KYOU-TV

KYOU-TV (channel 15) is a television station licensed to Ottumwa, Iowa, United States, serving Ottumwa and Kirksville, Missouri, as an affiliate of Fox, NBC and The CW Plus. The station is owned by Gray Television and maintains studios on West 2nd Street in Downtown Ottumwa; its transmitter is located one mile (1.6 km) east of Richland, Iowa. A translator, K30MG-D, offers additional coverage in the Kirksville area.

"KYOU" redirects here. For the radio station in San Francisco formerly branded as KYOU radio, see KZDG.

KYOU-TV
A large blue K next to a smaller red "YOU" with a curved underline in black under it. The word "NEWS" is under the underline. Beneath all this are the Fox, NBC, and CW logos.
CityOttumwa, Iowa
Channels
Branding
  • KYOU Fox; KYOU News
  • KYOU NBC (DT2)
  • Ottumwa–Kirksville CW (DT4)
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
Owner
History
First air date
June 2, 1986 (1986-06-02)
Former call signs
KOIA-TV (1986–1992)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog: 15 (UHF, 1986–2009)
  • Digital: 14 (UHF, until 2009)
Call sign meaning
The word "you"
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID53820
ERP360 kW
HAAT360 m (1,181 ft)
Transmitter coordinates41°11′42″N 91°57′16″W
Translator(s)K30MG-D Kirksville
Links
Public license information
Websitewww.kyoutv.com

Channel 15 began airing in the summer of 1986 as KOIA-TV. It replaced a low-power station on channel 42 and was owned by the same group. When this company became financially insolvent, it immediately moved to discontinue broadcasting. KOIA-TV was then sold to Public Interest Broadcast Group and returned to the air in June 1987, affiliating with Fox in February 1988. The call letters were changed to KYOU-TV in 1992. Waitt Broadcasting acquired the station in 1999; when Waitt merged with Raycom Media in 2003, KYOU was spun off to a company that later became known as American Spirit Media. Raycom provided services to KYOU and the other American Spirit stations.

In 2015, KYOU began airing a nightly 9 p.m. local newscast. An NBC subchannel was introduced in 2018, including a 10 p.m. newscast. Raycom acquired KYOU outright, concurrent with its merger with Gray Television, in 2019.

History

Early history

A construction permit was granted to the Haynes Communications Company, owned by Carl Haynes, for a new commercial television station in Ottumwa in November 1984. Haynes managed radio stations in Mississippi but admitted to the Ottumwa Courier that his interest in other permits would put building the Ottumwa station, designated KOIA-TV, "'on the back burner'".[2] Before going on air, Haynes sold the permit for his expenses to Ottumwa Television Limited Partnership.[3] This firm was 51 percent owned by Impact Television of Vienna, Virginia, which owned low-power K42AM in Ottumwa.[4][5] K42AM was especially interested in channel 15 because, in converting to a full-power station on the KOIA-TV construction permit, it would have obtained must-carry status on the local cable system, which was not carrying channel 42.[6] The low-power station was off the air by January 1986, with KOIA-TV planned as its successor.[7][8]

The only ads they carried were for the Ottumwa Public Transportation System, which could explain something.

Television DXer Jeff Kadet on the first attempt to start KOIA-TV[9]

KOIA-TV began broadcasting on June 2, 1986.[10] Even though this market only had one television station—KTVO in Kirksville—KOIA-TV was an independent station.[lower-alpha 1] However, the original ownership—a partnership consisting of various minority local investors and Impact Television—was badly undercapitalized. Impact owned KOIA and low-power stations in Jackson, Tennessee; Jonesboro, Arkansas; and Oglesby, Illinois. When Impact cut financial support and stated that it had run out of money, local management immediately moved to cease broadcasting, with KOIA-TV going off the air on August 19; that day, the general manager had turned the transmitter on at 11 a.m. only to be called at 11:05 a.m. and told to take it off the air pending a sale.[4][12]

Ottumwa Television Limited Partnership sold the station in the wake of the shutdown to Public Interest Broadcast Group Inc., an Orlando, Florida-based firm owned by Dean C. Engstrom and Les White, for $900.[13] Public Interest put KOIA-TV back on the air on June 29, 1987, though it had been testing for two weeks prior to the relaunch.[14] In addition to syndicated programs, movies, sports, and Independent Network News, the station initially offered a local news program covering the Ottumwa area, News Plus, and an interview program, Midday Magazine; studios were set up at the present site, a former McDonald's restaurant.[15] White sold his interest to Engstrom later in the year.[16] In February 1988, KOIA-TV began airing programming from the Fox network.[17]

On April 30, 1992, the station's call letters were changed to KYOU-TV.[18] In 1997, KYOU served as a secondary affiliate of UPN.[19] In January 1999, Public Interest Broadcast Group announced it would sell KYOU to Omaha-based Waitt Broadcasting for $3 million.[20]

For most of KOIA-TV/KYOU-TV's history since returning to the air in 1987, the station had been the local broadcaster of Iowa Hawkeyes sports events, even well into its Fox affiliation. Despite a new Fox affiliation agreement, KYOU-TV continued to preempt some Fox programming to show games. However, in January 2001, Fox ordered the station to stop carrying sports telecasts that conflicted with network prime time and sports programming, threatening disaffiliation if it did not comply. This led to angry callers frustrated that some Iowa football and basketball games were not shown, while the station also had to pay a fine to the ESPN Plus syndication service because it could not show games it had agreed to air.[21] KYOU then reached an agreement with Fox that allowed it 15 prime time preemptions.[22]

LMA with Raycom Media
On a navy blue box with sublimated searchlights, the Fox network logo in white below an italicized white 15 in a sans serif.
Logo for Fox subchannel, used until 2019.

In August 2003, Raycom Media acquired three of Waitt Broadcasting's Fox affiliates in southeastern states for $25.7 million.[23] On September 6, Waitt announced it would spin off the station to Charlotte, North Carolina-based Ottumwa Media Holdings (co-founded by Thomas B. Henson and Macon Moye), for $4 million. Ottumwa Media Holdings then entered into a local marketing agreement (LMA) with Raycom, owner of KTVO, to provide KYOU-TV with commercial scheduling, promotions, master control, and production services (including a planned local newscast), though programming and sales remained separate.[24] Even though Raycom then sold KTVO and other stations to Barrington Broadcasting in 2006,[25][26][27] Raycom continued to act as the service provider to KYOU.[28]

KYOU-TV discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over UHF channel 15, on June 12, 2009, when full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 14 to channel 15.[29]

In 2018, KYOU-TV added two major networks as subchannels. On January 24, its 15.2 subchannel began carrying NBC via a long-term agreement between the network and American Spirit Media.[30][31] Prior to 15.2's launch, WHO-TV in Des Moines served as the default NBC station for many years in Ottumwa, while Kansas City's KSHB-TV (formerly WDAF-TV until 1994) served as the default NBC station for Kirksville. This followed a failed effort by New Moon Communications to convert KUMK-LP—a former TBN translator—to an NBC affiliate in 2011;[32] KUMK-LP's license was canceled in March 2014.[33] On September 1, the 15.4 subchannel launched The CW Plus, giving the network its first over-the-air outlet in the market.[34]

Sale to Gray Television

On June 25, 2018, Atlanta-based Gray Television announced an agreement with Raycom to merge their respective broadcasting assets in a $3.6 billion cash-and-stock transaction.[35][36] As part of the merger, Gray also acquired KYOU and WUPV in Richmond, Virginia, which Raycom exercised its options to purchase outright from American Spirit Media.[37] The sale to Gray was approved by the Federal Communications Commission on December 20 and completed on January 2, 2019.[38][39]

News operation

In 2015, KYOU-TV launched an in-house 9 p.m. newscast. The newscast was produced in partnership with William Penn University in Oskaloosa; university students were involved in the production of the program, while the news set was in the technology center on campus.[40][41] After affiliating with NBC and at the insistence of the network, KYOU's NBC subchannel debuted a 10 p.m. evening newscast on July 16, 2018.[42]

Subchannels

The station's signal is multiplexed:

Subchannels of KYOU-TV[43]
Channel Res. Aspect Short name Programming
15.1 720p16:9KYOU-DTMain KYOU-TV programming / Fox
15.2 NBCNBC 15.2
15.3 480iCircleCircle
15.4 CWOttumwa/Kirksville CW 15.4
15.5 GritGrit
15.6 T-CrimeTrue Crime Network

Notes
  1. A translator system provided rebroadcasts of the CBS and NBC affiliates in Des Moines—KCCI and WHO-TV.[11]

References
  1. "Facility Technical Data for KYOU-TV". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. Berg, Bob (February 22, 1985). "Mississippi manager plans TV station here". Ottumwa Courier. p. 1. Archived from the original on August 18, 2023. Retrieved June 17, 2023 – via NewspaperArchive.
  3. "For the Record". Broadcasting & Cable. Cahners Business Information. April 29, 1985. p. 101. ProQuest 963249061.
  4. Rhein, Dave (August 21, 1986). "Financial woes close KOIA-TV in Ottumwa". The Des Moines Register. Des Moines, Iowa. p. 3A. Archived from the original on December 27, 2022. Retrieved December 27, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. Brown, Kevin (March 8, 1985). "TV-42 pushes power". Ottumwa Courier. p. 3. Archived from the original on August 18, 2023. Retrieved June 17, 2023 – via NewspaperArchive.
  6. Bachtell, Sara (March 30, 1985). "New station big task for manager". Ottumwa Courier. p. Progress 33. Archived from the original on August 18, 2023. Retrieved June 17, 2023 – via NewspaperArchive.
  7. Rhein, Dave (January 19, 1986). "'Planet Earth' a dazzling documentary". The Des Moines Register. p. 3-TV. Archived from the original on December 27, 2022. Retrieved December 27, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. Berg, Bob (January 28, 1986). "New television station plans February start". Ottumwa Courier. p. 3. Archived from the original on August 18, 2023. Retrieved June 17, 2023 – via NewspaperArchive.
  9. Kadet, Jeff (January 1987). "Western TV DX" (PDF). VHF-UHF Digest. Worldwide TV-FM DX association. p. 19. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 27, 2022. Retrieved December 27, 2022.
  10. "TV station on Monday". Ottumwa Courier. May 31, 1986. p. 7. Archived from the original on August 18, 2023. Retrieved June 17, 2023 – via NewspaperArchive.
  11. Burnham, Jeff (January 4, 1989). "KDSM to channel signal onto KOIA turf". Ottumwa Courier. p. 1. Archived from the original on August 18, 2023. Retrieved June 17, 2023 – via NewspaperArchive.
  12. Webber, Steve (August 20, 1986). "Channel 15 leaves the air". Ottumwa Courier. p. 3. Archived from the original on August 18, 2023. Retrieved June 17, 2023 – via NewspaperArchive.
  13. "For the Record". Broadcasting & Cable. Cahners Business Information. April 13, 1987. p. 91. ProQuest 1016917828.
  14. Krieger, Judy (June 29, 1987). "KOIA-TV begins broadcasting". Ottumwa Courier. p. 7. Archived from the original on August 18, 2023. Retrieved June 17, 2023 – via NewspaperArchive.
  15. Rhein, Dave (June 21, 1987). "Ottumwa station ready for debut". The Des Moines Register. Des Moines, Iowa. p. 3-TV. Archived from the original on December 27, 2022. Retrieved December 27, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. Rhein, Dave (November 23, 1987). "Fine Tuning: New Burlington UHF station set to debut". The Des Moines Register. p. 1T. Archived from the original on December 27, 2022. Retrieved December 27, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. Krieger, Judy (February 8, 1988). "KOIA-TV announces schedule changes". Ottuma Courier. p. 7 – via NewspaperArchive.
  18. "For the Record". Broadcasting & Cable. Cahners Business Information. May 11, 1992. p. 58. ProQuest 1014747970.
  19. "WB and UPN, Station By Station". Broadcasting & Cable. July 21, 1997. p. 6. ProQuest 1016966835.
  20. "Changing Hands". Broadcasting & Cable. Cahners Business Information. January 11, 1999. p. 98. ProQuest 1014771209 – via American Radio History.
  21. Bohnenkamp, John (February 14, 2001). "Iowa hard to find on TV". The Hawk Eye.
  22. Bohnenkamp, John (November 13, 2001). "Iowa basketball on TV: Ottumwa station will carry most Iowa basketball games". The Hawk Eye.
  23. Kerschbaumer, Ken (September 1, 2003). "Raycom Waits Out FCC Backlog". Broadcasting & Cable. p. 6. ProQuest 225238560.
  24. Ellis, Jon (September 6, 2003). "Ottumwa Media Holdings is buying..." NorthPine. Archived from the original on May 27, 2016. Retrieved June 30, 2018.
  25. Romano, Allison (November 1, 2005). "Raycom To Sell 12 Stations". Broadcasting & Cable. Reed Business Information. Archived from the original on July 1, 2018. Retrieved June 30, 2018.
  26. Romano, Allison (March 28, 2006). "Barrington Buys Dozen Raycom Stations". Broadcasting & Cable. Reed Business Information. Archived from the original on July 1, 2018. Retrieved June 30, 2018.
  27. "Raycom sells 12 TV stations". Birmingham Business Journal. American City Business Journals. August 11, 2006. Archived from the original on August 29, 2017. Retrieved June 30, 2018.
  28. Jacobson, Adam (July 13, 2018). "Looser Rules Allow Gray Grab By Raycom". Radio + Television Business Report. Archived from the original on January 26, 2022. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
  29. "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds" (PDF). Federal Communications Commission. May 23, 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 29, 2013. Retrieved August 29, 2021.
  30. "KYOU to Bring Local NBC Affiliate to Ottumwa-Kirksville Area". KYOU-TV (Press release). American Spirit Media/Raycom Media. January 8, 2018. Archived from the original on August 22, 2018. Retrieved January 14, 2018.
  31. "New NBC affiliate coming to area". Ottumwa Courier. January 8, 2018. Archived from the original on December 27, 2022. Retrieved December 27, 2022.
  32. Malone, Michael (June 28, 2011). "New Moon Brings NBC to Four Tiny Markets". Broadcast & Cable. NewBay Media. Archived from the original on September 16, 2017. Retrieved January 14, 2018.
  33. Ellis, Jon (March 26, 2014). "Low-power TV/translator licenses deleted". Northpine. Archived from the original on May 27, 2016. Retrieved January 14, 2018.
  34. Ellis, Jon (September 11, 2018). "KYOU-TV (Ottumwa) has added CW..." Northpine. Archived from the original on August 18, 2023. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
  35. Eggerton, John (June 25, 2018). "Gray Buying Raycom for $3.6B". Broadcasting & Cable. NewBay Media. Archived from the original on August 10, 2018. Retrieved June 28, 2018.
  36. Miller, Mark K. (June 25, 2018). "Gray To Buy Raycom For $3.6 Billion". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheckMedia. Retrieved June 25, 2018.
  37. "Form 10-Q". Gray Television. May 8, 2019. p. 13. Archived from the original on August 5, 2022. Retrieved August 18, 2023.
  38. "FCC OK with Gray/Raycom Merger". Broadcasting & Cable. December 20, 2018. Archived from the original on April 5, 2019. Retrieved December 20, 2018.
  39. "Gray Completes Acquisition of Raycom Media and Related Transactions" (PDF). Gray Television. January 2, 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 3, 2019. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
  40. "William Penn students team up with KYOU". Oskaloosa Herald. January 19, 2016.
  41. "WPU program partners with KYOU". Oskaloosa Herald. November 17, 2015.
  42. Newman, Mark (June 22, 2018). "Ottumwa NBC affiliate plans new nightly newscast". Ottumwa Courier. CNHI. Archived from the original on July 21, 2019. Retrieved July 21, 2019.
  43. "TV Query for KYOU". RabbitEars. Archived from the original on May 22, 2014. Retrieved May 22, 2014.
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