KGW

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KGW is the NBC-affiliated television station in Portland, Oregon. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 8 from a transmitter in the city's Sylvan-Highlands section. Owned by Belo, the station maintains studios on Jefferson Street in southwestern Portland. Syndicated programming on this station includes The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Jeff Probst Show, Private Practice, Inside Edition and Katie. KGW also serves as the Portland bureau for co-owned regional news channel Northwest Cable News and produces news segments for the channel. Along with NBC network programming, the station also airs some local programs, including select Portland Trail Blazers game telecasts, even as NBC itself no longer televises NBA games.

History

The station was an extension of radio station KGW (620 AM). The Oregonian newspaper created KGW-AM by purchasing an existing transmitter from the Shipowners Radio Service. The U.S. Department of Commerce licensed the station, and it began broadcasting on March 21, 1922.

The Oregonian applied for and received a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) construction permit for a television station in 1947, but later returned it in order to focus on its core newspaper business. It later bought KOIN-AM and used it to start KOIN-TV.

North Pacific Television, Inc. acquired KGW and KGW-FM on November 1, 1953. The group was owned by a group of five Portland businessmen and Seattle businesswoman Dorothy Bullitt. Bullit's King Broadcasting Company owned a 40 percent stake in the venture. Bullitt eventually gained full control of the stations, and KGW-TV signed on the air on December 15, 1956 on channel 8 as an ABC affiliate. On April 26, 1959, it swapped affiliations with KPTV, becoming an NBC affiliate (KGW's sister station, KING-TV in Seattle, also switched from ABC to NBC at the same time).

KGW's logo used from September 1999-January 21, 2008. The channel 8 logo remains in place.

The KGW-TV tower was a prominent victim of the Northwest's historic, violent Columbus Day Storm on Friday, October 12, 1962. KGW was back on the air Tuesday night, October 16, using a temporary tower, plus an antenna on loan from KTNT-TV (now KSTW) of Tacoma, Washington. A new antenna and tower were placed into service on January 28, 1963. In 1964 KGW became the first station in Portland to broadcast in color.

KGW-TV's original evening news team remained intact for more than seven years - a rarity in the broadcast industry. Anchors Richard Ross and Ivan Smith, commentator Tom McCall, sportscaster Doug LaMear and meteorologist Jack Capell were the faces of KGW's "News Beat" from sign-on in December 1956 until early 1964, when McCall left the air to run for Oregon Secretary of State. McCall won election that fall, and was elected Governor of Oregon two years later. Ross anchored KGW's nightly news "Northwest Tonight" until 1975, and LaMear and Capell remained on Channel 8 for at least another two decades after Ross' departure for rival KATU.

In 1992, the Bullitt family sold KING Broadcasting (which also included KING-TV in Seattle, KREM-TV in Spokane, Washington, KTVB-TV in Boise, Idaho and KHNL-TV in Honolulu, Hawaii) to The Providence Journal Corporation. Belo Corp purchased "ProJo" in 1997, gaining control of all the former KING Broadcasting stations.

KGW aired a Portland Trail Blazers game in high-definition on October 24, 2007. On January 21, 2008 the station became the first in the Portland metropolitan market to broadcast newscasts in HD. Along with a newly-renovated studio, the station was rebranded from "Northwest NewsChannel 8" to "KGW NewsChannel 8", updated its logo/graphics, and debuted Version 3 of 615 Music's "The Tower" music package. In November 2008, KGW retrofitted its news helicopter with a HD camera.

In 2008–2009, the station developed a high-definition news studio in downtown Portland at Pioneer Courthouse Square, in a space previously occupied by Powell's Books. Regular broadcasts from the location that KGW named the "Studio on the Square" began on March 17, 2009, with the 4:30 a.m. newscast. KGW's weekday morning, noon, 4 and 7 p.m. newscasts originate from the new location.

DirecTV carriage dispute

On October 12, 2011, KGW announced that unless a new contract agreement could be reached, KGW would no longer be a part of the DirecTV programming lineup. This contract dispute would also remove KING-TV from the DirecTV lineup in Seattle, Washington because KING-5 and KGW are owned and operated by Belo Corporation. On Nov 1, 2011, an agreement with KGW was reached with DirecTV and KGW continues to be available over satellite. KING 5 also remains on DirecTV

Digital television

Digital channels

Channel	Video	Aspect	PSIP Short Name	Programming
8.1	1080i	16:9	KGW-DT	Main KGW programming / NBC
8.2	480i		KGW-LWN	Live Well Network
8.3		4:3	KGW EST	Estrella TV

KGW provided a 24-hour weather forecast service on digital subchannel 8.2 through the digital television transition, until the September 14, 2009 launch of Estrella TV. 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.

Analog-to-digital conversion

On July 18, 2008 at 6:14 p.m., KGW conducted a test for viewers to determine whether their TV sets were ready for the digital television transition by turning off its analog signal for 10 seconds, which the station conducted other times through the spring of 2009.

After the analog television shutdown scheduled for June 12, 2009, KGW returned to channel 8. As scheduled, KGW shut down its analog transmitter at 3:04 a.m. (PDT). At 3:43 a.m., KGW completed its digital conversion when it shut down its temporary DTV transmitter (on channel 46) and switched digital operations to channel 8.

News operation

KGW currently produces a total of hours of local newscasts each week (with 6½ hours on weekdays, 4½ hours on Saturdays and 3½ hours on Sundays); the station preempts the weekend editions of Today in favor of its extended weekend morning newscasts. In addition, the station produces a nightly half-hour primetime newscast at 10 p.m. for CW affiliate KRCW as the Tribune Broadcasting-owned station does not operate a news department of its own.

News/station presentation

Newscast titles

• News Beat (1956–1965)
• KGW-TV News (1965–1973)
• Channel 8 News (general)/Northwest at Noon (noon newscast) /Northwest Tonight (11 p.m. newscast; 1973–1979)
• Newscenter 8, News 8 (1979-1994)
• KGW Northwest NewsChannel 8 (1994-January 21, 2008)
• KGW NewsChannel 8 (January 21, 2008–present)

Station slogans

• "Channel 8, Take A Look" (1979)
• "Channel 8, Proud As A Peacock!" (1979–1980; localized version of NBC slogan)
• "Channel 8, Our Pride Is Showing" (1981–1982; localized version of NBC slogan)
• "We`re Channel 8, Just Watch Us Now" (1982–1983; localized version of NBC slogan)
• "Channel 8 There, Be There" (1983–1984; localized version of NBC slogan)
• "Channel 8, Let's All Be There!" (1984–1986; localized version of NBC slogan)
• "Come Home to Channel 8" (1986–1987; localized version of NBC slogan)
• "Come on Home to Channel 8" (1987–1988; localized version of NBC slogan)
• "Come Home To The Best, Only on Channel 8" (1988–1990; localized version of NBC slogan)
• "Channel 8, The Place To Be!" (1990–1992; localized version of NBC slogan)
• "Draw On Us, News 8" (early 1990s)
• "It's A Whole New Channel 8" (1992–1993; localized version of NBC slogan)
• "The Stars Are Back on Channel 8" (1993–1994; localized version of NBC slogan)
• "Coverage You Can Count On: News 8" (c. 1993-1994)
• "Where the News Comes First" (1994–present)

News team

Current on-air staff

Anchors

• Reggie Aqui - weekdays at 4 p.m.; also general assignment reporter
• Tracy Barry - weeknights at 5, 6 and 6:30 p.m.
• Brenda Braxton - weekday mornings (4:30-7 a.m.) and weekdays at noon
• Joe Donlon - weeknights at 5, 6, 10 (on KRCW) and 11 p.m.
• Abbey Gibb - weekends at 5, 10 (on KRCW) and 11 p.m.; also general assignment reporter
• Wayne Havrelly - weekend mornings; also general assignment reporter
• Russ Lewis - weekday mornings (4:30-7 a.m.) and weekdays at noon
• Laural Porter - weeknights at 6:30, 10 (on KRCW) and 11 p.m.; also host of Straight Talk
• Stephanie Stricklen - weekdays at 4 p.m. and weeknights at 7 p.m.; also health reporter

First Alert Storm Team

• Matt Zaffino (AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist Seal of Approval) - chief meteorologist; weekdays at 4 and weeknights at 5, 6, 6:30, 10 (on KRCW) and 11 p.m.
• Nick Allard (AMS Seal of Approval) - meteorologist; weekday mornings (4:30-7 a.m.) and weekdays at noon
• Jim Donovan - meteorologist; weekend mornings
• Rod Hill (AMS Seal of Approval) - meteorologist; weekends at 5, 10 (on KRCW) and 11 p.m.
• Keely Chalmers - fill-in meteorologist; also general assignment reporter

Sports team

• Michael Berk - sports director; weeknights at 6, 6:30, 10 (on KRCW) and 11 p.m.
• Joe Becker - sports anchor; weekends at 5, 10 (on KRCW) and 11 p.m.

Reporters

• Mike Benner - general assignment reporter
• Drew Carney - weekday morning feature reporter ("Out and About")
• Katherine Cook - general assignment reporter
• Pat Dooris - general assignment and political reporter
• Art Edwards - general assignment reporter
• Tim Gordon - general assignment reporter
• Mark Hanrahan - general assignment reporter
• Erica Heartquist - general assignment reporter
• Kyle Iboshi - general assignment reporter
• Eric Kirchner - weekday morning and 4 p.m. traffic reporter
• Cathy Marshall - general assignment reporter
• Jacqueline Sit - general assignment reporter
• Joe Smith - consumer, business and 7 p.m. general assignment reporter
• Ed Teachout - consumer and general assignment reporter
• Collette Wieland - weekday morning reporter

Notable former staff

• Colin Cowherd (now host of ESPN Radio's The Herd with Colin Cowherd and ESPN2's SportsNation)
• Ann Curry (former anchor and newsreader on NBC's Today)
• Eric Johnson (Sports Director; 1989-1993). Currently co-anchor and sports director for KOMO 4 in Seattle.
• Tom McCall (Governor of Oregon from 1967 to 1975; deceased)
• John Stossel (later anchor of ABC's 20/20, now at Fox Business Network and Fox News Channel)

Translators

KGW's signal is rebroadcast on the following translator stations:

List of translators

Oregon translators
City	Callsign	City	Callsign	City	Callsign	City	Callsign
Albany/Corvallis	K48MP-D	Astoria	K17HA-D	Baker City	K50FD-D	The Dalles	K25KS-D
Enterprise/Wallowa	K36HV-D	Hood River	K34KE-D	La Grande	K26FV-D	Milton-Freewater/Walla Walla	K46FL
Newport/Lincoln City	K29AZ-D (the main SD feed broadcasts on virtual channel on 29.8 as of 12/04/12)	Pendleton/Hermiston/Umatilla	K36DP-D	Prineville	K46AK-D	Rockaway Beach	K44AV-D
Sisters/Black Butte Ranch	K32KP-D	Tillamook	K28MJ-D
Washington translators
Grays River	K35HU-D	Rainier/Longview	K48MA-D

All translator stations ending in "-D" broadcast in digital, and KGW's services appear on channel 8 (8.1, 8.2, etc.) through use of PSIP.

References

Specific references:

General references:

• Station History Page
• HistoryLink essay on Ancil Payne
• Oregonian Article on Portland Radio History

External links

• KGW.com - Official Website
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