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9TH AND PLEASANT IN DOWNTOWN DES MOINES. TODAY, IT'S AN EMPTY PARK. BUT 70 YEARS AGO, THIS WAS áTHE CORNER. K-R-N-T RADIO THEATER WAS THE LANDMARK UP THE STREET, AND RIGHT HERE, AT 10AM ON JULY 31ST THE DOORS WERE ALL PROPPED OPEN ON 1955'S HOTTEST DAY OF THE YEAR. A RED LIGHT CAME ON. CHANNEL 8 WAS ON THE AIR. < It was It was 109 degrees that day.> GUY KOENIGSBERGER PRODUCED THOSE FIRST IMAGES THAT BOBBY CANNON SHOT. <It was of a local minister who gave a benediction and blessing for the company.> BILL ROHDE WAS THERE TOO. <We would set our lunches on our camera pedestal because we wouldn't have time to even leave.> BECAUSE EVERYTHING WAS LIVE. AND SWEAT WAS DRIPPING. <Our floor crew would wave newspapers to keep the flies off the cottage cheese while Russ did the commercials.> RUSS VAN DYKE. WHO'D ALREADY EARNED IOWA'S TRUST ON THE RADIO. <When you want news, you want it fast, you want it complete, you want it reliable. These men bring you that brand of total news every day on KRNT Radio and KRNT Television.> RUSS AT TEN O'CLOCK. PAUL RHOADES AT SIX. <This is the sixth consecutive year that KRNT TV has come to the fair.> AND THE REST OF THE DAY, PERSONALITIES. <Come on and have fun at the fair.> LIKE MARY JANE CHINN INTERVIEWING CELEBRITIES. AND THE FUTURE MISTER STATE FAIR FINDING STARS. <My name is Bill Riley, KRNT-TV, of course, channel 8 in Des Moines.> CARTOON CLUB AND DISC JOCKEY DANCE KEPT IOWANS ENTERTAINED. WHILE A STAFF OF EIGHT KEPT THEM INFORMED ON ELECTION NIGHT. FIRST HANDWRITING TOTALS ON A BIG WALL - AND LATER USING FANCY DIALS FOR VOTE COUNTS. <We would put Polaroid pictures on the air if it was a late breaking accident because it took about an hour to get the film developed and on the air.> THE NEW CHANNEL WAS THE TALK OF THE TOWN. <You sat around and you experienced it as a community. As a family. Everybody talked about what was on last night. Everybody saw it at the same time.> ESPECIALLY IF IT WAS RUSS VAN DYKE. WHO AIRED 5-THOUSAND SHOWS CALLED 'WHAT DO YOU SAY?" <How are you? These are your two youngsters here. Johnny is how old? He's four and a half.> AND ANCHORED 6-THOUSAND NEWSCASTS. <That FBI probe of Congress may grow....> COLOR CAME TO TOWN IN 67. AND IN 1974-- <This is TV 8. ����vlog TV Des Moines.> KRNT BECAME ����vlog. <TV8 News.> AND ORANGE SHAG CARPETING SET THE STAGE FOR WHAT CAME NEXT. <Drums. Live and in color from the TV 8 News Center in Des Moines.> AN EIGHT SO HUGE, RICK FREDERICKSEN SAT BEHIND IT. <Good evening, Russ Van Dyke is off for a couple of nights.> ALMOST FIFTY YEARS-- <My journalism career started right here. I haven't been back here since 1982.> BEFORE THE NOW-RETIRED JOURNALIST RETURNED TO NINTH AND PLEASANT WITH ENGINEER STEVE HOUG-- <This was the studio back here and the newsroom was over here.> WHO BOTH WORKED HERE - <HyVee.> WHEN 9 CENT GRAPEFRUITS CAME WITH A JINGLE. <Where there's a helpful smile in every aisle.> AND AIRING EVERY A-E COMMERCIAL-- <One of the convenience foods from Anderson Erickson dairy.> AND EVERY NEWSCAST TOOK A TEAM EFFORT FROM THE STAFF WHO SAT BEHIND TYPEWRITERS, WEARING BIG COLLARS. THERE IN THE BACK ROW? <It was awesome.> ALMO HAWKINS WAS ONE OF THE FIRST FEMALES OF COLOR ON ANY LOCAL NEWS. <Well. It was very competitive. And everybody wanted to get the top story.> <The talent was not only on the set, but behind the scenes, too. So much.> <I'm really proud of what we did there.> WHEN RUSS VAN DYKE RETIRED IN 1982, THE NEWSROOM LEADER EXPLAINED WHY THE THIRD STATION ON THE AIR IN DES MOINES HAD BECOME NUMBER ONE. <Our people don't try to over-dramatize the news. They don't try to be actors. They try to get people information and that's what it's all about.> BY THE MID-80S-- <Now more than ever. TV8. It's ten o'clock.> THE JINGLES AND SLOGANS HAD CHANGED. A FEW TIMES. <We're TV8. We bring Iowa home to you. It's ten o'clock.> BUT THE FAMILIAR VOICES REMAINED. <This is TV8 News Live at Six. Good Evening...> PAUL RHOADES, KEVIN COONEY AND DAVE BUSIEK AT THE NEWS DESK- <This is the area just south of International Falls where they had five inches of rain.> CONNIE MCBURNEY WITH 80S WEATHER GRAPHICS. <A busy day and night in Major League Baseball...> AND PETE TAYLOR'S SPORTS. BY THE 90S-- <It's Six O'clock.> RATINGS DOMINANCE CONTINUED. <Good Evening and thanks for joining us tonight. I'm Kevin Cooney. And I'm Jeanette Trompeter.> WHILE JOHN MCLAUGHLIN PIONEERED RADAR TECHNOLOGY NO ONE ELSE IN THE COUNTRY HAD -- <Let's take a little big closer look at what's going on over the immediate central Iowa area.> AND HEIDI SOLIDAY BECAME THE COUNTRY'S FIRST FEMALE SPORTS DIRECTOR. NEWSCASTS EXPANDED TO FIVE O'CLOCK-- <Good Afternoon, thank you for joining us today. NewsChannel 8 was first to bring you live pictures.....> AND EVENTUALLY, AROUND THE CLOCK WITH A WEBSITE THAT TOOK ����vlog WORLDWIDE. TECHNOLOGY KEPT CHANGING. BUT THE STANDARD SET EARLY NEVER DID. BECAUSE LIFESTYLE SHOWS, CBS PRIMETIME HITS AND THE BIGGEST GAMES HAVE BEEN KEY. BUT THEY'RE NOT THE CORNERSTONE. <The news is the foundation. It's who we are. And it represents who we serve.> <This is a very, very special place. I'm very proud to have worked here.> <It's in your blood. The people are in your blood. They're family. And it is it's home.> <People have stuck around, and there are faces that you see year after year that you trust and you know, they're telling you the right story.