KGW

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KGW
Portland, Oregon
Branding	Northwest NewsChannel 8
Slogan	Where the News Comes First
Channels	8 (VHF) analog, 46 (UHF) digital
Affiliations	NBC (since 1959) NBC Weather Plus (DT2)
Owner	Belo Corp.
Founded	December 15, 1956
Call letters meaning	Knights of the Golden West
Former affiliations	ABC (1956-59)
Transmitter Power	316 kW
Website	www.kgw.com

KGW ("Northwest NewsChannel 8") is an NBC affiliate serving the Portland, Oregon area. The station broadcasts its analog signal on VHF channel 8, and its digital signal on UHF channel 46. Its transmitter is located in Portland.

Contents 1 History 2 Digital Television 3 Newscasts 4 Prominent former reporters and anchors 5 Current Anchors and Reporters 6 External links 7 References

[edit] History

The station was an extension of KGW-AM 620 radio. 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 25, 1922.

The Oregonian applied for and received an FCC 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-AM 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% 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, Washington, also switched from ABC to NBC at the same time.)

On October 12, 1962 KGW-TV's tower fell during a violent wind storm Friday afternoon/evening, dubbed by northwest residents as The Columbus Day Storm. Channel 8 was back on the air Tuesday night (October 16th) using a temporary tower, plus an antenna on loan from KTNT-TV Tacoma. A new antenna & tower was placed into service on January 28, 1963.

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 1998, gaining control of all the former KING Broadcasting stations.

Locally, KGW broadcasts some Portland Trail Blazers games as well as local broadcasting.

KGW broadcasts NBC Weather Plus on DTV 8.2 and on Comcast Cable channel 308. NBC Weather Plus features the First Alert Storm Team for local forecasts.

[edit] Digital Television

The station's digital channel is multiplexed:

Digital channels

Channel	Programming
8.1 / 46.1	Main KGW programming
8.2 / 46.2	NBC Weather Plus

[edit] Newscasts

Weekdays

• Northwest NewsChannel 8 at Sunrise - 5 AM-7 AM
• Northwest NewsChannel 8 at Noon - 12 PM-12:30 PM
• Northwest NewsChannel 8 at Five - 5 PM-5:30 PM
• Northwest NewsChannel 8 at 6:00 - 6 PM-6:30 PM
• Northwest NewsChannel 8 at 6:30 - 6:30 PM-7 PM
• Northwest NewsChannel 8 at 10 on Portland's CW - 10 PM-10:30 PM on KRCW
• Northwest NewsChannel 8 at 11:00 - 11 PM-11:35 PM

Saturdays

• Northwest NewsChannel 8 at Sunrise - 6 AM-9 AM
• Northwest NewsChannel 8 at 5:00 - 5 PM-6 PM
• Northwest NewsChannel 8 at 6:30 - 6:30 PM-7 PM
• Northwest NewsChannel 8 at 10 on Portland's CW - 10 PM-10:30 PM on KRCW
• Northwest NewsChannel 8 at 11:00 - 11 PM-11:30 PM

Sundays

• Northwest NewsChannel 8 at Sunrise - 6 AM-8 AM
• Northwest NewsChannel 8 at 5:00 - 5 PM-6 PM
• Northwest NewsChannel 8 at 6:30 - 6:30 PM-7 PM
• Northwest NewsChannel 8 at 10 on Portland's CW - 10 PM-10:30 PM on KRCW
• Northwest NewsChannel 8 at 11:00 - 11 PM-11:35 PM
• SPORTS SUNDAY - 11:35 PM-Midnight

[edit] Prominent former reporters and anchors

• Tom McCall - Former Oregon governor
• Ann Curry - Today show newsreader
• Colin Cowherd - ESPN Radio host
• John Stossel - Anchor of ABC's 20/20 and his catchphrase, "Give Me a Break!"

[edit] Current Anchors and Reporters

Anchors:

• Tracy Barry
• Laural Porter
• Joe Donlon
• Brenda Braxton
• Russ Lewis
• Nancy Francis
• Amy Troy (also reports during the week)

Weather:

• Matt Zaffino
• Dave Salesky
• Jim Donovan
• Ron Pedersen
• Joe Michaels

Sports:

• Joe Becker
• Adam Bjaranson

Reporters:

• Scott Burton
• Drew Carney
• Wilson Chow (Northwest Cable News Reporter)
• Pat Dooris
• Jennifer Iveson
• Kyle Iboshi
• Drew Mikkelsen
• Randy Neves
• Dave Northfield
• Vince Patton
• Jack Penning
• Jane Smith
• Joe Smith
• Stephanie Stricklen

[edit] External links

• KGW official website
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KGW

[edit] References

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