TELEVISION

Photo courtesy: Jim Lang

TELEVISION. Continuously evolving source of at home entertainment. Dubuque's hilly terrain made it a prime candidate for cable television in the early years of the industry. In 1991 cable television had gained 93 percent of the households with television as subscribers. This compared with a national average of 59 percent.

The top news story of 1954 was the bringing of "piped-in" television to Dubuque. Jerrold, Philadelphia-based company, applied on May 24 for a franchise to provide cable television to the city. Four days later two Dubuque television dealers also filed. An impartial study of the two companies was made by Town and Hughes, two Iowa State College engineers. The city council rejected the engineers' recommendation of Jerrold and called a franchise election for Dubuque Community, the local firm, on September 13th. The Jerrold group countered with a petition and won a right for a franchise election on October 11th. A fight was waged in newspaper advertisements and over the radio with a debate held in the Eagles Hall. Dubuque voters went more than four to one against Dubuque Community in the first election. In the second election, the vote was 4,560 to 1,057 approving the franchise for Jerrold. (1)

Dubuque-Jerrold, a subsidiary of a Philadelphia company, was granted the first franchise in the largest turnout of voters in any recent city election at the time. This company had been in competition with a local corporation-the Dubuque Community TV cable company--which had been endorsed by the city council. The first subscriber was hooked up to the system of five television stations in May 1955. Miles of coaxial cable were strung on existing power poles to connect the main office at 1043 Main which housed the electronics equipment needed to convert and distribute the TV signal to a 421-foot tower in St. Catherine, Iowa. (2) The city was divided into six areas for service. It was expected that Area One from Dodge Street to 18th street and between Bluff and the river would take five weeks for completion. (3)

In 1966 the system was rebuilt to include twelve channels. In 1976 Dubuque was one of the first cities in the country to offer Home Box Office access. The same year the cable company constructed the first satellite receiving station in Iowa. Showtime replaced HBO in 1979. When the system was rebuilt in 1981 to accommodate thirty-five channels it was considered state-of-the-art television technology. In 1988, fifty-one channels were available.

In 1969, WNIC-TV went on the air in the Dubuque as the city's only private television station. It was named after its owner and producer, 13-year old Nicholas SCHRUP III. Schrup earned the money for the equipment by selling coffee grinders door to door. He operated the station out of the basement of his home at 330 Wartburg Place.

The early history of cable television in Dubuque was marked by buyouts and mergers that resulted in new owners for the Dubuque franchise. These changes in ownership were given relatively little attention in comparison with procedures in place in 1991. Regional or local companies that furnished cable service to Dubuque have included H&B Communications and Dubuque TV-FM Cable. Teleprompter, the first national multiple system owner, took over the Dubuque franchise in 1972. Westinghouse bought Teleprompter and renamed it Group W in 1981.

In 1986, when Westinghouse decided to sell off its cable division, Group W was the third largest cable television operation in the nation. Too large for anyone company to purchase the entire operation, Group W was purchased by a group of five companies which then divided the company into separate territories. Tele-Communications, Inc., better known as TCI Cable Company, announced its plans to acquire the rights in 1986 and completed the process in June 1987.

Group W provided a basic thirty channels, five premium pay services, and COMMUNITY ACCESS PROGRAMMING with studios and equipment considered to be some of nation's finest. By September 1988,fifty-one channels were available to Dubuque viewers with a planned sixty-four channels to be available by September 1991.

In 1984,Congress passed the Cable Communication Act which pre-empted rate regulation and major provisions of local franchises across the United States. Since that date, Dubuque gained a national reputation for its fight to maintain local rate regulatory power.

By 1991 the cable television industry in Dubuque was monitored by two commissions. The Cable Television Regulatory Commission, comprised of five citizen members, had the responsibility of franchise enforcement and settling disputes. The Cable Community Teleprogramming Commission, made up of nine members, had the responsibility to oversee the general policy and performance of the educational and public access channels.

Dubuque's only television station, KDUB, was founded by the Dubuque Communication Corporation in 1970. KDUB was originally based in an office building just south of Dubuque, near Key West, Iowa. The station eventually moved into offices on the ninth floor of the former ROSHEK'S DEPARTMENT STORE and later to 744 Main Street. The station went off the air from 1974 to 1976 because Dubuque Communication Corporation was unable to find a buyer for the financially troubled station.

In 1976 KDUB was sold to the Lloyd Hearing Aid Corporation of Rockford, Illinois, for $35,000. The station operation was moved to the ninth floor of the DUBUQUE BUILDING. In 1979 the station was purchased for $1.5 million by Birney Imes, Jr., who added it to a group of three other stations he owned. Imes sold KDUB in 1985 to Thomas Bond and six Alabama-based limited partners using the corporate name of Dubuque TV Ltd. for $3.25 million. Bond, formerly a television news anchorman, had been employed as the manager of an Imes television station in Columbus, Mississippi.

In May 1986, Group W Cable announced that it would continue network non-duplication protection for KDUB. By blocking the signal whenever identical network programming was being shown from KCRG, a rival ABC affiliate broadcasting from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Group W protected advertising revenue of the local station. This protection had been mandated until January of 1986 by an order from the Federal Communications Commission.

In May 1988, TCI Cablevision of Dubuque announced that it would end the non-duplication protection on April 1st, but that it would also move KCRG to Channel 26. This left KDUB as the only ABC affiliate on the low-numbered cable channels. KDUB had previously lost the non-duplication protection from October 1980, through November 1981. At that time the station announced that it had suffered a loss of $100,000 in advertising revenue.

In December 1987 the sale was announced of KDUB for $4 million to Sage Broadcasting Corporation. Plans were made to expand local news, special programming, and sports in addition to upgrading the station's technical facilities.

Sale of the Dubuque station, however, was stopped after KCRG filed two petitions with the Federal Communications Commission stating that Dubuque Television Partnership was unfit to hold the license. In January 1988, KCRG charged that KDUB with TCI Cablevision of Dubuque had conspired to limit KCRG's access to the Dubuque market by using the blackout of KCRG's signal. When the FCC approved the license transfer on January 19, 1989, KCRG filed an application for review.

On March 17, 1989, the FCC approved the sale of KDUB. The next day, despite the favorable ruling from the FCC, it was announced the Dubuque station would not be sold; stating the delays in the FCC ruling had caused Sage Broadcasting to withdraw its offer. On April 10, 1990, KDUB sued KCRG in a $4 million lawsuit alleging that KCRG management had intentionally delayed the sale of the station, leading to the offer being withdrawn. The suit further stated that KCRG had unsuccessfully attempted to purchase KDUB in August 1987, for $2.4 million.

744 Main Street in 2010

In 1995, the station entered into a management agreement with Second Generation of Iowa, owner of Cedar Rapids Fox affiliate KFXA (Channel 28). It was decided to discontinue the ABC affiliation and convert KDUB to a semi-satellite of KFXA, under the call letters KFXB; most programming was simulcast from KFXA, but KFXB would continue its news operation (at that time, KFXA had no newscast at all). Prior to this, the Fox network feed was retransmitted on the Dubuque cable system on Channel 13. After a few years, it was decided to close down the Dubuque news operation. This made KFXB a full satellite of KFXA. During this time the stations identified themselves as "KFXA-KFXB Fox 28/40."

In 2004, KFXB's owners, Dubuque TV Limited Partnership sold the station to the Christian Television Network, who switched the station to its primarily-religious programming. Fox programming would continue to be transmitted on KFXA - which would operate as the primary Fox affiliate for northeast Iowa. At this time KFXB lost its longstanding Channel 4 assignment on the Dubuque cable system to KFXA, with KFXB being moved to channel 14.

KFXB added cable coverage of the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City areas on Mediacom cable in 2005.

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Source:

1. "Television Cable Argument Rated Top Dubuque News Story of Year," Telegraph Herald, January 2, 1955 Dubuque News, p. 1

2. "TV Cable Stringing Expected to Start This Week; Areas Named," Telegraph Herald, January 16, 1955, Dubuque News, p. 1