KDSM-TV

KDSM-TV (channel 17) is a television station in Des Moines, Iowa, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. The station is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group and has studios on Fleur Drive in Des Moines; its transmitter is located in Alleman, Iowa.

Channel 17 began broadcasting as KCBR, Des Moines's first independent station, on March 7, 1983. It was locally owned by the Independence Broadcasting Company. It was purchased by Duchossois Communications in 1985. Under Duchossois, the station changed its call sign to KDSM-TV in 1986, affiliated with the then-new Fox network, and became the local broadcaster of syndicated Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball, which dramatically boosted its visibility and regional cable carriage. River City Broadcasting acquired KDSM-TV in 1990 and boosted its promotion of Fox programming. It soon surpassed ABC affiliate WOI-TV, long the market's distant third-rated station, in total revenue.

After River City merged with Sinclair in 1996, KDSM began broadcasting a local newscast in 2001. The newscast was presented from Sinclair-owned KGAN in Cedar Rapids using Des Moines–based news staff. In 2008, this was replaced with a local newscast produced by WHO-DT (channel 13); in 2026, KCCI (channel 8) began supplying the newscast.

History

Channel 17 was the second television channel to be activated in central Iowa, nearly 30 years before the present station. KGTV was the first station in Des Moines itself; it operated from November 1953 to April 1955, when it folded amid economic struggles inherent in early UHF broadcasting.[1] Two parties expressed interest in the channel in the two decades after the station folded. In 1966, Stoner Television Company of Des Moines filed to build and operate channel 17,[2] and in 1970, the permittees of unbuilt station KWIG sought to change their assignment from channel 63 to channel 17.[3]

KCBR: Early years

In April 1979, Koplar Broadcasting of St. Louis announced its intention to build a new independent station on channel 17 to serve Des Moines. Koplar proposed to model the station, which it called KRBK, after its successful KPLR-TV in St. Louis.[4] The next month, the Independence Broadcasting Company—owned by Raymond Gazzo, William Trout, and Carl Goldsberry of Des Moines—made an application of its own. Goldsberry was a Northwestern Bell yellow pages sales representative, while Trout and Gazzo were partners in a Des Moines law firm.[5] The looming fight of Koplar versus Independence was compared by Evan Roth of the Des Moines Tribune to a "David and Goliath" contest.[6] The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) designated their applications as well as bids from Greater Des Moines Vision Ltd. and Columbia Iowa TV Ltd. for comparative hearing on March 13, 1981.[7]

In April 1982, an FCC administrative law judge awarded channel 17 to Independence Broadcasting, not long after the four applicants reached a settlement agreement by which Independence reimbursed them for their expenses.[8] The company initially selected a downtown studio site on 3rd Street,[9] but by October it had instead found space in a building on Park Avenue.[10]

A mild and wet winter caused difficulties with construction of the station's tower at Alleman. Construction equipment bogged down in muddy terrain. KCBR had initially set a January 17, 1983, start date, but the tower construction company started work two months late; by early January, the tower had reached less than half its planned height.[11] Channel 17 broadcast for the first time on the afternoon of March 7, 1983;[12] its official sign-on was a week later, on March 14.[13] KCBR offered viewers a schedule of movies, syndicated and children's shows, and sports,[14] as well as two locally produced public affairs shows.[15]

Independence Broadcasting reached a $9 million deal in late October 1984 to sell KCBR to Citadel Communications, a company owned by East Coast investors led by former Corinthian Broadcasting president Philip Lombardo.[16] The transaction fell apart, leading Independence to sue Citadel for breach of contract in late December.[17]

KDSM: Duchossois and River City ownership

After the failure of the Citadel sale attempt, Independence agreed to sell KCBR for $8.3 million to Duchossois Communications of Lafayette, Indiana, in February 1985. Duchossois owned radio stations in Lafayette and in Duluth, Minnesota, but this was its first venture into television. Its parent company—Duchossois Enterprises, owned by Richard L. Duchossois—was associated with various industrial companies and the Arlington Park race track near Chicago.[18]

Duchossois moved the station out of its existing studios and to a former NCR building on Fleur Drive. This gave channel 17 in-house production facilities instead of relying on a truck as it had for its first two years.[19] On January 17, 1986, KCBR changed its call sign to KDSM-TV as part of an upgrade in the station's on-air image.[20] The station joined the new Fox network when it launched that October.[21]

Sinclair ownership

On April 11, 1996, River City announced that it would merge with the Sinclair Broadcast Group for $2.3 billion, creating a company with 29 television and 34 radio stations nationwide.[32] The transaction valued KDSM at between $35 million and $45 million, roughly triple its value compared to the purchase price River City paid in 1991. By 1996, the station was believed to have surpassed WOI-TV, the city's third-rated station and an ABC affiliate, in revenue by a significant margin. Its costs were kept low by the lack of a news department and new network affiliation agreements in the industry that made it harder for Big Three affiliates to bid on sports packages like Iowa basketball.[33] Big Ten Conference basketball, including the Hawkeyes, remained on the station through 2007, when the Big Ten Network cable channel launched.[34] KDSM began broadcasting a digital signal on April 19, 2002,[35]

callsign	KDSM-TV
atsc3	yes
branding	Fox 17
digital	16 (UHF)
virtual	17
affiliations	17.1: Fox for others, see
country	United States
founded	September 13, 1982
airdate	March 7, 1983
location	Des Moines, Iowa
callsign meaning	Des Moines (also the IATA airport code for Des Moines International Airport)
former callsigns	KCBR (1983–1986)
former channel numbers	Analog: 17 (UHF, 1983–2009)
owner	Sinclair Broadcast Group
licensee	KDSM Licensee, LLC
former affiliations	Independent (1983–1986) UPN (secondary, 1995–1998)
erp	1,000 kW
haat	612 m
facility id	56527
coordinates	41.83°N, -93.61517°W
licensing authority	FCC
website	https://kdsm17.com/

History

KCBR: Early years

KDSM: Duchossois and River City ownership

Sinclair ownership

Newscasts

Technical information

Subchannels

External links

References