
Iowa is, of course, the first state to weigh in on the presidential candidates, and it's a role its residents hold in high regard. As the leading Democratic hopefuls, including Joseph Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders, traipsed around the state ahead of the Feb. 3 party caucuses, the stations in the Iowa capital were there to cover them. And when caucus confusion enveloped the market the next day, the Des Moines stations were all over it.
KCCI and other Des Moines stations go big for the Iowa Caucuses. Here, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) speaks with KCCI's Stacey Horst (l.) and Steve Karlin.
KCCI has the specials series Commitment 2020: The Undecideds. The station has done six specials under this title, each one featuring one of the Democratic candidates facing questions from the people of Iowa. We want to get at the issues that matter to real Iowans, said Brian Sather, KCCI president and general manager.
Dave Price is WHO's political director, and hosts Sunday morning program The Insiders. We've put a tremendous amount of resources behind political, said Bobby Totsch, WHO VP and general manager.
Hearst TV owns KCCI, a CBS affiliate. That station is in a tight ratings race with Nexstar Media Group's NBC-aligned WHO. We win households and total viewers, and it's clearly a competitive market in demos, Sather said. It's a two-horse race and you have to bring your A game every day.
More Local News: WHO to Launch Hello Iowa in September
Other horses in Des Moines-Ames are Tegna's ABC affiliate WOI and Sinclair Broadcast Group's Fox outlet KDSM. Tegna also owns CW affiliate KCWI. MyNetwork-TV runs along with H&I (Heroes & Icons) on a KCCI subchannel. Mediacom is the primary subscription TV operator in DMA No. 68.
Nexstar picked up WHO in its Tribune Media acquisition. Totsch took over as VP/general manager in Des Moines in late September. He said Nexstar is investing, including a state-of-the-art set that blows away the antiquated one, in Totsch's words, that WHO used to have.
WHO moved its weekday news up a half hour to 4:30 a.m. in November, and will debut a lifestyle show in September. We have the most local programming by far of any station in the market, said Totsch, whose previous posts included general manager at WPMI Mobile and at KCTV Kansas City.
Steve Rohrer is the VP/general manager of KDSM. WHO produces the 9 p.m. nightly news for the Fox affiliate. KDSM's diginets include Sinclair-owned Stadium, Charge! and TBD. As Sather suggested, the ratings race is between two horses. For 2019 through November, KCCI won the household race at 6 a.m. and KCCI and WHO split the 25-54 contest. At 5 and 6 p.m., KCCI won households and 25-54. At 10 p.m., KCCI did a 10.6 in households, ahead of WHO's 7.1. WHO got a 4.0 in viewers 25-54, ahead of KCCI's 3.2.
KCCI won prime households easily in 2019, while the 25-54 race was much closer.
Totsch called Des Moines a bit of an old-school type Midwestern market, where people still watch lots of local TV and listen to local radio. (Nexstar sold news radio station WHO.) He described the city as clean and family friendly. A secret gem, I think, Totsch added.
The market quieted down once the caucus results, delayed by a software issue, were finally revealed. But in a growth market, things keep humming. People in Des Moines quip that the official bird of the city is the crane. There are a lot of them, Sather said. There's a lot of growth.
North America Stories
15/07/2025
L3Harris put its CORVUS-RAVEN counter-small UAS capability into the hands of soldiers at VANAHEIM, showcasing its ability to provide passive signal detect, enha...
15/07/2025
Netflix Viewing Up 13.5% vs. May, Represents 42% of Monthly Gain for Streaming
...
15/07/2025
SAN FRANCISCO and BENGALARU, India Sangeeta Chakraborty has been named chief revenue officer at Amagi, a cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) technology pro...
15/07/2025
As part of its mandate, the Advanced Television Systems Committee the U.S. organization tasked with developing advanced broadcast TV standards promotes ATSC 3.0...
15/07/2025
QuickLink, the leading global provider of multi-camera video productions and remote contributions, announces the launch of two innovative control panels Studi...
15/07/2025
Chris Kontopanos has joined leading high-quality microphone solutions manufacturer, DPA Microphones, as the company's new Regional Sales Manager for the Mid...
15/07/2025
Magnifi by VideoVerse, a global leader in AI-powered video automation, has launched a major platform upgrade built to simplify live and archival video editing f...
15/07/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will preview its latest innovations at IBC2025, Stand 7.B21. This year's showcase highlights how...
15/07/2025
IBC2025 is set to transform the onsite experience for its global attendees with the launch of a pioneering new feature: full integration of Amsterdam's GVB ...
15/07/2025
Music, sport and technology collided in spectacular fashion as ASB GlassFloor powered the debut of Beats N Buckets, Germany's first Basketball meets Hip-Ho...
15/07/2025
The Collectv, the Emmy award-winning broadcast solutions and workflows consultancy - and winner of Broadcast Tech's Team of the Year is delighted to announc...
15/07/2025
SipRadius, the expert in secure, low latency media transport, will showcase how broadcasters and media companies can take control of fragmented IP workflows at ...
15/07/2025
Appear, the global leader in live production technology, today announced its strategic partnership with beIN ASIA PACIFIC, a leading multi-platform sports media...
15/07/2025
Company marks 15 years of innovation at the show
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and monetization at scale, will return to IBC (Hall 1, Stand F83. RAI, Amster...
15/07/2025
New software solutions extend trusted timing measurement across broadcast, venue, and professional AV applications
Hitomi Broadcast, the market leader in audi...
15/07/2025
SHENZHEN, China Telycam has added control options for its portfolio of pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) cameras with a new plug-in for Elgato's Stream Deck family of con...
15/07/2025
MELVILLE, N.Y. Chyron said its Chyron LIVE cloud-native live production solution has successfully completed the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Foundational Technical...
15/07/2025
PHILADELPHIA The Xumo streaming platform joint venture between Comcast and Charter has announced the nationwide launch of a new line of Xumo TVs from Westinghou...
15/07/2025
LONGMONT, Colo. DPA Microphones said Chris Kontopanos has joined the microphone solutions provider as its new regional sales manager, Mid-Atlantic....
15/07/2025
News Corp Authorizes New $1 Billion Stock Repurchase Program and Intends to Acce...
15/07/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Announces the Start of Production of Los secretos de l...
15/07/2025
Submissions for NVIDIA's Plug and Play: Project G-Assist Plug-In Hackathon a...
14/07/2025
The Royal Moroccan Air Force hosted a C-130 award ceremony with L3Harris Technologies President of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Jason Lambert a...
14/07/2025
UK launch set for September, following on from recent US and Germany releases
London - UK, July 14, 2025 - Nielsen, a global leader in audience measurement, da...
14/07/2025
SHENZHEN, China Telycam has added control options for its portfolio of pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) cameras with a new plug-in for Elgato's Stream Deck family of con...
14/07/2025
The awards are open to IBC2025 show exhibitors and offer a valuable platform for companies to raise awareness for the new products and solutions they will be la...
14/07/2025
Clear-Com is excited to announce a significant expansion of the award-winning Arcadia Central Station with new software updates. Together, these releases dram...
14/07/2025
Grass Valley and Daktronics today announced a strategic technology partnership that unites Grass Valley's live production expertise with Daktronics' lea...
14/07/2025
Cloud playout solutions provider, Veset, and swXtch.io, provider of cloud-based multicast and reliable networking solutions, are partnering to deliver multicast...
14/07/2025
Tintri , a DDN subsidiary and leader in AI-powered data management solutions, today announces a game-changing and award-winning refresh to its global Partner P...
14/07/2025
HighField AI, the broadcast industry's first agentic and multimodal AI platform for automating graphics production, is now commercially available. Developed...
14/07/2025
Encompass Digital Media has today announced that it has been delivering a complex global services project for DAZN, the world s leading sports entertainment pla...
14/07/2025
MASV (massive.io), the fastest, most reliable large file transfer platform trusted by over 10,000 global organizations, announced today it will showcase its nex...
14/07/2025
Calrec is introducing a series of usability, customisation and system enhancements across the entire range of Argo consoles at IBC 2025, on Stand 8.C47. Look ou...
14/07/2025
Fincons Group, IT business consultancy and systems integrator company with more than 40 years of experience in the market, is proud to announce a new engagement...
14/07/2025
Intinor returns to IBC to present the latest updates to its Direkt series. A key development on show is Intinor Direkt Management (IDM), a web-based interface f...
14/07/2025
Back to All News
Trailer Out Now! Netflix and YRF Entertainment's Mandala ...
14/07/2025
Back to All News
25 Former Athletes Seek Redemption in Final Draft,' Japan...
14/07/2025
This month, NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang promoted AI in both Washington, D.C. and Beijing - emphasizing the benefits that AI will bring to business and s...
14/07/2025
Sony's New Coach's Headset Was Designed in Collaboration With the NFL Featuring a custom dynamic boom mic, the headset will debut in the fall By Dan Da...
14/07/2025
Live From MLB All-Star 2025: MLB Network's Marc Caiafa and Tom Guidice on th...
14/07/2025
Back to All News
Netflix ISP Speed Index for June 2025
Product
14 July 2025
Global
Link copied to clipboard
One percent of Internet Service Providers (ISP...
14/07/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Begins Filming The Map of Longing With Al cia Falc , P...
14/07/2025
This July marks 100 days since I officially stepped into the role of CEO at Grass Valley, a milestone not of abrupt change, but of confident continuity.
Unlike...
13/07/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Expands B&B Universe' with Yu Jae Seok's B&B ...
13/07/2025
Live From MLB All-Star 2025: MLB Network Marks Five Straight Years of Onsite MLB...
12/07/2025
Ryan Coogler accepting the 2013 Vanguard Award. Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez.
Editor's Note: In honor of Fruitvale Station s 12th anniversary, we're d...
12/07/2025
Key Code Education, the professional training division of Key Code Media, proudly announces a major update to its Adobe Premiere Pro Engineering and Advanced Op...
12/07/2025
Key Code Education, a leader in instructor-led post production training for over...
12/07/2025
As the death toll continues to mount, with at least 120 killed and more than 170 people still missing on July 10 from devastating Texas floods, a number of broa...