KGAN - News Operation

News Operation

The station established a local news department in early-1954 and immediately launched a weeknight newscast at 6. A local broadcast seen weeknights at 10 was added to the schedule in the Fall of that year. It would began airing a midday show weekdays at noon in late-1956. Early on, the station's weather department was highly revered by Eastern Iowans for many decades under the direction of Conrad Johnson in the 1960s and 1970s. Shortly after his retirement, longtime meteorologist Dave Towne continued that tradition for another decade. Dave was joined briefly by Andre Bernier who was the weekday morning and noon meteorologist in 1981.

Andre left KGAN in March 1982 when he became part of the launch team for The Weather Channel. In 1984, Dave Towne brought Doppler weather radar to the station and it became the first in the area to utilize the system's images for weathercasts and severe weather coverage. He took a sabbatical from television to pursue other interests and returned briefly to KGAN on weekends but has since retired from Cedar Rapids television altogether. Tim Heller was another popular weather anchor in the early-1990s who grew up not too far away from Cedar Rapids but left for sunnier weather and a larger market in Texas. While the station's local radar is still erect, it no longer pulls data from the device.

The station's news department has won two George Foster Peabody awards. The first Peabody Award was in 1956 for its role in developing The Secret of Flight television programs. These shows, focusing on aeronautical education, were made possible with the assistance of Doctor Alexander Lippisch who was the Director of the Collins Aeronautical Research Laboratory. In 1994, KGAN won another Peabody award for the work investigative reporter Sandy Riesgraf performed in helping to expose a sewer solvent scandal. Compared with the market's other news departments operated by KWWL and KCRG, KGAN traditionally focuses on the greater Cedar Rapids area. Dubuque has coverage provided though bureaus operated by KWWL and KCRG but ultimately the former captures a majority of the local news demographic in that area.

It is unknown exactly when KFXA's separate news department in Cedar Rapids was shut down with that outlet's consolidation with KGAN. On March 4, 2001, KGAN began producing a nightly prime time newscast on sister station and fellow Fox affiliate KDSM-TV in Des Moines. Known as Fox 17 News at 9, this half-hour show originated live from KGAN's studios and featured its own on-air personnel. There was regional news coverage and statewide weather forecasts provided since there were no locally-based personnel in Des Moines. In 2002 for the convenience of Eastern Iowa viewers, the thirty minute program was added to KFXA through a simulcast and renamed Fox News at 9. For the most part, the broadcast's format remained the same although Eastern Iowa reports from KGAN reporters were added.

On September 2, 2008, NBC affiliate WHO-DT (owned by Local TV) in Des Moines entered into a news share agreement with KDSM. As a result, the big three outlet began producing a Central Iowa-focused prime time newscast on that station from WHO's studios. Today, KGAN contunues to produce an hour-long prime time newscast at 9 seen every night on KFXA. The station did not participate in the wider implementation of Sinclair's now-defunct, controversial News Central format for its newscasts but did air "The Point" (a one-minute conservative political commentary) that was also controversial and a requirement of all Sinclair-owned stations with local news until the series was discontinued in December 2006.

In Fall 2005 despite having no weekday morning show of its own, KGAN began producing Good Day Iowa on KFXA. This was seen for two hours from 7 until 9 and competed against national morning shows on Eastern Iowa's big three affiliates. Due to inconsistent viewership and low ratings, the newscast was canceled in July 2007. Due in part to the Iowa flood of 2008 that was still ongoing at the time, KGAN finally debuted a weekday morning newscast of its own called CBS 2 This Morning. To make room for this new program, it moved The Early Show to the 7-9 a.m. time slot. On that same day, the station also added a newscast weeknights at 5 before the CBS Evening News.

On September 19th, 2011, KGAN brought back a weekday morning show to KFXA, adding the Fox News at Seven AM which is seen for an hour until 8.

Weather forecasts from this station can also heard on KCRR-FM 97.7, KKHQ-FM 92.3, KOEL-FM 98.5 and KCJJ-AM 1630.