Iowa Public Television

Variety, 16 August 1978

IPBN was one of the first stations to purchase the Tom Baker stories

First Iowa listing for Dr Who, channel 12, 7:00pm, 6 April 1974

• 6 April 1974: Begins airing, Saturdays at 7:00pm on the Iowa Educational Broadcasting Network. After 26 weeks, the series goes off the air for a year and a half.
• 10 June 1976: Jon Pertwee reutrns, now Thursdays at 6pm. After moving to 5pm, the series takes another long break.
• 29 July 1976: The stations are renamed Iowa Public Broadcasting Network.
• 2 November 1977: Doctor Who returns, now Wednesdays at 5pm.
• 2 January 1978: One run of Jon Pertwee is stripped at 10pm.
• 11 April 1978: Both runs end.
• 1978: IPBN was the last US market to purchase the initial package of 13 Jon Pertwee stories, which was circa July 1978. (BBC documentation records this sale as being to "KDIN".)

Tom Baker premiere, Oct. 2, 1978

• 2 October 1978: The Tom Baker stories commence at 10pm.
• 1980s: The network cycled Doctor Who regularly during the mid-to-late 1980s.
• 1982: The network is renamed Iowa Public Television.
• 5 October 1984: IPT airs Doctor Who in the unique Friday-Sunday slot.
• late 1985: Tom Baker returns with two episodes each Friday night.
• 10 June 1986: The timeslot changes to Sundays through Friday nights. Several stories are skipped.
• 10 October 1986: IPT switches to compilations, Friday nights at 11:00.
• 1 August 1987: The travelling Doctor Who USA Tour with Janet Fielding visits Iowa Public Television:

• 1987: From late 1987, it aired the repackaged 17 William Hartnell stories and the 24 repackaged Jon Pertwee stories.
• September 1994: The network discontinued its cycle of re-runs, with the last story to air being Survival in September. Fans were, however, able to get a reprieve by raising funds through a pledge drive.
• At the time, IPTV was one of the few markets in the US still screening non-stop re-runs of the omnibus editions, from An Unearthly Child onwards.
• By 1998, IPTV was one of only five markets in the US still screening the series...
• During its broadcast history, IPTV would show often one episode multiple nights a week, one episode per week, omnibus versions every Friday night, then back to one episode per week, etc.
• 11 March 2006: The Five Doctors airs.
• 2009: The Greatest Show in the Galaxy airs.

IEBN promotes Doctor Who, and a special with Jon Pertwee's ex-wife

Waterloo Courier, July 30, 1982

Iowa Public Television Catalogue

This is IPTV's online resource for Classic Doctor Who:

• DOCTOR WHO CLASSIC