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Iowa KDPS Des Moines for sale

Mark Roberts

Mark Roberts

According to a silent STA filing, the Des Moines school district is putting KDPS(FM) up for sale. KDPS, "Edge 88.1", states in its request that the broadcasting instructor in charge of the station is retiring. The district's chief information officer will be responsible for handling the sale of KDPS. The radio station is based at the Central Campus (high school) just west of downtown Des Moines. It's been on the air since April 1, 1952, always at the same location, which once was the Des Moines Technical School. That also was once the site of educational TV station KDPS-TV, channel 11, beginning in 1959. KDPS-TV became the flagship station for what's now Iowa PBS in April 1, 1969 when the state began building a public TV network.

In recent years, KDPS broadcasting activities seemed rather diminished, with automated programming taking up most of the broadcast day, but it was on the air 24/7 and has decent coverage of the more urbanized parts of the Des Moines metro.

I was last in Des Moines three weeks ago; I guess I should have taken a new aircheck or two, but didn't, due to time and other constraints (I have others).

If Iowa Public Radio isn't able to acquire the station, which would be a great addition to its Studio One service that's currently on a Des Moines translator, I have no doubt it will end up with a religious operator. Problem is, there are plenty of those in and near Des Moines already.
 
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Mark Roberts said:
If Iowa Public Radio isn't able to acquire the station, which would be a great addition to its Studio One service that's currently on a Des Moines translator, I have no doubt it will end up with a religious operator. Problem is, there are plenty of those in and near Des Moines already.
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Would KFMG or Ron Sorenson be in a position to buy it? It would be a huge upgrade for them.
 
It will certainly be an opportunity for someone. I can think of at least a few entities that could go for it.

IPR with Studio One as was mentioned.

Also Positive Impact Media KPUL (Pulse 101.7) could go for it to expand their Christian Rhythmic CHR signal and have more primary metro coverage.

And yes Sorenson could do it too although his foundation might have to pony up more money and maintain those bigger facilities on the tower. Whether they/he can do that or not I don't know.

It could use a new transmitter which might help it actually cover its predicted signal pattern area which is currently falls short of obviously due to age.
 
radiofan2023 said:
Would KFMG or Ron Sorenson be in a position to buy it? It would be a huge upgrade for them.
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radiorobert said:
And yes Sorenson could do it too although his foundation might have to pony up more money and maintain those bigger facilities on the tower. Whether they/he can do that or not I don't know.
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Sorenson is in his mid-to-late 70s, so he may not even want to take on such a project. But he's done far more challenging things before, so who knows?

I'm pretty sure that self-supporting tower on Grand was built for the TV station, which would mean it's more than 65 years old. Channel 11 decamped for the tall Alleman tower early in 1972. So it's hard to say what kind of maintenance has been done on the tower since then.

radiorobert said:
It could use a new transmitter which might help it actually cover its predicted signal pattern area which is currently falls short of obviously due to age.
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When I've airchecked the station, I've been downtown, so no problem there! I haven't tried it in West Des Moines, where I end up spending a good part of time (family).
 
Mark Roberts said:
According to a silent STA filing, the Des Moines school district is putting KDPS(FM) up for sale. KDPS, "Edge 88.1", states in its request that the broadcasting instructor in charge of the station is retiring. The district's chief information officer will be responsible for handling the sale of KDPS. The radio station is based at the Central Campus (high school) just west of downtown Des Moines. It's been on the air since April 1, 1952, always at the same location, which once was the Des Moines Technical School. That also was once the site of educational TV station KDPS-TV, channel 11, beginning in 1959. KDPS-TV became the flagship station for what's now Iowa PBS in April 1, 1969 when the state began building a public TV network.
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I need to make a correction: the original KDPS radio station location was a few blocks away from where it is now though still west of downtown; it moved to 18th & Grand at the same time as the TV station was built in 1958-59. That also appears to be when the present KDPS self-supporting tower was built.
 
Mark Roberts said:
When I've airchecked the station, I've been downtown, so no problem there! I haven't tried it in West Des Moines, where I end up spending a good part of time (family).
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When I have listened a few rare times in recent years it seems to get rough on a car radio around Ankeny, depending. Thats well within the 60 dbu and over area. It just depends. Again, its very likely an old antenna that's seen better days.

Also the audio is muffled and older. So some new equipment will certainly be in order.
 


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