TV as the educational station for central Iowa. However, 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.

KIIN-TV in Iowa City, serving most of eastern Iowa, became the network's second affiliate in 1970. By 1977 the newly-renamed Iowa Public Broadcasting Network had eight full-power stations. The Iowa Public Television name was adopted in 1982. 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 then-Gov. Terry E. Branstad signed a bill creating the Iowa Public Broadcasting Board 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 IPTV stations reach almost all of Iowa, plus portions of Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota and Missouri.

Stations

Nine full-power TV stations make up the network, all stations have callsigns beginning with a K, as licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), & ending in IN "IN" stands for Iowa Network.

Notes

• 1. KDIN-TV used the callsign KDPS-TV from its 1959 sign-on until 1969.
• 2. KQIN used the callsign KQCT as a relay of WQPT from its 1991 sign-on until it was acquired by IPTV in 2003.
• 3. KDIN's pre-transition digital channel assignment was UHF channel 50 and KIIN's pre-transition digital channel assignment was UHF channel 45. PSIP was used to display their virtual channels as 11 and 12 respectively, corresponding to their analog channel assignments at the time. Both stations returned their digital broadcasts to their former analog channel assignments, 11 (KDIN) and 12 (KIIN) respectively on June 12, 2009. Hence the virtual channel mapping now stays with the physical RF channel assignments of KDIN and KIIN.
• 4. The remainder of the full-power stations in the IPTV system remained on their pre-transition digital channel assignments after the digital transition, continuing to use PSIP to have the virtual channel display reflect the former analog channel assignments of the individual stations. Example: KRIN was analog channel 32 and digital channel 35 but always has, and still does, remap to virtual channel 32 via PSIP. See the "channels" column in the above table for the digital RF and virtual channel listings of the individual IPTV stations.

The network also has eight low-power repeater signals, located in Decorah (channel 16 K14AF), Ottumwa (channel 18 K18GU), Rock Rapids (channel 25 K25AA), Sibley (channel 33 K33AB), Fort Madison (channel 38 K38AB), Lansing (channel 41 K41AD), Keokuk (channel 44 K44AB), and Keosauqua (channel 24 K54AF - Keosauqua is now on air in the digital format on UHF channel 24).

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. It was placed there so it could serve all of eastern Iowa, including the Quad Cities.

-KRIN's city of license is Waterloo but its transmitter is located on the KCRG-TV tower in southern Buchanan County between Rowley and Walker co-located with Cedar Rapids licensed ABC affiliate station KCRG-TV, who owns the tower, as well as the new digital transmitter of Cedar Rapids based CBS affiliate station KGAN-TV, and the main transmitter for Cedar Falls-based NPR affiliate 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. The KCRG-TV tower is approximately half-way in between Cedar Rapids and Waterloo-Cedar Falls.

-KQIN's analog transmitter for UHF channel 36 (has now been decommissioned) and 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 for UHF channel 34 is co-located with a high majority of the rest of the digital transmitters for Quad Cities television stations along U.S. Highway 150 in Orion, Illinois. KQIN is thus the only IPTV station whose transmitter isn't physically located in Iowa.

Digital Programming

The stations broadcast a multiplexed digital signal:

Programming

Although IPTV provides PBS programming, it also produces original programs such as Iowa Press, a panel discussion show; and Market to Market, a nationally distributed show about agribusiness. Dan Wardell is the Host of the Children's Television block, featuring programs such as "The Big Comfy Couch" and "Sesame Street".

References

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

External links

• Iowa Public Television's official website
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KDIN-TV
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KIIN
  • Query the FCC's TV station database for K18GU
  • Query the FCC's TV station database for K38AB
  • Query the FCC's TV station database for K44AB
  • Query the FCC's TV station database for K54AF
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KTIN
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KYIN
  • Query the FCC's TV station database for K14AF
  • Query the FCC's TV station database for K41AD
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KSIN-TV
  • Query the FCC's TV station database for K25AA
  • Query the FCC's TV station database for K33AB
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KBIN-TV
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KRIN
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KHIN
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KQIN
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KDIN-TV
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KIIN-TV
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KTIN-TV
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KYIN-TV
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KSIN-TV
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KBIN-TV
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KRIN-TV
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KHIN-TV
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KQIN-TV