 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "KGW" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(November 2007) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
.svg) | |
| |
|---|---|
| City | Portland, Oregon |
| Channels | |
| Branding | KGW 8;KGW News |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations |
|
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| History | |
First air date | December 15, 1956 (68 years ago) (1956-12-15) |
Former call signs | KGW-TV (1956–1994) |
Former channel number(s) |
|
| |
Call sign meaning | "Keep Growing Wiser"[2] |
| Technical information[3] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 34874 |
| ERP | 1,000 kW |
| HAAT | 539 m (1,768 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 45°31′20.5″N122°44′49.5″W / 45.522361°N 122.747083°W /45.522361; -122.747083 |
| Translator(s) | see§ Translators |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | www |
KGW (channel 8) is atelevision station inPortland, Oregon, United States, affiliated withNBC and owned byTegna Inc. The station's studios are located on Jefferson Street in southwestern Portland, and its transmitter is located in the city'sSylvan-Highlands section. KGW also served as the Portland bureau for co-owned regional news channelNorthwest Cable News before it shut down on January 6, 2017.
KGW-TV was originally co-owned with KGW radio (620 AM, nowKPOJ). (KPOJ was originally on 1330 AM, and was owned by the now defunct Portland Oregon Journal.)The Oregonian newspaper put KGW radio on the air by purchasing an existing transmitter from the Shipowners Radio Service. TheU.S. Department of Commerce licensed the radio station, and it began broadcasting on March 25, 1922[4] (after a test transmission two days earlier).[5] Among the station's early personalities was "The Man of 1000 Voices,"Mel Blanc, who debuted on the radio programThe Hoot Owls. The station's studios and transmitter were located inThe Oregonian Building[6][7] (of 1892) until 1943, when a fire destroyed them[8] and the station moved to other quarters.[7] In 1946, KGW added asister station, KGW-FM on 95.3MHz (now 100.3KKRZ). The following year,The Oregonian applied for and received aFederal Communications Commission (FCC)construction permit for a television station, but later returned it in order to focus on its core newspaper business.
The Oregonian sold KGW-AM-FM to North Pacific Television, a consortium ofSeattle businesswomanDorothy Bullitt and five Portland businessmen, on November 1, 1953. Bullitt'sKing Broadcasting Company, who also ownedKING-AM-FM-TV in Seattle, was the largest shareholder in the venture, with a 40 percent stake. Bullitt eventually bought out her partners (and in doing so, became the sole owner of the station). King Broadcasting wanted to add a television station to KGW-AM-FM. KGW-TVsigned on the air on December 15, 1956, on channel 8. Because KING-TV was anABC television network affiliate at that time, KGW-TV began as an ABC affiliate. KGW radio also switched its affiliation from NBC to ABC at that time. On April 26, 1959, it swapped affiliations withKPTV (channel 12), becoming anNBC affiliate. (KGW's sister station, KING-TV in Seattle, also switched from ABC to NBC withKOMO-TV at the same time.)
The KGW-TV tower was a prominent victim of the Northwest's historic, and violentColumbus Day Storm on October 12, 1962.[citation needed] The station returned to the air on October 16 using a temporary tower, as well as an antenna on loan from KTNT-TV (nowKSTW) ofTacoma, Washington. A new antenna and tower were placed into service on January 28, 1963.
.jpg)
In January 1964, KGW began building a new broadcast center at 1501 SW Jefferson Street,[9] which has served as its headquarters and main studios location ever since. The station moved into the new facility in 1965, from an old building located two blocks to the east that the state paid $865,000 for to make way forInterstate 405.[10][11] The radio facilities moved into the new studios in the spring[12] and the television facilities in July 1965.[13] Located at the west edge of downtown Portland, the two-story building had approximately 54,000 sq ft (5,000 m2) of space.[13]
In 1992, King Broadcasting (which also included KING-TV in Seattle,KREM-TV inSpokane, Washington,KTVB inBoise, Idaho, andKHNL inHonolulu, Hawaii) merged withThe Providence Journal Company. Five years later, in 1997, KGW became part of theBelo Corporation when it bought The Providence Journal Company.
On October 12, 2011, KGW announced that unless a new contract agreement for station carriage could be reached, it would drop its signal fromDirecTV's channel lineup.[14] This contract dispute that involved DirecTV and Belo would also remove sister station KING-TV from DirecTV in the Seattle market.[15] On November 1, DirecTV reached an agreement with Belo[14] to resume carrying KGW and KING on DirecTV.[15]
On June 13, 2013, theGannett Company announced that it would acquire Belo. However, since Gannett owns theStatesman Journal newspaper inSalem—within KGW's viewing area—KGW was instead sold to Sander Media,LLC (owned by former Belo executive Jack Sander). However, Gannett operated KGW throughjoint sales andshared services agreements in order to comply with the FCC'scross-ownership restrictions.[16][17] The sale was completed on December 23.[18]
On June 29, 2015, Gannett's publishing and digital media operations were spun off, with the latter renamedTegna.[19] Shortly afterward, Sander Media filed with the FCC to transfer KGW's license to Tegna'sKing Broadcasting Company;[20] the acquisition was completed on December 3, 2015.[21]
In addition to the NBC network schedule, KGW airs some local programs such as a daily 30-minutetalk show calledHello Rose City and local newsmagazineThe Good Stuff (formerlyLive at 7 andTonight With Cassidy). Since2024, KGW also airs a small number of non-nationalSeattle Kraken games; the remaining games air on the station's second subchannel.[22]
Original local programming in the 1970s included the nation's first broadcast nightly televisionnews magazine show,Evening, created by then-news directorEd Godfrey and show producerMichael Sullivan.[23] Originally hosted by Dick Klinger and Robin Chapman,Evening was broadcast Monday through Friday at 7 p.m.; the show premiered September 1, 1975, a year before Westinghouse Broadcasting's KPIX premiered itsEvening Magazine and six years before the similarEntertainment Tonight news program. Another innovative show on KGW was the Sunday night public affairs programOpen Line, also hosted by Klinger; viewers could phone in during the live broadcast and ask a question of that week's guest. Portland's mayor traditionally appeared on the program the first Sunday of the month.
Local programs on KGW during the 1980s included the award-winningquiz showOn the Spot (broadcast daily from 1984 to 1988) and theOregon Lotterygame showThe Money Game (airing Saturday nights after the 6 p.m. newscast from 1988 to 1990). From 1996 to2017, KGW aired selectPortland Trail Blazers game telecasts; these are now exclusive toRoot Sports Northwest (KGW also broadcast all Blazers games as part ofNBC's broadcast contract with the NBA from 1990 to 2002, including the team's appearance in the1992 NBA Finals).[24]
.jpg)
KGW presently broadcasts40+1⁄2 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with6+1⁄2 hours each weekday and four hours each on Saturdays and Sundays).
KGW-TV's original evening news team remained intact for more than seven years—a rarity in the television news industry. Anchors Richard Ross and Ivan Smith, commentatorTom McCall, sportscaster Doug LaMear and meteorologist Jack Capell were the faces of KGW'sNews Beat from sign-on in December 1956 until early 1964, when McCall left channel 8 to run forOregon Secretary of State. McCall won election that fall, and was electedGovernor of Oregon two years later. Ross anchored KGW's nightly newscastNorthwest Tonight until 1975 when he moved to rivalKATU. LaMear and Capell remained with Channel 8 until they retired in 1991 and 2000, respectively.[citation needed]
On January 21, 2008, KGW became the first television station in the Portland market to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition.[25] Along with a newly renovated studio, the station shortened its brand from "KGW Northwest NewsChannel 8" to "KGW NewsChannel 8", updated its logo/graphics, and debuted Version 3 of615 Music's "The Tower" music package. In November 2008, KGW retrofitted its news helicopter with an HD camera.[26]
In 2008–2009, the station developed a high-definition news studio indowntown Portland atPioneer Courthouse Square, in a space previously occupied byPowell's Books. Regular broadcasts from the location that KGW named the "Studio on the Square" began on March 17, 2009.[27] KGW's noon and 4 p.m. newscasts originated from the downtown location.[28]
The station's signal ismultiplexed:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | KGW | NBC |
| 8.2 | 480i | Crime | True Crime Network/Sports programming[22] | |
| 8.3 | Quest | Quest | ||
| 8.4 | CRIME | True Crime Network | ||
| 8.5 | Nosey | Nosey | ||
| 8.6 | OPEN | Blank | ||
| 49.2 | 480i | 16:9 | Mystery | Ion Mystery (KPDX) |
| 49.4 | CourtTV | Court TV (KPDX) |
KGW aired a Portland Trail Blazers game inhigh-definition for the first time, on October 24, 2007. The following year, KGW began broadcasting all its newscasts in high definition.
KGW provided a 24-hour weather forecast service ondigital subchannel 8.2 through the digital television transition, until the September 14, 2009, launch ofEstrella TV.[citation needed] On August 2, 2010, KGW restored the 24-hour news and weather channel on 8.2 and moved Estrella TV programming to digital subchannel 8.3. As of December 2012, KGW replacedLive Well Network on KGW 8.2.
Justice Network replaced Live Well Network on January 20, 2015.
On January 16, 2018, KGW activated subchannel 8.4 in anticipation of carryingQuest, which broadcast a preview on a repeated loop until its debut on January 29.
On July 18, 2008, at 6:14 p.m., KGW conducted a test for viewers to determine whether their television sets were ready for the digital transition by turning off its analog signal for 10 seconds, which the station conducted other times through the spring of 2009. In early 2009, KGW, along with other stations that had already added digital television technology, began broadcasting on its digital channel and those without cable or satellite service could purchase "DTA" (Digital to Analog) converter boxes. The U.S. government distributed credit-card "coupons" to get as much as a $50 discount on the boxes, with a limit of two coupons per household. The boxes would accept the digital signal and convert it back to analog so that older televisions could pick up the signal. It is estimated that 20% of television watching households in the Portland area use the over-the-air signal for TV services, making the coupon program very popular in Portland.[citation needed]
KGW shut down its analog signal, overVHF channel 8, at 3:04 a.m. on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United Statestransitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transitionUHF channel 46 to VHF channel 8.[32][33] At 3:43 a.m., KGW completed its digital conversion when it shut down its temporary digital transmitter (on UHF channel 46) and switched digital operations to channel 8.
Specific references:
General references:
sorted by primary channel network affiliations | ||
| ABC |  | |
| CBS | ||
| The CW | ||
| Fox | ||
| MyNetworkTV | ||
| NBC | ||
| Other stations | ||
| Radio | ||
| TV networks | ||
| Defunct | ||
| Other asset |
| |
| Acquisitions | ||
| ||