KPTV (channel 12) is a

television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the ear ...

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populou ...

, United States. affiliated with the

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelv ...

network. It is owned by

Gray Television Gray Television, Inc. is an American publicly traded television broadcasting company based in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1946 by James Harrison Gray as Gray Communications Systems, the company owns or operates 180 stations across the United St ...

alongside

Vancouver, Washington Vancouver is a city on the north bank of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington, located in Clark County, Washington, Clark County. Incorporated in 1857, Vancouver has a population of 190,915 as of the 2020 Unit ...

–licensed

MyNetworkTV MyNetworkTV (unofficially abbreviated MyTV, MyNet, MNT or MNTV, and sometimes referred to as My Network) is an American commercial broadcast television syndication service and former television network owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its ...

affiliate KPDX (channel 49). Both stations share studios on NW Greenbrier Parkway in Beaverton, while KPTV's transmitter is located in the Sylvan-Highlands section of Portland.

History

Early years

KPTV signed on the air on September 20, 1952, as Oregon's first television station. KPTV originally broadcast on channel 27, making it also the nation's first commercial television station to broadcast on the

UHF Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter (on ...

band. (the first experimental UHF station was Bridgeport, Connecticut's KC2XAK on channel 24). The station was originally owned by Empire Coil. As Portland's only television station at the time, it carried programming from all four networks of the time: ABC, CBS,

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters ...

and the

DuMont Television Network The DuMont Television Network (also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont Television, simply DuMont/Du Mont, or (incorrectly) Dumont ) was one of America's pioneer commercial television networks, rivaling NBC and CBS for the distinction of bein ...

. CBS programming was dropped from KPTV's schedule when Portland's first VHF station,

KOIN-TV Koin or KOIN may refer to: * KOIN, a TV station in Portland, Oregon * Koin, Guinea See also * Koine (disambiguation) The literal meaning of the Greek word (''koinḗ'') is "common". It may refer to: * Koine Greek, the "common" dialect of ...

(channel 6), signed on the air on October 15, 1953. KPTV then became a primary NBC affiliate, and also continued to air some ABC and DuMont programming. KPTV also aired programs from the short-lived

Paramount Television Network Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. The following busin ...

during the early 1950s; in fact, it was one of that network's strongest affiliates, carrying Paramount programs such as ''Time For Beany'', ''Hollywood Wrestling'', and ''Bandstand Revue''. During the late 1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the

NTA Film Network The NTA Film Network was an early American television network founded by Ely Landau in 1956. The network was not a full-time television network like CBS, NBC, or ABC. Rather, it operated on a part-time basis, broadcasting films and several f ...

. Empire Coil sold KPTV and its other broadcast property, WXEL (now WJW-TV) in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U ...

, to

Storer Broadcasting Storer Broadcasting, Inc. was an American company which owned several television and radio stations in the Northeastern United States. It was incorporated in Ohio 1927, and was broken up in 1986. History 1920s–1940s In 1927, George B. Store ...

on November 17, 1954. On August 11, 1954, KPTV became the first television station in Portland to broadcast in

color Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are assoc ...

, three days before KOIN achieved the same milestone. The VHF channel 12 allocation in Portland was first occupied by KLOR-TV, which signed on March 8, 1955, as a primary ABC affiliate with a secondary DuMont affiliation. However, KLOR's network affiliations were short-lived. In 1956, KLOR lost its affiliations with both networks as the DuMont Television Network ceased operations, and the ABC affiliation moved to KGW-TV (channel 8) when that station signed on the air in December. On April 17, 1957,

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

businessman George Haggerty purchased KPTV from Storer and KLOR from its local owners. On May 1, the two stations merged under KPTV's license, but using the stronger channel 12 signal (channel 27 was later used by independent station KHTV, which was on the air for less than four months in 1959; more recently, the channel 27 frequency was used by the digital signal of

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of ed ...

member station KOPB-TV, which returned to its original channel 10 assignment following the analog shutdown; the KHTV call letters were later used to sign on channel 39 in

Houston Houston (; ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in Texas, the Southern United States#Major cities, most populous city in the Southern United States, the List of United States cities by population, fourth-most pop ...

in 1967, that station used the callsign from its launch until 1999; it is now KIAH). On April 17, 1959, KPTV swapped affiliations with KGW and became an ABC affiliate. Later that year, KPTV was sold to the NAFI Corporation, which then purchased Chris-Craft Boats in early 1960 and changed its name to Chris-Craft Industries. Color broadcasting by KPTV ended when NBC changed affiliations to KGW, in 1959, but returned in 1962, when ABC began color broadcasting. KPTV can boast being the home of the two top children's TV hosts in Portland's history: Rusty Nails, a sweet-natured clown who was the rough inspiration for ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer Simpson, Homer, Marge ...

'' creator Matt Groening's

Krusty the Klown Herschel Shmoikel Pinchas Yerucham Krustofsky (; ) better known by his stage name Krusty the Clown (sometimes spelled as Krusty the Klown), is a recurring character on the List of animated television series, animated television series ''The Si ...

; and "Ramblin' Rod" Anders. While Rusty Nails ran

Three Stooges The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy team active from 1922 until 1970, best remembered for their 190 short subject films by Columbia Pictures. Their hallmark styles were physical farce and slapstick. Six Stooges appear ...

shorts, Ramblin' Rod ran

Popeye Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by E. C. Segar, Elzie Crisler Segar.

First stint as an independent station

On March 1, 1964, KPTV lost its ABC affiliation to

independent station An independent station is an independent radio or terrestrial television station which is independent in some way from broadcast networks. The definition of "independence" varies from country to country, reflecting governmental regulations, market ...

KATU (channel 2), which had debuted in March 1962. KPTV sued ABC and KATU's then-owner

Fisher Broadcasting Fisher Communications was a media company in the United States. Based in Seattle, Washington, the company primarily owned a number of radio and television stations in the Western United States. It was the last company in the Seattle area to ...

for

breach of contract Breach of contract is a legal cause of action and a type of civil wrong, in which a binding agreement or bargained-for exchange is not honored by one or more of the parties to the contract by non-performance or interference with the other par ...

; the proceeds from the settlement went to rebuild KPTV into a color-capable station, and to purchase a color mobile unit. KPTV soon became known as one of the top independent stations in the

western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the Wes ...

. By the late 1960s, it was a regional superstation carried on every cable system in Oregon, as well as a number of cable systems in parts of Washington and

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and W ...

. In 1967, '' Portland Wrestling'' returned to KPTV after a 12-year absence. Frank Bonnema, news reporter and afternoon movie host, served as the voice of ''Portland Wrestling'' until shortly before his death on October 5, 1982. KPTV had originated telecasts of

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

in 1953, with commentator Bob Abernathy, but lost the franchise to rival KOIN two years later. KPTV regained the franchise in 1967, and aired the wrestling matches until December 1991. Later wrestling commentators were KISN radio DJ Don Coss and former wrestlers

Dutch Savage Frank Stewart (June 9, 1935 – August 3, 2013) was an American professional wrestler and wrestling promoter, best known for his time spent competing in Pacific Northwest Wrestling under the ring name Dutch Savage. Career Savage made his pro deb ...

and Stan Stasiak. ''Portland Wrestling''s chief promoters were Don Owen, and later, former wrestler-referee Sandy Barr. Primary long-time sponsors for the show were Chevrolet dealers Ron Tonkin of Portland and Friendly of Lake Oswego, and the celebrated ever-smiling furniture and appliance dealer Tom Peterson. Peterson was also the top sponsor for most of KPTV's movies. KPTV FOX 12 office

In 1970, KPTV became the first television station in the market to broadcast

Portland Trail Blazers The Portland Trail Blazers (colloquially known as the Blazers) are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Con ...

basketball games, with sports director Jimmy Jones serving as the team's first play-by-play television announcer; KPTV maintained the broadcast rights to Blazers games until the end of the 1977–78 season. In 1977, Chris-Craft placed its self-named television subsidiary underneath a holding company called BHC, Inc. KPTV carried Operation Prime Time programming at least in 1978.

First Fox affiliation, then back to independence

On October 9, 1986, channel 12 became one of the original charter affiliates of the newly launched

network (although still programmed as independent as Fox wouldn't start a full weeks' worth of programming until 1993; it was one of a few VHF stations to affiliate with the new network not owned by them upon its startup). However, KPTV did not remain a Fox affiliate for very long. By 1988, KPTV was one of several Fox affiliates nationwide (as was the case with its

Minneapolis–Saint Paul Minneapolis–Saint Paul is a metropolitan area in the Upper Midwestern United States centered around the confluence of the Mississippi, Minnesota and St. Croix rivers in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It is commonly known as the Twin Citi ...

sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...

, KMSP-TV) that were underwhelmed by the network's ratings and programming in its first two seasons. The station subsequently disaffiliated from the network on August 29 of that year and reverted to being an independent station. The Fox affiliation shifted to KPDX (channel 49), which first signed on the air in 1983. In 1993, KPTV, along with Chris-Craft's other independent stations, began carrying programming from the

Prime Time Entertainment Network The Prime Time Entertainment Network (PTEN) was an American television network that was operated by the Prime Time Consortium, a joint venture between the Warner Bros. Domestic Television subsidiary of Time Warner and Chris-Craft Industries. Fir ...

, a programming service that Chris-Craft had owned in conjunction with

Warner Bros. Entertainment Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Dis ...

UPN affiliation

By the early 1990s, Fox gradually rose in popularity as it began to carry stronger programming than had aired during KPTV's previous stint with the network, with many shows that were starting to rival the program offerings of the "Big Three" networks. In response to this, in late 1994, Chris-Craft/United Television partnered with

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

/ Viacom to form the United Paramount Network ( UPN) and both companies made

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

stations Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

that they respectively owned in several large and mid-sized U.S. cities charter stations of the new network. UPN launched on January 16, 1995, with channel 12 becoming a UPN

owned-and-operated station In the broadcasting industry, an owned-and-operated station (frequently abbreviated as an O&O) usually refers to a television or radio station owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a station from an network af ...

—the first such O&O station in the Portland market—as a result of Chris-Craft/United's ownership stake in the network. KPTV would eventually be stripped of its UPN O&O status in 2000, after Viacom exercised a contractual clause to buy out Chris-Craft's stake in the network, although the station remained with UPN as an affiliate for another two years.

Return to Fox

On August 12, 2000, Chris-Craft sold its UPN stations (spinning off two other stations that were not affiliated with that network in the process) to the

Fox Television Stations Fox Television Stations, LLC (FTS; alternately Fox Television Stations Group, LLC), is a group of television stations located within the United States, which are owned-and-operated by the Fox Broadcasting Company, a subsidiary of the Fox Corp ...

subsidiary of

News Corporation News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp.), also variously known as News Corporation Limited, was an American multinational mass media corporation controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in Ne ...

for $5.5 billion; the deal was finalized on July 31, 2001. However, instead of keeping the station, Fox traded KPTV to the

Meredith Corporation Meredith Corporation was an American media conglomerate based in Des Moines, Iowa, that owned magazines, television stations, websites, and radio stations. Its publications had a readership of more than 120 million and paid circulation of more ...

, owner of KPDX, in exchange for WOFL in

Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures r ...

and its Gainesville semi-satellite WOGX in a deal which was finalized on June 17, 2002. The KPTV purchase gave Meredith the first television station

duopoly A duopoly (from Greek δύο, ''duo'' "two" and πωλεῖν, ''polein'' "to sell") is a type of oligopoly where two firms have dominant or exclusive control over a market. It is the most commonly studied form of oligopoly due to its simplicity ...

in the Portland market. Meredith then decided to swap the market's Fox and UPN affiliations; on September 2, 2002, Fox programming moved to the higher-rated KPTV—returning the network to channel 12 after a 14-year absence—while KPDX joined UPN. As part of the switch, KPTV's longtime moniker of "Oregon's 12" transitioned to "Fox 12 Oregon." Although KPTV is the senior partner in the duopoly, the merged operation was based at KPDX's newer and larger facility in suburban Beaverton rather than KPTV's longtime home in East Portland. KPTV also absorbed KPDX's news department, resulting in the cancellation of KPDX's 10 p.m. newscast (KPDX now airs a weeknight 8 p.m. newscast that is produced by KPTV). The Fox affiliation switch coincided with a realignment of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

that brought the market's most popular NFL team, the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 a ...

, into the NFC West division. As a result, KPTV became an unofficial secondary station for the Seahawks, airing most of that team's games through the Fox network's rights to air games from the NFL's National Football Conference. On October 27, 2012, KPTV revived '' Portland Wrestling'' after a 21-year absence from the station and renamed the program ''

Portland Wrestling Uncut Pacific Northwest Wrestling (PNW) (also known as Big Time Wrestling and Portland Wrestling) is the common name used to refer to several different professional wrestling companies, both past and present, based in Portland, Oregon, United States. T ...

''. The program had been brought back on the air with the help of Rowdy Roddy Piper; Don Coss has also returned to announce the matches along with special guests. The wrestling matches were taped at KPTV's Beaverton studios. Two months later on December 29, ''Portland Wrestling Uncut'' moved to KPTV's sister station KPDX, retaining the Saturday night timeslot that the program held when it was revived on KPTV. The show went off the air by mid-2014.

Sale to Gray Television

On May 3, 2021,

announced its intent to purchase the Meredith Local Media division for $2.7 billion. The sale was completed on December 1. As a result, KPTV and KPDX became Gray's first stations on the West Coast of the contiguous United States.

Programming

KPTV clears most of Fox's programming schedule (nightly prime time, Saturday late night, and

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the F ...

programming, along with the political talk show ''

Fox News Sunday ''Fox News Sunday'' is a Sunday morning talk show that has aired on the broadcast Fox network since 1996, as a presentation of Fox News Channel. It is the only regularly scheduled Fox News program carried on the main Fox broadcast network. Ho ...

'')—however it preempts the network's Saturday morning

educational programming Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Vari ...

block, '' Xploration Station'', which instead airs on KPDX. Much like the stations that were affected by the Fox/New World affiliation switches of 1994, KPTV chose not to air Fox's children's programming (

4Kids TV 4Kids TV (often stylized as 4K!DSTV and formerly known as FoxBox from September 14, 2002 to January 15, 2005) was an American television programming block and Internet-based video on demand children's network operated by 4Kids Entertainment. ...

; formerly

Fox Kids Fox Kids (originally known as Fox Children's Network and later as the Fox Kids Network; stylized as FOX KIDS) was an American children's programming block and branding for a slate of international children's television channels. Originally a j ...

) after the 2002 affiliation switch to Fox; instead airing children's programs acquired via syndication on weekend mornings (it was derived from a concept by New World Communications when it converted many of the network's affiliates to Fox), the lineup remained on KPDX until 4Kids TV was discontinued by Fox (due to a dispute between the network and the block's lessee

4Kids Entertainment 4Kids Entertainment, Inc. (formerly known as Leisure Concepts, Inc. and later known as 4Licensing Corporation) was an American licensing company. The company was previously also a film and television production company that produced English- dub ...

) in December 2008.

Syndicated Syndication may refer to: * Broadcast syndication, where individual stations buy programs outside the network system * Print syndication, where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips * Web syndication, ...

programming seen on KPTV includes ''

Family Feud ''Family Feud'' is an American television game show created by Mark Goodson. It features two families who compete to name the most popular answers to survey questions in order to win cash and prizes. The show has had three separate runs, the ...

'', ''

The King of Queens ''The King of Queens'' is an American television sitcom that ran on CBS from September 21, 1998, to May 14, 2007, a total of nine seasons and 207 episodes. The series was created by Michael J. Weithorn and David Litt, who also served as the sh ...

'', ''

Judge Judy ''Judge Judy'' is an American arbitration-based reality court show presided over by former Manhattan Family Court Judge Judith Sheindlin. The show featured Sheindlin as she adjudicated real-life small-claims disputes within a simulated court ...

'', ''

Access Hollywood ''Access Hollywood'', formerly known as ''Access'' from 2017 to 2019, is an American weekday television entertainment news program that premiered on September 9, 1996. It covers events and celebrities in the entertainment industry. It was create ...

'', and '' 2 Broke Girls''.

Sports programming

KPTV is the over-the-air home of

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Cana ...

Portland Timbers The Portland Timbers are an American professional men's soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. The Timbers compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The Timbers have played their home games at ...

, sharing matches with sister station KPDX and Root Sports Northwest.

The tradition of ''Perry Mason'' at noon

In 1966, KPTV began airing syndicated reruns of '' Perry Mason'' on weekday evenings. In 1970, KPTV shifted ''Perry Mason'' to a new time, weekdays at noon—the start of a longtime Portland television tradition, as the program would air in that timeslot each weekday until 2012 (save for a 10-month period from 1974 to 1975, when it aired at 12:30 p.m.). By the late 2000s, KPTV audience research indicated that one out of every 11 people in the Portland market who were watching television at 12 p.m. weekdays were tuned in to ''Perry Mason'' on channel 12. The noon tradition was so solid that when Meredith Corporation named Patrick McCreery as KPTV's general manager in August 2008, McCreery was granted the power to make any local programming move he saw fit with one exception—that he could not drop ''Perry Mason'' from the schedule or move it off the 12 p.m. timeslot. The tradition ended however in August 2012 as ''Perry Mason'' ended its 46-year run on KPTV, and moved to sister station KPDX on September 4 in an earlier 8 a.m. timeslot ('' Rachael Ray'' replaced ''Mason'' in the noon timeslot on KPTV); the program's relocation from the noon slot—and displacement from KPTV—was cited as the result of decreased viewership of ''Perry Mason'' in recent years on channel 12 and programming shifts in daytime television towards more first-run syndicated talk and court programs. Because KPTV and KPDX held the broadcast rights to ''Perry Mason'' in the Portland market, KATU did not air the program on its

MeTV MeTV, an acronym for Memorable Entertainment Television, is an American broadcast television network owned by Weigel Broadcasting. Marketed as "The Definitive Destination for Classic TV", the network airs a variety of classic television program ...

subchannel (MeTV holds broadcast rights to the program nationally), replacing it with other programs carried by that network. By September 2014, ''Perry Mason'' had left KPDX and was replaced with variable programming, ending a 48-year long Portland tradition. Accordingly, KATU's MeTV subchannel now airs the program in pattern with the national schedule. Originally, KPTV replaced the reruns with syndicated programming, but has since been replaced with an hour-long newscast at 12:00 p.m. under ''The Noon News.''

News operation

KPTV presently broadcasts 67 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 11½ hours each weekday, five hours on Saturdays and 4½ hours on Sundays); in regards to the number of hours devoted to news programming, it is the highest local newscast output of any television station in the state of Oregon. The station produced a half-hour sports wrap-up show called ''Oregon Sports Final'' that aired on Sundays at 11 p.m. (the program ended on September 10, 2017, and was replaced by the Sunday edition of the 11 p.m. newscast on September 17). KPTV is also one of the few Fox affiliates that produces newscasts for another television station in the same market, as it produces ten hours of local newscasts each week for sister station KPDX (consisting of two hour-long prime time newscasts at 8 and 9 p.m.). Throughout its entire history, as a network affiliate and as an independent station, KPTV has always operated a local news department. Future Oregon governor Tom McCall, a longtime journalist before entering politics, joined KPTV in 1955 as a newscaster and political commentator. McCall left KPTV in late 1956 for KGW-TV, where he was a member of the original news team for seven years before leaving to run for Oregon's secretary of state. The station's long-running prime time newscast, known as ''The 10 O'Clock News'', debuted in 1970. KPTV was also one of the first television stations in the country to run a mid-afternoon newscast, as the station aired a 3 p.m. news bulletin (known as ''Coffee Break News'') from 1974 to 1978. Since then (especially after switching to Fox), KPTV has begun to go head-to-head with competitors KGW, KATU and KOIN by taking on a more news-intensive format, which took years to take effect. The station launched its morning news program, ''Good Day Oregon'', in 1996 as a three-hour weekday broadcast. The program has since been extended, and currently runs from 4:30 to 9 a.m.; KPTV was one of a growing number stations in the country with a morning newscast beginning before 5 a.m. until April 19, 2010, when the 4:30–5 a.m. portion of ''Good Day Oregon'' was cut, the 4:30 half-hour of the program was restored in 2012. KPTV is also one of the few local stations and one of a handful of Fox stations to offer a three-hour newscast on Saturday and Sunday mornings. On June 5, 2007, KPTV became the second Portland television station to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in 16:9

widescreen Widescreen images are displayed within a set of aspect ratios (relationship of image width to height) used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than t ...

standard definition Standard-definition television (SDTV, SD, often shortened to standard definition) is a television system which uses a resolution that is not considered to be either high or enhanced definition. "Standard" refers to it being the prevailing sp ...

. One year later on March 4, 2008, the station expanded its newscast schedule to include a weekday 4 p.m. newscast (which was canceled in 2011 but brought back in September 2019), as well as a weekday 8 p.m. newscast on KPDX, with

programming on KPDX being shifted one hour to 9 to 11 p.m. as a result. The station expanded its 5 p.m. newscast (which had been airing only on Sundays, except when Fox sports programming was scheduled to preempt it) to seven nights a week, now airing on weeknights after its existing 4 p.m. program on September 8, 2008 (the program was eventually reduced to weekdays only by 2012). On April 19, 2010, KPTV began producing a fifth hour of ''Good Day Oregon'' for KPDX called ''More Good Day Oregon'', running from 9–10 a.m.; the show features various entertainment and lifestyles topics from a seasoned panel of experts; this extension of the program was canceled in 2012. In 2011, KPTV began broadcasting an hour-long newscast at 6 p.m. on weeknights. On August 26, 2013, KPTV became the last television station in the Portland market to begin broadcasting its newscasts in high-definition. In March 2014,

KEVU KEVU-CD (channel 23) is a low-power, Class A television station in Eugene, Oregon, United States, affiliated with MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Cox Media Group alongside Fox affiliate KLSR-TV (channel 34). Both stations share studios on Chad Dri ...

Eugene Eugene may refer to: People and fictional characters * Eugene (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Eugene (actress) (born 1981), Kim Yoo-jin, South Korean actress and former member of the sin ...

started airing some of KPTV's broadcasts. It airs the 8 a.m. hour of ''Good Day Oregon''

tape-delayed In radio and television, broadcast delay is an intentional delay when broadcasting live material, technically referred to as a deferred live. Such a delay may be to prevent mistakes or unacceptable content from being broadcast. Longer delays las ...

at 9 a.m. on weekdays and the 7:30 half-hour, live on weekends. It airs the first half-hour of ''The 5 O'Clock News'', tape-delayed at 5:30 p.m. on weekdays and the first half-hour of ''The 10 O'Clock News'', tape-delayed at 11 p.m. every night.

Notable current on-air staff

Notable former on-air staff

Ramblin' Rod Anders Ramblin' Rod Anders (November 26, 1932 – May 11, 2002), born Rodney Carl Andersen, was an American television presenter and the host of ''The Ramblin' Rod Show'', a morning children's television program in Oregon, from 1964 until his retirement o ...

- host of the children's show ''The Ramblin' Rod Show'' for 35 years * Lars Larson – news anchor & reporter (1985–1998) and ''Northwest Reports'' host/producer; now a nationally syndicated radio talk show host *

Lori Matsukawa Lori Matsukawa (born 1956) is an American television news journalist who spent thirty-six years as evening news anchor at KING 5, the NBC affiliate in Seattle, Washington. She has won two Emmys and numerous honors from regional and national orga ...

– Later at

KOMO-TV KOMO-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Seattle, Washington, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside Bellevue-licensed Univision affiliate KUNS-TV (channel 51). Both stations share studios wit ...

(1980–1983), then at

KING-TV KING-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Seattle, Washington, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Everett-licensed independent station KONG (channel 16). Both stations share studios at the Home Pl ...

(1983–2019) as a weeknight anchor; now retired * Tom McCall – political commentator (and former

Oregon governor The governor of Oregon is the head of government of Oregon and serves as the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The title of governor was also applied to the office of Oregon's chief executive during the provisional and U.S. ...

)

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's digital signal is

multiplexed In telecommunications and computer networking, multiplexing (sometimes contracted to muxing) is a method by which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The aim is to share a scarce resource - a ...

Analog-to-digital conversion

KPTV shut down its analog signal, over

VHF Very high frequency (VHF) is the ITU designation for the range of radio frequency electromagnetic waves (radio waves) from 30 to 300 megahertz (MHz), with corresponding wavelengths of ten meters to one meter. Frequencies immediately below VHF ...

channel 12, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition

channel 30 to VHF channel 12.CDBS Print
/ref> When KPTV vacated its digital signal from UHF channel 30, sister station KPDX immediately switched its signal to that transmitter. Viewers watching KPTV's digital signal saw a cut from the opening of that day's episode of ''

The 700 Club ''The 700 Club'' is the flagship television program of the Christian Broadcasting Network, airing each weekday in syndication in the United States and available worldwide on CBN.com. The news magazine program features live guests, daily news, con ...

'' to the

cold open A cold open (also called a teaser sequence) is a narrative technique used in television and films. It is the practice of jumping directly into a story at the beginning of the show before the title sequence or opening credits are shown. In Amer ...

of an episode of '' Law & Order: Criminal Intent'' (KPDX turned off its analog transmitter at 9:30 a.m.).

Translators

References

External links

*
Yesterday's KPTV
- A look back at KPTV's history
The Story of KPTV
(1953) {{DEFAULTSORT:Kptv Fox network affiliates Cozi TV affiliates Dabl affiliates Television channels and stations established in 1952 PTV Gray Television Peabody Award winners 1952 establishments in Oregon Former Meredith Corporation subsidiaries