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 eart ...

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

, 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''). Twelve sp ...

network. It is owned by Gray Television alongside

Vancouver, Washington Vancouver is a city on the north bank of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington, located in Clark County. Incorporated in 1857, Vancouver has a population of 190,915 as of the 2020 census, making it the fourth-largest city in Was ...

–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 KPDX (channel 49) is a television station licensed to Vancouver, Washington, United States, serving the Portland, Oregon area as an affiliate of MyNetworkTV. It is the only major commercial station in Portland that is licensed to the Washingto ...

(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 band. (the first experimental UHF station was Bridgeport, Connecticut's

KC2XAK KC2XAK was the world's first UHF television station, which went on the air on December 29, 1949. It was a broadcast translator of New York City's WNBT (today's WNBC), and broadcast on 529–535 MHz in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The station's ...

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 ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

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 are l ...

and the DuMont Television Network. CBS programming was dropped from KPTV's schedule when Portland's first VHF station,

KOIN-TV Koin or KOIN may refer to: * KOIN Koin or KOIN may refer to: * KOIN, a TV station in Portland, Oregon * Koin, Guinea See also * Koine (disambiguation) {{dab ..., a TV station in Portland, Oregon * Koin, Guinea See also * Koine (disambi ...

(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 WJW (channel 8) is a television station in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, WJW maintains studios on Dick Goddard Way (named for the station's late longtime weatherman—previousl ...

) 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.S. ...

, 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. Storer ...

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 KGW (channel 8) is a television station in Portland, Oregon, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Tegna Inc. The station's studios are located on Jefferson Street in southwestern Portland, and its transmitter is located in the city' ...

(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 t ...

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 educat ...

member station

KOPB-TV KOPB-TV (channel 10) is a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member television station in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Oregon Public Broadcasting. History KOPB-TV originally signed on the air as KOAP-TV, on February 6, 1961."Educatio ...

, 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 most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

in 1967, that station used the callsign from its launch until 1999; it is now

KIAH KIAH (channel 39) is a television station in Houston, Texas, United States, airing programming from The CW. Owned and operated by network majority owner Nexstar Media Group, the station maintains studios adjacent to the Westpark Tollway on th ...

). 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 Chris-Craft Boats was an American manufacturer of boats that was founded by Christopher Columbus Smith (1861–1939). The company was sold by the Smith family in 1960 to NAFI Corporation, which changed its name to Chris-Craft Industries in 1962. ...

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 Rusty may refer to something covered with rust or with a rust (color). Rusty is also a nickname for people who have red hair, have a rust-hued skin tone, or have the given name Russell. Rusty may also refer to: People *Rusty Anderson (born 1959 ...

, 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 animated television series ''The Simpsons''. He is voiced by Dan Castel ...

; 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 appeare ...

shorts, Ramblin' Rod ran

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

First stint as an independent station

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

KATU KATU (channel 2) is a television station in Portland, Oregon, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside La Grande–licensed Univision affiliate KUNP (channel 16). Both stations share studios on N ...

(channel 2), which had debuted in March 1962. KPTV sued ABC and KATU's then-owner Fisher Broadcasting for breach of contract; 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 We ...

. 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 Wyomi ...

. In 1967, ''

Portland Wrestling 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 professional wrestling promotion, companies, both past and present, based in ...

'' 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 Ferrin Charles Barr (January 21, 1938 – June 2, 2007) was an American professional wrestler, referee, promoter and trainer who spent his career mostly in the Western United States and Canada. Under the name as Sandy Barr, he was best known for h ...

. 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 Thomas Howard Peterson (February 23, 1930 – July 25, 2016) was an American Retailing, retailer, Selling, pitchman, and television personality from Portland, Oregon. Peterson opened his first store in 1964, which grew to a regional consume ...

. 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 The title of sports director can refer to the director of a live sports broadcast. It can also refer to an individual at a television or radio station who is in charge of the sports department. Director {{Job-stub ...

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 Operation Prime Time (OPT) was a consortium of United States, American independent station (North America), independent television stations to develop prime time programming for independent stations. OPT and its spin-off syndication company, Tel ...

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 Cities ...

sister station,

KMSP-TV KMSP-TV (channel 9) is a television station licensed to Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, broadcasting the Fox network to the Twin Cities area. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside MyNetw ...

) 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

(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 studio, film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, Califo ...

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/

Viacom Viacom, an abbreviation of Video and Audio Communications, may refer to: * Viacom (1952–2006), a former American media conglomerate * Viacom (2005–2019), a former company spun off from the original Viacom * Viacom18, a joint venture between Par ...

to form the United Paramount Network (

UPN The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that launched on January 16, 1995. It was originally owned by Chris-Craft Industries' United Television. Viacom (through its Paramount Television unit, which pr ...

) 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 * Independ ...

stations 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—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 Co ...

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 New ...

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, owner of KPDX, in exchange for

WOFL WOFL (channel 35) is a television station in Orlando, Florida, United States, airing programming from the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside MyNetworkTV outlet WRBW (channel 65) ...

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 re ...

and its Gainesville

semi-satellite A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater (two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tran ...

WOGX WOGX (channel 51) is a television station licensed to Ocala, Florida, United States (in the Orlando market), but primarily serving the Gainesville area as an affiliate of the Fox network. Owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Sta ...

in a deal which was finalized on June 17, 2002. The KPTV purchase gave Meredith the first television station duopoly 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 ...

that brought the market's most popular NFL team, the Seattle Seahawks, into the

NFC NFC may refer to: Psychology * Need for cognition, in psychology * Need for closure, social psychological term Sports * NFC Championship Game, the National Football Conference Championship Game * NCAA Football Championship (Philippines) * Nati ...

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 ''

'' 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 Roderick George Toombs (April 17, 1954 – July 31, 2015), better known as "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, was a Canadian professional wrestler, amateur wrestler, and actor. In professional wrestling, Piper was best known to international audiences for his ...

; 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, Gray Television 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 block, ''

Xploration Station Xploration Station is an American syndicated programming block that is programmed by Steve Rotfeld Productions, distributed by Fox, and debuted on September 13, 2014. It airs weekends (typically on Saturday mornings), primarily on Fox-affiliat ...

'', 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; formerly Fox Kids) 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 New World Pictures (also known as New World Entertainment and New World Communications Group, Inc.) was an American independent production, distribution, and (in its final years as an autonomous entity) multimedia company. It was founded in 197 ...

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 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, th ...

'', ''

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 show ...

'', ''

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 courtr ...

'', ''

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 ''2 Broke Girls'' (stylized ''2 Broke Girl$'') is an American television sitcom that aired on CBS from September 19, 2011, to April 17, 2017. The series was produced for Warner Bros. Television and created by Michael Patrick King and Whitney Cumm ...

''.

Sports programming

KPTV is the over-the-air home of Major League Soccer's Portland Timbers, sharing matches with sister station KPDX and

Root Sports Northwest ROOT SPORTS Northwest (stylized as ROOT SPORTS Northwest) is an American regional sports network owned as a 60/40 joint venture between the Seattle Mariners and Warner Bros. Discovery respectively, the latter of which operates it through its spo ...

The tradition of ''Perry Mason'' at noon

In 1966, KPTV began airing syndicated reruns of ''

Perry Mason Perry Mason is a fictional character, an American criminal defense lawyer who is the main character in works of detective fiction written by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason features in 82 novels and 4 short stories, all of which involve a c ...

'' 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 Rachael Domenica Ray (born August 25, 1968) is an American cook, television personality, businesswoman, and author. She hosts the syndicated daily talk and lifestyle program '' Rachael Ray'', and the Food Network series ''30 Minute Meals'' ...

'' 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 Thomas Lawson McCall (March 22, 1913 January 8, 1983) was an American statesman, politician and journalist in the state of Oregon. A Republican, he was the state's thirtieth governor from 1967 to 1975. A native of Massachusetts, McCall grew up t ...

, 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 in Eugene started airing some of KPTV's broadcasts. It airs the 8 a.m. hour of ''Good Day Oregon'' tape-delayed 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 - host of the children's show ''The Ramblin' Rod Show'' for 35 years *

Lars Larson Lars Kristopher Larson (born March 6, 1959)"Lars Kristopher Larson". ''Who's Who in the West'', 26th ed. Accessed June 17, 2013 via LexisNexis. is an American conservative talk radio show host based in Portland, Oregon. Larson worked in televis ...

– 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 News, NBC affiliate in Seattle, Seattle, Washington. She has won two Emmys and numerous honors from regiona ...

– 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 w ...

(1980–1983), then at KING-TV (1983–2019) as a weeknight anchor; now retired *

– 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. ter ...

)

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 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 UHF 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 Cut may refer to: Common uses * The act of cutting, the separation of an object into two through acutely-directed force ** A type of wound ** Cut (archaeology), a hole dug in the past ** Cut (clothing), the style or shape of a garment ** Cut (ea ...

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, co ...

'' 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 ''Law & Order: Criminal Intent'' is an American police procedural Drama (film and television), drama television series set in New York City, where it was also primarily produced. Created and Executive producer#Motion pictures and television, p ...

'' (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