Iowa State’s student-run television station has changed channels — again.

For the third time in four years, the station has moved because Mediacom, the local cable provider, changed its station lineup. Formerly ISU9, then ISU4 and most recently Cy46, the station switched to Channel 20 and updated its name to ISUtv in January.

Now that there’s been some time to adjust to the transition, managers of ISUtv have mixed feelings about the station’s move.

Aimee Schulz, assistant general manager of ISUtv, says she is somewhat frustrated by the channel’s numerous changes.

“The first times they changed it, it was because some other channel wanted our spot and this time they are just changing their lineup,” says Schulz, senior in performing arts.

“There’s not really much you can do about it,” says Ryan Westendorf, general manager of the station. “You just kind of have to take it as it comes and this time it tends to actually be a good thing for us.”

Westendorf, junior in journalism and mass communication, contends the move will benefit the station, since students will be more likely to view the new lower-numbered ISUtv while flipping through the channels.

Dan Mundt, the station’s adviser, also agrees the change will make the station more visible, but is still frustrated with the frequent channel changes.

“I just know that the management team is overwhelmed with the problems of changing channels every six months,” says Mundt, lecturer for the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication. “I would certainly hope that this will be the last time it happens for a long time.”

Some of the problems management has faced because of the station’s moves include changing the station’s logo and publicizing the station’s new channel.

Mundt says when he was a student at Iowa State in the mid-1980s, the student station was on channel 31.

“It was called R31 at that time because you had the cable box with the dial on it,” he says.

Over the years, the station has produced a variety of programs, ranging in style from news to comedy shows.

“We had a puppet show a few years ago, a space comedy show a few years ago, and there’s ‘Triple Threat Sports Show,’ ” Mundt says.

“Triple Threat,” which airs on Sundays at 9 p.m., is the longest-running show on ISUtv, says Kelly Brinkman, producer of the show.

She says the sports show has three different sections — a sports news section, an interview session with a student-athlete and a call-in portion.

A fourth section involving a moderator and two people debating sports will be added soon.

“It’s news, but it’s not serious like your mom and dad’s type of news,” says Brinkman, junior in journalism and mass communication.

Brinkman says her favorite student-athlete to interview on the show was Aaron Holker.

“Last year, after he won the national title in wrestling, we had him on and asked him what he liked to do on the weekend,” Brinkman says.

“He said he liked to go dancing and we asked him to give us a taste, so he got up and danced.”

Aaron Siskow, an ISU alumnus and former producer of ISUtv comedy show “Oxymorons,” says when the filming studios moved from Exhibit Hall to the Communications Building in spring 2000, the quality of the shows improved.

“The technology that came along with the studio has made productions a lot better and people who watched the station saw it getting better,” Siskow says.

In addition to “Triple Threat,” “1800 Seconds” and “Cy’s Eyes on the Skies” have been ISUtv mainstays, Westendorf says.

The station’s lineup this semester consists of five comedy shows, a weather show, an informative show, a sports show, a sitcom-drama and some syndicated shows.

Field production shows such as the sketch comedies “CogTV” and “The Worst Show” will produce between one and four new episodes each semester, Schulz says. “The live shows tend to have more of a regular basis than the field production shows do,” she adds.

ISUtv also carries syndicated shows from Zilo TV and the National Lampoon Network.

“They’re nationally syndicated shows that we subscribe to, just so we don’t have a message board running 24/7,” Schulz says.

Although the station has already had some new shows proposed by students this semester, the station is always open to new show proposals, Westendorf says.

Mundt also encourages students to become involved with the television station.

“You don’t have to be a journalism student — you don’t have to be anything,” Mundt says.

“You just have to have a pulse and some interest in television production and you can come do your thing.”