KGW

Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = KGW
city =
station_
station_slogan = Where the News Comes First
station_branding = KGW NewsChannel 8
analog = 8 (VHF)
digital = 46 (UHF)
other_chs = see list below
affiliations = NBC
NBC Weather Plus (DT2)
network =
founded =
airdate = December 15, 1956
location = Portland, Oregon
callsign_meaning = [http://home.earthlink.net/~nelsonbe/origins.call-list.html Keep
Growing
Wiser]
former_callsigns = KGW-TV (1956-1994)
former_channel_numbers =
owner = Belo Corporation
licensee = King Broadcasting Company
sister_stations =
former_affiliations = ABC (1956-1959)
effective_radiated_power = 316 kW (analog)
1000 kW (digital)
HAAT = 524 m (analog)
509 m (digital)
class =
facility_id = 34874
coordinates = coord|45|31|20.5|N|122|44|49.5|W|type:landmark_scale:2000
homepage = [http://www.kgw.com/ www.kgw.com]

KGW 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. It also produces segments and serves as the Portland bureau for Northwest Cable News (NWCN), which is also owned by KGW's corporate parent, Belo Corp. Along with NBC's lineup, the station also airs some local programming, including telecasts of a select amount of Portland Trail Blazers games.

KGW broadcasts NBC Weather Plus on DTV 8.2 and on Comcast Cable channel 308, with its own First Alert Storm Team providing the local forecasts.

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 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 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.)

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

KGW aired a Portland Trail Blazers game in high-definition (HD) 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 also rebranded from "Northwest Newschannel 8" to "KGW Newschannel 8", updated its logo/graphics, and debuted the latest version of 615 Music's "The Tower" music package. KGW also plans to retrofit its news chopper with an HD camera by April 2008. [ [http://www.kgw.com/business/stories/kgw_120407_tech_kgw_hd.6a5bb42f.html Resolution Revolution: Local news to go HD on KGW | Business | kgw.com | News for Oregon and SW Washington ] ]

The station announced on January 29, 2008 that it will build a high-definition news studio in the heart of Downtown Portland at Pioneer Courthouse Square. This studio will utilize a space previously occupied by Powell's Books. Once completed (tentatively scheduled for summer 2008), KGW's morning and noon newscasts will originate from this new location. [ [http://www.kgw.com/news-local/stories/kgw_012908_news_kgw_pioneer_square_studio_hd.6eb2e27b.html KGW to build studio at Pioneer Courthouse Sq. | Local News | kgw.com | News for Oregon and SW Washington ] ]

News/Station Presentation

Newscast Titles

*"News Beat" (1956-1965)
*"KGW-TV News" (1965-1973)
*"Channel 8 News" ("Northwest at Noon", "Northwest Tonight" (1973-1979)
*"Newscenter 8 "(Later "News 8" (1979-1994)
*"KGW Northwest NewsChannel 8" (1994-January 21, 2008)
*"KGW NewsChannel 8" (January 21, 2008-present)

tation Slogans

*"Channel 8, Take A Look" (1979)
*"Channel 8, Our Pride is Showing" (1981, based on NBC's 1981-82 slogan)
*"Channel 8, Let's All Be There!" (mid 1980s, based on NBC's 1984-86 slogan)
*"Draw On Us, News 8" (early 1990s)
*"Coverage You Can Count On: News 8" (c. 1993-94)
*"Where the News Comes First" (1994-present)

KGW NewsChannel 8 anchors/reporters

KGW NewsChannel 8 Anchors
*Russ Lewis: KGW NewsChannel 8 at Sunrise and at Noon Anchor
*Stephanie Stricklen: KGW NewsChannel 8 at Sunrise Anchor (4:30-5 AM)
*Brenda Braxton: KGW NewsChannel 8 at Sunrise (5-7 AM) and Noon Anchor
*Tracy Barry: KGW NewsChannel 8 at 5, 6 and 6:30 Anchor
*Joe Donlon: KGW NewsChannel 8 at 5, 6, 10 (KRCW) and 11 Anchor
*Laural Porter: KGW NewsChannel 8 at 6:30, 10 (KRCW) and 11 Anchor
*Wayne Havrelly: KGW NewsChannel 8 at Sunrise (weekend) Anchor
*Amy Troy: KGW NewsChannel 8 at 5, 5:30, 6:30, 10 (KRCW) and 11 (weekend) Anchor

KGW NewsChannel 8 Reporters
*Amanda Burden General Assignment Reporter
*Scott Burton: General Assignment Reporter
*Mike Benner General Assignment Reporter
*Drew Carney: "Out & About"
*Keely Chalmers: General Assignment Reporter
*Katherine Cook: General Assignment Reporter
*Pat Dooris: General Assignment Reporter
*Wayne Havrelly: General Assignment Reporter, Consumer Fraud Reporter
*Erica Hearquist General Assignment Reporter
*Kyle Iboshi: General Assignment Reporter
*Jennifer Iveson: KGW NewsChannel 8 at Sunrise Reporter
*Joe Michaels: General Assignment Reporter
*Randy Neves: City Beat Reporter
*Jack Penning: General Assignment Reporter, Aviation Reporter
*Jane Smith: General Assignment Reporter
*Joe Smith: Business Reporter
*Stephanie Stricklen: Health Reporter, KGW NewsChannel 8 at Sunrise Reporter KGW NewsChannel 8 First Alert Storm Team
*Matt Zaffino (AMS Seal of Approval): KGW NewsChannel 8 at 5, 6, 6:30, 10 (KRCW) and 11 Chief Meteorologist
*Dave Salesky (AMS Seal of Approval): KGW NewsChannel 8 at Sunrise and at Noon Meteorologist
*Jim Donovan: KGW NewsChannel 8 at Sunrise (weekend) Weather Anchor
*Joe Michaels (AMS Seal of Approval): KGW NewsChannel 8 at 5, 5:30, 6:30, 10 (KRCW) and 11 (weekend) Meteorologist
*Ron Pederson: Fill-in Weather Anchor
*Mary Loos: Fill-in Weather Anchor (formerly of KING-TV and NWCN)

KGW NewsChannel 8 Sports
*Joe Becker: Sports Director
*Adam Bjaranson: Sports Reporter

KGW NewsChannel 8 alumni

*Colin Cowherd: Currently host of "The Herd with Colin Cowherd" on ESPN Radio
*Ann Curry: Currently anchor of NBC's "Today" Show
*Bill Lagattuta: Currently with CBS News' 48 Hours
*Tom McCall: Former Oregon governor
*John Stossel: Currently anchor of ABC's 20/20
*Nancy Francis: Former weekend anchor and weekday reporter (1985-2008), now getting a Masters Degree in Education at Lewis and Clark College and plans to teach high school.
*Ralph Wenge: Former CNN anchor

Digital television

The station's digital channel:

On July 18, 2008 at 6:14 PM, KGW turned off its' analog signal for 10 seconds to test if viewers' TV sets were ready for DTV.

Analog-to-digital conversion

After the analog television shutdown and digital conversion, which is tentatively scheduled to take place on February 17, 2009 http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf] , KGW will move its digital broadcasts back to its present analog channel number, 8. [http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101256950&formid=387&fac_num=34874 CDBS Print ] ]

Translators

KGW is rebroadcast on the following translator stations.
* [http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?call=K04GC K04GC] Channel 4 Trout Lake, Washington
* [http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?call=K08KN K08KN] Channel 8 Redmond
* [http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?call=K09MZ K09MZ] Channel 9 Monument
* [http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?call=K17HA K17HA] Channel 17 Astoria
* [http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?call=K21HG K21HG] Channel 21 Longview, Washington
* [http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?call=K26AY K26AY] Channel 26 Albany / Corvallis
* [http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?call=K26FE K26FE] Channel 26 Elgin
* [http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?call=K26FV K26FV] Channel 26 La Grande
* [http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?call=K29AZ K29AZ] Channel 29 Newport / Lincoln City
* [http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?call=K35HU K35HU] Channel 35 Grays River, Washington
* [http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?call=K36DP K36DP] Channel 36 Pendleton / Hermiston / Umatilla
* [http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?call=K40AM K40AM] Channel 40 Hood River (Moving to Ch. 34)
* [http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?call=K40EG K40EG] Channel 40 Tillamook
* [http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?call=K41CL K41CL] Channel 41 Wasco / Heppner
* [http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?call=K44AV K44AV] Channel 44 Rockaway Beach
* [http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?call=K46AK K46AK] Channel 46 Prineville
* [http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?call=K46FL K46FL] Channel 46 Milton-Freewater
* [http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?call=K50FD K50FD] Channel 50 Baker City
* [http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?call=K56BV K56BV] Channel 56 Madras (Moving to Ch. 30)
* [http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?call=K58BU K58BU] Channel 58 Maupin
* [http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?call=K59EK K59EK] Channel 59 The Dalles / Goldendale, Washington (Moving to Ch. 39)
* [http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?call=K64AO K64AO] Channel 64 Sisters
* [http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?call=K67BF K67BF] Channel 67 Enterprise (Moving to Ch. 36)

Low power translators in La Pine, Sunriver and Terrebonne has been discontinued.

External links

* [http://www.kgw.com/ KGW official website]
*TVQ|KGW
*BIA|KGW|TV|TV
*TitanTV|KGW

References

* [http://www.kgw.com/about/history_kgw-tv/history.html Station History Page]
* [http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=5679 HistoryLink essay on Ancil Payne]
* [http://kptv.home.comcast.net/Articles/Newspaper/newspaper.htm Oregonian Article on Portland Radio History]