
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
10/04/2026
The Invisible OPEX Killer: Is Your Server Room Dragging You Down? In the broadcast world, we talk a lot about uptime. We talk about talent retention, latency...
10/04/2026
Imagine Communications will showcase its multiviewer portfolio at NAB Show 2026 (April 19-22, Booth N1328, Las Vegas Convention Center), including Prismon and t...
10/04/2026
Chyron has released PRIME VSAR 2.3, an update to its virtual set and augmented reality solution for broadcast. The release adds compatibility with Unreal Engine...
10/04/2026
Techex will exhibit at NAB Show 2026 (Booth W2267, April 19-23, Las Vegas Convention Center), demonstrating new tx darwin features including consumer multiview,...
10/04/2026
NDI will exhibit at NAB Show 2026, demonstrating its IP video ecosystem through live partner integrations, NDI 6.3 features, AI metadata workflows, and creator ...
10/04/2026
FOR-A has announced the acquisition of all shares of Tamu Radiance Corporation, a new company spun off from the Information Equipment Business of Tamura Corpora...
10/04/2026
InSync Technology will showcase new and updated video conversion products at NAB...
10/04/2026
TNT Sports and DAZN have announced a partnership to air monthly boxing events in the United States under the brand The Fight. The series will be promoted in p...
10/04/2026
Panasonic Projector and Display has announced the SQ3 Series of 4K LCD displays as part of its MEVIX professional display portfolio. All sizes will be available...
10/04/2026
Amagi has announced the addition of Agentic Media Operations to its Amagi NOW platform, integrating AI reasoning agents across its media supply chain workflows ...
10/04/2026
LTN has announced enhancements to its global IP video network targeting broadcasters transitioning from satellite distribution. The updates come ahead of US fed...
10/04/2026
Daktronics has installed new LED displays at Yankee Stadium, upgrading the main centerfield board, two flanking boards, and two ribbon displays spanning the 200...
10/04/2026
Harmonic has announced updates to its hybrid streaming solution, including Model Context Protocol (MCP) connectivity for AI applications, cloud-native deploymen...
10/04/2026
MultiDyne Video and Fiber Optic Systems will introduce two new fiber transport products at NAB Show 2026 (Booth C4425, April 19-22): the FiberSaver-10G waveleng...
10/04/2026
Telos Alliance and ip-studio will demonstrate STUDIO ZERO, a cloud-hosted virtual studio, at NAB Show 2026. First introduced at NAB Show 2023, STUDIO ZERO integ...
10/04/2026
d&b solutions, a London-based audio-visual, lighting, and media integration grou...
10/04/2026
ARRI and SmallHD have announced a new expansion license for ARRI's Hi-5 and Hi-5 SX hand units that displays lens data overlays on supported SmallHD monitor...
10/04/2026
Roku and the Banana Ball Championship League (BBCL) have announced an exclusive streaming partnership to bring five BBCL games to the Roku Sports Channel in 202...
10/04/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
10/04/2026
The Peabody Awards don't just recognize great storytelling, they spotlight t...
10/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
10/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
10/04/2026
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., April 10, 2026 Bitcentral, a leading provider of professional media solutions for broadcast and digital video, will showcase its latest...
10/04/2026
Ikegami to Introduce Expanded Range of Broadcast Production Solutions at NAB 202...
10/04/2026
AJA Debuts SMPTE ST 2110 and openGear Solutions Ahead of NAB 2026
Brie Clayton April 10, 2026
0 Comments
New gear and updates address evolving hybrid ...
10/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
10/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
10/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
10/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
10/04/2026
Frequency, the engine behind the worlds leading streaming television channels, today launched its AI platform for Frequency Studio, powering the entire channel ...
10/04/2026
J nger Audio Joins EBU ADM Integration Group as Founding Member to Help Advance...
09/04/2026
Zixi will demonstrate IP-based live video workflow solutions at NAB Show 2026 (Booth W2057).
The industry is moving quickly toward IP-based distribution as br...
09/04/2026
Global women's elite sports revenues are expected to reach at least $3 billi...
09/04/2026
Monitor engineer Gavin Tempany mixed Kylie Minogue s Tension Tour on a Solid Sta...
09/04/2026
KOKUSAI DENKI Electric America will exhibit at NAB Show 2026 (Booth C5507), debu...
09/04/2026
With the 2025-26 NBA regular season concluded and the playoffs beginning next we...
09/04/2026
Telestream and Mimir have announced an integration connecting Telestream's V...
09/04/2026
Bitmovin has expanded its Live Encoding and Observability solutions to provide r...
09/04/2026
The Nashville Predators and Scripps Sports have announced a multi-year media rights agreement covering local preseason, regular season, and first-round playoff ...
09/04/2026
Advanced Systems Group, LLC has announced a partnership with Beam Dynamics to offer the Beam Asset and License Intelligence Platform to its clients. The platfor...
09/04/2026
Lawo has unveiled Edge One, a combined video and audio stagebox for broadcast and Pro AV workflows. The device will be on display at NAB Show (Booth C2108, Apri...
09/04/2026
The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) will host the SMPTE ST 2110 IP Media Roadshow on Tuesday, April 21, 2026, at the Las Vegas Conven...
09/04/2026
The Atlanta Braves have completed upgrades to video displays in and around Truist Park ahead of the 2026 MLB season. The upgrades include the Delta Out-of-Town ...
09/04/2026
The University of Southern California has contracted Daktronics (NASDAQ: DAKT) of Brookings, South Dakota, to manufacture and install 22 LED displays across fou...
09/04/2026
Backlight, the media technology company behind Iconik and Wildmoka, will showcase its Creative Operations Platform at NAB Show 2026 (Booth N2829, April 19-22). ...
09/04/2026
MotoAmerica and V10 Entertainment have announced a partnership to broadcast MotoAmerica Superbike racing on VICE TV for the 2026 season. Coverage begins live on...
09/04/2026
Proton Camera Innovations has announced the appointment of Tod Musgrave as US Sa...
09/04/2026
Designed specifically for live sports broadcasting, new platform features IP-nat...
09/04/2026
Blending 1990s DNA, modern motion theory, and a distinctly colorful brand identi...
09/04/2026
Technical capability is essential, but long-term success often depends on how we...