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Iowa Public Television Local Production History

Iowa Public Television (IPTV) was created to broaden the reach of education to people from all backgrounds, including rural Iowans. Over the years IPTV pushed the boundaries of television, in providing programming and improving technology to reach more viewers.

Iowa’s efforts at educational television started in the 1930s with experimental “educational television” at the universities in Ames and Iowa City. Those efforts ended with World War II. Experimentation resumed in the 1950s and in Des Moines a low-output antenna, KDPS (Department of Public Schools) was built for city-wide teaching in the 1960s.

In the 60s, most programs were produced in classrooms or on the high school auditorium stage. Educators from Des Moines would ‘teach by distance’ on topics ranging from science and math, music, and foreign language -- expanding the reach of some exceptional educators into multiple school buildings.

The night-time schedule included the few available national program offerings (first by NET – National Educational Television,) but also had a few locally produced shows  for grown-ups. Mary Jane Odell hosted a nightly interview show. She was one of only a few women news reporters on television, and she later became a state official. On KDPS, she explored every topic of the day, and her interviewees included national newsmakers, state officials, writers, musicians, and educators.

Those early days at KDPS included some films of High School students discussing important topics, like sex, drugs, and morality. Their parents couldn’t believe what came to light from those sessions – their children expressed opinions to their peers in a more frank way than they did at home. Don Solliday was the producer of the series.

Eager to bring up topics of importance to Iowa, the network started a weekly series about food production, which is still produced as “Market to Market” and distributed nationally. At the same time, a weekly show about Iowa politics, “Iowa Press” began, and it continues to this day, providing discussions of current topics with the state’s journalists, lawmakers and news makers.

To reach outside the building, film crews were hired and a documentary unit hit the road. Early producers sought to tell intriguing stories, not just “report the news.” The quality of these films got noticed, garnering audience applause and national awards, and also strongly influenced the next generation of Iowa TV producers. Many of these KDPS film producers went on to larger cities, and produced PBS shows distributed nationally or became part of PBS national management.

Also in the early days, KDPS got a Ford Foundation grant to produce a children’s program and chose a talented actor, Carl Williams, who was one of the only African-American television hosts at the time. That program (Volume See) was the pre-cursor to Sesame Street, and was also the first nationally distributed program to air segments by a new puppeteer group known as the Muppets.

KDPS also hired one of the nation’s first female TV producers, Joanne Brugger. She later married fellow IPTV-er, David Brugger, and they have served in various capacities for public and commercial television for decades.

The network’s anniversary date is either 1967, when the Iowa Educational Television and Radio Facilities Board was created or 1969 when KDPS (Des Moines) school equipment was purchased and the call letters changed to KDIN. The second television antennae was purchased in Iowa City in 1969 and called KIIN. The new network was called IEBN – The Iowa Educational Broadcasting Network.

In 1971, soon after becoming a statewide network, KDIN built and ran a television mobile unit, which was rare for any TV station, not just public television. This “video production studio on wheels” travelled the state for live broadcasts of high school, college, and professional sports, as well as the Iowa State Fair, operas, ballets, blues and Bix jazz concerts, and many other high-profile Iowa events.

Documentary filming continued, and a national Emmy was awarded to a film called “Take Des Moines, Please” in 1973.

In 1972, the production and broadcast facility was moved to a former warehouse at 2801 Bell Avenue, also in Des Moines. Seven more antennas (and more low-powered translators that enhance the signals) were added in the next decade. The network renamed itself Iowa Public Broadcasting Network (IPBN) in 1976, following the enhancement of the nation Public Broadcasting network, but changed names again in of January 1983 to become Iowa Public Television (IPTV.) By this time, it could be seen by more than 90% of Iowa’s residents.

In 1986, the network moved into a new broadcast building in Johnston, Iowa, just north of Des Moines. It included a larger television studio and also a television auditorium, allowing IPTV to hold events with live audiences. There was a full-time set designer and builder on-staff for the frequent stage performances. The production of programs expanded and more than 30 television producers were actively exploring topics of all kinds in the state.

In addition, there has always been a non-broadcast arm of IPTV which has continued educational efforts for distance-learning and “teaching the teachers” how to use new technologies in classrooms and day-care centers. These have had an impact on the state, especially the children.

And, IPTV continues creating projects on the internet to distribute videos, interactive projects and educational materials, some related to on-air programs and some completely free-standing.

·        First Iowa station to broadcast in stereo FM audio – 1980s

·        Providing closed-captioning for the hearing impaired  – 1980s

·        Winning a national EMMY for work with PBS on Transmitter Efficiency (IPTV’s Director of Engineering, Don Saveraid, was part of this effort.)

·        Was instrumental in launching, building and providing content for a statewide fiber optic network between schools, libraries and National Guard facilities. – (ICN) late 1980s, into 1990s

·        Provided a TV service that used a special audio track to describe visuals for the blind – 1990 (Descriptive Video Services)

·        Demonstrated live, interactive video  between classrooms and remote sites allowing students to ask questions of experts – 1993 (Loess Hills project)

·        Began educating U.S. broadcasters about the technical and content changes  needed for  the major conversion from analogue television to digital, holding an annual Iowa Digital TV symposiums – 1994

·        Simulcast live U.S. Presidential candidate debates online and nationally on PBS – 2000s

·        Created Iowa Pathways,  an educational and interactive online portal with Iowa history videos and articles– 2000s

·        Created and broadcast Iowa’s first High Definition (HD) documentary – 2000 (This Old Statehouse)

·        Broadcast the first digital signals in Iowa on KDIN-DT August 9, 2001. All eight additional IPTV antennas were converted to digital by 2005. Analogue antennas were completely shut down in 2009.

·        Broadcast the first LIVE HD program in Iowa, with coverage of the 2002 Iowa State Fair parade in Des Moines.

·        Provided the largest on-air effort to educate the public about the digital transition, including phone banks and as-needed telephone support to help viewers learn how to get the new digital signals on both old and new televisions – 2000s

·        After changing all the television stations in the Network to digital, a new mobile unit was outfitted and now serves the state in High Definition (HD.)

·        There were many other firsts during the decades, behind-the- scenes in areas of fund-raising and audience-building events and outreach.

·        As a digital broadcaster, IPTV currently (2018) provides three streams of programming called “IPTV,” “IPTV Learns” and “IPTV Creates / World.”

Category:Television Category:Iowa