RVTV heading to Baxter

For the first time, WHO 13 TV’s RVTV is making a stop in Baxter on its tour leading up to the Iowa-Iowa State CyHawk game. On Sept. 5 the RV crew will roll into Baxter ready to celebrate not only the game but the community as well.

“Can’t wait to find out what awaits us in Baxter,” WHO 13 Sports Anchor John Sears said. “Word is they know how to throw a party.”

The lineup for 2024 starts Sept. 2 in Perry and continues each day to Mitchellville, Oskaloosa, Baxter and Newton before landing in Iowa City Sept. 7 for game day.

Going strong since 1995, RVTV was conceived when WHO 13 Sports Director Keith Murphy was at WOI. At the time, Iowa was dominating the series having won 15 games in a row.

“The game was in Ames, and we just tried to create some buzz and fun. I said, ‘This game is so big, I’m camping at the stadium.’ And I did (in a) Cousin Eddie-type RV we borrowed from one of our engineers,” Murphy said. “I slept in it all week right there inside the stadium fence. We called it RVTV.”

The next year he moved to WHO 13 and a few years later decided to start up RVTV again. The crew continued to stay either at the stadiums in Ames or Iowa City the week of the game, he said. But after a while it grew stale and they needed to change up the format.

“We decided to take the show on the road as a traveling tailgate celebrating the Iowa-Iowa State rivalry. That re-energized RVTV, and took it up a notch,” Murphy said.

The traveling event has made dozens of stops in different towns throughout the years with a few favorites having the team stop by more than once. Baxter is already getting the ball rolling with planning underway.

“It has become an event,” Sears said. “We’ve got a couple of months until it kicks off but we like to announce it now so those towns can start gearing up.”