Iowa Public Television - History

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. In 1933, The University of Iowa experimental TV station W9XK, later W9XUI provided twice a week video programming, with WSUI providing the audio channel. By 1941, the FCC allocated TV channels 1 and 12 for the W9XUI television station. This early attempt at educational broadcasting ended with US entrance into World War II.The concept of pure educational television, which Dr. E.B. Kurtz and his Iowa colleagues pioneered, was buried by the commercial television system which dominated development of the electronic media in Iowa after World War II.

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, 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), the northwest (from South Dakota ETV's KUSD-TV in Vermillion), and east from The University of Iowa's WSUI-TV.

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, already on the air since 1963 as WSUI-TV in Iowa City, joined IEBN in 1970 to expand state-wide 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. 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.