Time Machine: 3 months, 3 TV stations

Local TV programming came to the Cedar Rapids-Waterloo corridor in 1953, with three stations starting broadcasts within three months of each other.

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WMT/KGAN, Sept. 30

WMT-TV, which aired on Channel 2, was first. It went on the air at 11:35 a.m. Sept. 30, 1953, with Manager William B. Quarton giving a 5-minute talk.

“You’re going to have fun with us, laughing at our mistakes,” he said, referring to the station’s new staff. “We ask that you give us a little time.” He thanked viewers for their reports on how the station’s test pattern looked on their home black-and-white television sets.

Following some commercials and announcements, the CBS-affiliated station joined the NBC network by special arrangement for the first game in the 1953 World Series, a contest between the New York Yankees and Brooklyn Dodgers.

There was little live production then because the station’s studio was still being built at Broadcast Park on Old Marion Road NE.

The Gazette began publishing WMT-TV’s daily program schedule.

Guy Gannett bought WMT-TV in 1981 and renamed it KGAN. Sinclair bought the station in 1999.

KCRI/KCRG, Oct. 15

Officials of the American Broadcasting Company sent congratulations to its new affiliate, KCRI-TV, as it went on the air as Channel 9 on Oct. 15, 1953. In less than a year, the station, housed in the Miller Building at First Street and First Avenue SW, would become KCRG-TV.

Cedar Rapids lawyer Donald T. Hines spoke for the stockholders of the Cedar Rapids Television Co. during the dedicatory program.

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“Television is a very personal medium,” he said to viewers. “It has unbounded possibilities of influence in all phases of our living. We at KCRI-TV have pledged ourselves to utilize this great influence to become — in a real sense — a part of the civic, cultural and economic life of this community.”

The stockholders were Hines, Dr. David Beardsley, Myron Blank of Des Moines, Nicholas Craemer, William Culver, Sutherland Dows, Morris Ebin of Minneapolis, Charles Lynch, Harry O’Donnell, A.L. Smulekoff and Harrison Spangler.

The station’s first program featured Jane Harvey, a singer from New York and Hollywood, accompanied by the dance quartet, the Mel-O-Airs.

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Residents of Waterloo, Fairbank, Independence and Iowa City reported being able to view the broadcast.

A black-and-white test pattern aired every day for two hours before programming started at 5:45 p.m.

In July 1954, The Gazette Co. announced it would become the sole owner of the Cedar Rapids Television Co, subject to Federal Communications Commission approval. The KCRI call letters became KCRG to reflect the stations’ ownership. As required by the FCC, The Gazette Co. said it would operate the station separately from the newspaper.

In 1975, KCRG-TV moved into a new building on Second Avenue SE, built across the alley from The Gazette. By 1996, KCRG was the only locally owned TV station remaining in Iowa. It became employee-owned in 2012, and The Gazette parent company sold the station to Gray Television of Atlanta, Ga., in 2015.

At the time, Al Tompkins of the Poynter Institute said it was becoming increasingly difficult “for small owners to survive in TV because they don’t have the scale needed to bargain with networks, cable providers, national advertisers and vendors.”

KWWL, Nov. 27

In early September 1953, the FCC gave the Black Hawk Broadcasting Co. permission to operate KWWL-TV on Channel 7.

There had been a two-year battle between KWWL and Josh Higgins Broadcasting Co.’s KXEL for the license, but the latter withdrew from contention.

Ralph J. McElroy, president and general manager of Black Hawk Broadcasting, immediately went to New York to seek network affiliations — he came back with NBC — and to ship equipment to Waterloo as quickly as possible.

The first program aired on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 27, featuring officials, staff, celebrities and guests, from a building on Highway 20 East in Waterloo. Staffers included Charles Freburg, who came to Waterloo from Davenport’s WOC-TV, the first television station in Iowa.

The next two days were filled with test patterns, with regular telecasts beginning that Sunday, starting at 3 p.m.

The Galloway Agricultural Club building on Westfield Avenue was remodeled to house the KWWL radio and TV stations. In 1958, KWWL moved to a building on East Fifth Street that had housed the Overland car dealership in 1916.

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KWWL-TV was sold to AFLAC Insurance in 1980 and to Raycom Broadcasting in 1998. It was sold to Liberty Corp. in 2005 and Quincy Newspapers in 2006. Gray Television bought it in 2021, and then sold it to Allen Media Broadcasting a few months later.

Signal power

The Gazette surveyed the strength of the new stations’ signal in mid-December 1953.

WMT-TV was operating at 100,000 watts, the maximum at that time for Channels 2 through 6.

KCRI-TV had signed on at 33,000 watts and expected to go to its maximum 316,000 watts as soon as it could get the equipment.

KWWL-TV went from 30,000 watts in 1953 to 100,000 watts on Sept. 15, 1954. The station added color broadcasts that same month. It later went to 316,000 watts.

Where did The Gazette fit into all of this? On Sunday, May 23, 1954, the newspaper published its first television magazine. The publication, shepherded by entertainment editor Nadine Subotnik, included her new column, “Channel Comment,” as well as TV listings for the week and program notes, giving readers brief synopses of programs.

Public television

In February 1970, Eastern Iowa began receiving Iowa Public Television Channel 12, KIIN-TV, in Iowa City

“The station will be the area’s first educational station, beaming the same programs to Cedar Rapids and vicinity that are carried by KDIN-TV in Des Moines,” The Gazette reported.

Waterloo’s public station, KRIN-TV (Channel 32), began airing December 1974.

The nonprofit, now known as Iowa PBS, relies on taxpayer support, private donations and corporate sponsorships.

Comments: D.fannonlangton@gmail.com

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