KDSM-TV
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Des Moines, Iowa United States |
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| Branding | Fox 17 (general) Channel 13 News (newscasts) |
| Slogan |
One Hour News - One Hour Earlier: The Time is Right! |
| Channels |
Digital: 16 (UHF) Virtual: 17 (PSIP) |
| Subchannels | 17.1 Fox 17.2 Comet TV 17.3 Charge! 17.4 TBD |
| Affiliations | Fox (1986–present) |
| Owner |
Sinclair Broadcast Group (KDSM Licensee, LLC) |
| First air date | March 7, 1983 |
| Call letters' meaning | DeS Moines |
| Sister station(s) | KGAN, KFXA |
| Former callsigns | KCBR (1982–1986) |
| Former channel number(s) |
Analog: 17 (UHF, 1983–2009) |
| Former affiliations | Independent (1983–1986) |
| Transmitter power | 500 kW |
| Height | 612 m |
| Facility ID | 56527 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 41°49′48.5″N 93°36′54.6″W / 41.830139°N 93.615167°W |
| Licensing authority | FCC |
| Public license information: |
Profile CDBS |
| Website | kdsm17.com |
KDSM-TV is the Fox-affiliated television station for Central Iowa licensed to Des Moines. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 16 (or virtual channel 17.1 via PSIP) from a transmitter in Alleman. The station can also be seen on Mediacom channel 6 and in high definition on digital channel 817. Owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group, KDSM has studios on Fleur Drive (IA 5) in Des Moines.
Central Iowa's second television station, KGTV, signed-on in 1953 airing an analog signal on UHF channel 17. At the time, all four networks were shoehorned on WOI-TV. KGTV was plagued by financial problems from the start. The Des Moines market is fairly large geographically, and at the time UHF signals didn't travel very far across long distances. It did not help that very few television sets had UHF capability at the time. As a result, while KGTV should have logically taken the NBC affiliation, that network opted to keep its secondary affiliation with WOI-TV.
The death knell for the station sounded a few months after it went on the air, when Palmer Communications, owner of WHO-AM-FM, won a construction permit for WHO-TV (channel 13). As WHO had been an NBC radio affiliate for almost 30 years, it was a foregone conclusion that WHO-TV would take the NBC affiliation. Channel 17 went dark later in 1953. The KGTV calls now reside on the ABC affiliate in San Diego, California.
Analog UHF channel 17 remained silent until 3:27 P.M. on March 7, 1983 when Independent KCBR (known as "The Great Entertainer") signed-on for "testing" purposes. Normal operations began on March 14, 1983. It was Iowa's first independent station, as well as the first new commercial station in Central Iowa since KRNT-TV (now KCCI) signed-on 28 years earlier. The call letters were picked from the first names of the three original owners: Carl Goldsberry, Bill Trout, and Ray Gazzo. Goldsberry was a Northwestern Bell yellow pages sales representative, while Trout and Gazzo were partners in the Des Moines law firm of Coppola Trout Taha & Gazzo. Trout and Gazzo's law partner, Joe Coppola, bought a stake in the station when it needed a cash infusion.
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