Ottumwa Television Limited Partnership sold the station in the wake of the shutdown to Public Interest Broadcast Group Inc., an Orlando, Florida-based firm owned by Dean C. Engstrom and Les White, for $900. Public Interest put KOIA-TV back on the air on June 29, 1987. In addition to syndicated programs, movies, sports, and Independent Network News, the station initially offered a local news program covering the Ottumwa area, News Plus, and an interview program, Midday Magazine; studios were set up at the present site, a former McDonald's restaurant. White sold his interest to Engstrom later in the year.
