Iowans for WOI-TV, Inc., was formed on 1 June 1992 by a group of citizens (primarily Iowans) in opposition to the Iowa Board of Regents’ September 1991 decision to sell the university-owned station to a commercial interest.



WOI-TV was the first television station owned and operated by a United States institution of higher education. From 1950 to 1954 WOI-TV was the only station to broadcast a regular schedule of television programs to central Iowa. At its inception, WOI-TV was granted an FCC license because of this unique status as an educationally owned television station. Through WOI-TV, Iowa State was one of the first educational institutions to broadcast college-level courses, and the station’s pioneering use of television for educational purposes helped to stimulate support for similar initiatives throughout the United States.



Founders of Iowans for WOI included Iowa State University Professor of Economics and Agriculture Neil E. Harl, who served as the group’s president; Ames attorney Donald R. Payer, secretary, and retired Iowa State University Professor of Journalism, John D. Shelley. The three comprised the group’s initial board of directors. Eventually, the board of directors was composed of thirty-seven members and included Iowa State University faculty and staff, as well as community members including bankers, farmers, attorneys, and journalists. An Iowa State University student group, Students for Iowans for WOI-TV, was formally registered with the university in Spring 1993; its stated mission was to raise student and community awareness concerning the sale of WOI-TV by the Iowa Board of Regents. Neil Harl served as the group’s faculty advisor.



On 24 June 1992 Iowans for WOI-TV, Inc. filed a law suit against the Iowa Board of Regents, challenging the Regents’ right to sell the station. The trial culminated on 22 October 1992 in an eighty-four page opinion in favor of the plaintiffs. The district court decision was subsequently appealed to the Iowa Supreme Court, which overruled the decision on 24 November 1993, and in March 1994 Iowa State University sold WOI-TV to Capital Cities Communications, Inc., the parent company of ABC Television.