Iowa Highway Ends (etc.)

If you were a child between 1954 and 1994 within range of WOI-TV Channel 5, you knew Betty Lou and “The House with the Magic Window.” Betty Lou Varnum died last week.

The Magic Window was shuttered the instant ownership of WOI changed from Iowa State University to Capital Communications on March 1, 1994. It was the last of its kind in Iowa, and one of the last nationwide, as the late ’80s and early ’90s swept away what was left of TV stations offering locally produced children’s programming. To riff on an Ames Tribune editorial of the time, once there were many species of kids’ shows roaming the airwaves, and then they were all eaten by a giant purple dinosaur.

Months ago, Quincy Media, formerly Quincy Newspapers, announced it was selling to Gray TV for $925 million. However, it’s not until now that those effects are showing, and it affects TV stations serving Iowa. The tip-off was an ad during Friday’s “Jeopardy!” that said the Heroes & Icons network is coming to KWWL 7.2.

Gray’s acquisition of WGEM in Quincy has resulted in the breakup of perhaps (??) the last newspaper-radio-TV cluster in the country. The Quincy Herald-Whig and Hannibal Courier-Post were sold to an Arkansas owner earlier this year. Gray is also getting KTIV in Sioux City and KTTC in Rochester.

However, because Gray entered the eastern Iowa market six years ago with its purchase of KCRG, it could not also own KWWL. KWWL and WXOW in La Crosse, which includes Allamakee and Winneshiek counties in its area, are going to Allen Media instead. The Department of Justice resolution of divestment was just filed last week (PDF). The first item in a list of “Excluded Assets” is KWWL’s CW affiliation. The CW moved to KWWL 7.2 in 2016.

But where is the CW going, and what happens to the H&I subchannel already running on KCRG 9.4? It took until the actual moves on Monday to find out. The CW has moved to KCRG 9.3 — although it did NOT move from Mediacom Channel 107. (Keeping subchannels grouped and in order in cable lineups is not a priority.) According to the story from KCRG, moving CW to 9.3 and making it HD “uses our entire bandwidth,” which means axing the previous 9.3 (Antenna TV), 9.4 (the old H&I), 9.5 (Start TV), and 9.6 (Circle, a country-music-oriented network).

I presume the affiliates will have their graphics and web packages switched in the future, meaning WGEM/KTTC/KTIV will look more like KCRG and WOWT, while KWWL will look like Allen-owned KIMT.

These aren’t the only recent changes in ownership for Iowa TV stations. Nexstar bought Tribune Broadcasting in 2019, which caused a conflict in both Des Moines and the Quad Cities. Nexstar held on to WHO, its new station in Des Moines, and WHBF, its old (2013) station in the Quad Cities. It sold WOI and WQAD to Tegna, a company made up of the stations formerly belonging to Gannett. Tegna then got into a retransmission dispute with DirecTV, and then got into a retransmission dispute with Mediacom that is now going into its eighth month and may result in Mediacom users in two Iowa markets missing out on the Iowa-Iowa State game unless they can switch to good old-fashioned rabbit ears.

In my search for media coverage of the two Nebraska college students visiting every town in Iowa, I discovered someone else who has matched me in travel.

The Fort Dodge Messenger just last week reported that Dave Miglin of Des Moines wrapped up a five-year itinerary of visiting every town. He finished July 16 at West Bend and the Grotto of the Redemption. The story says he traveled occasionally with his wife or “a group of travel companions.”

If there’s anyone else, let me know.

July 16, 2020: New Vienna is one of 22 incorporated communities in Dubuque County.

It took me 14 years to visit every town in Iowa, the last two after I made it a specific goal. Two college students are attempting to do it in a matter of months.

Seth Varner and Austin Schneider, who visited every town in Nebraska last year, are in a madcap marathon to reach all 939 incorporated places in Iowa. They have been covered very well in the news (stories: Daily Iowan, KCRG, KCCI, WOI, KMTV, KOEL). They are traveling at an absolutely astounding pace — 20 towns in a day, including actual travel time and waiting for the occasional tenderloin. That basically requires starting at sunrise, which, lolno.

I haven’t been keeping too close tabs because their entire thing is on Facebook, and I do not do Facebook. That apparently means I can’t do direct links to their posts because my browser sends me to a login? I don’t know.

Anyway, they announced that they’re going to be doing 141 towns in northeast Iowa this week. Keep in mind that they’re doing this including the two hours and change each way between Omaha and Altoona. It was going to be 150, but they lopped off nine towns that were going to be at the end — including Traer. They did the southeast half of Tama County, including Clutier and Dysart, in June as part of their massive eastern Iowa swing.

Assuming this week’s trip goes as planned, they will be down to about 159 communities left to reach in the next two months — because they have a book planned for November! Like I said, it’s an absolutely absurd pace.

Carson and Connie Ode, a retired couple, visited every county in Iowa and created a lavish photo book about it. There’s a couple who are retiring this year after 30 years of marking RAGBRAI routes. But I don’t think either pair visited every town. In that case, to the best of my knowledge, Varner and Schneider would be the third and fourth people to set foot in every incorporated community in Iowa, behind yours truly, who did it while also traveling every highway and not using a GoFundMe.

AND THEY GET SWAG. I clearly did not recognize the profit opportunities available in such an endeavor. While, for now, I don’t have photos in all 939 towns, I can at least say that the welcome-sign pictures I have taken are straighter.

If Traer ends up being their last town, well, that would be pretty funny. But with the Winding Stairs, it will also be fun for the two guys from Nebraska.