KPTV

KPTV
Portland, Oregon
Branding	Fox 12 Oregon (general) Fox 12 News (newscasts)
Slogan	First. Live. Local.
Channels	Digital: 12 (VHF)
Translators	(see article)
Affiliations	Fox (1986-1988 and 2002-present)
Owner	Meredith Corporation
First air date	September 20, 1952
Call letters’ meaning	Portland TV[1]
Sister station(s)	KPDX
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 27 (1952-1957) 12 (1957-2009) Digital: 30 (2000-2009)
Former affiliations	Primary: NBC (1952-1959) ABC (1959-1964) Independent (1964-1986 and 1988-1995) UPN (1995-2002) Secondary: CBS (1952-1953) ABC (1952-1955) DuMont (1952-1955)
Transmitter Power	24.5 kW
Height	529 m
Facility ID	50633
Transmitter Coordinates	45°31′19″N 122°44′53″W / 45.52194°N 122.74806°W / 45.52194; -122.74806
Website	www.kptv.com

KPTV is the Fox-affiliated television station serving the Portland, Oregon market, which includes most of the state of Oregon and portions of southern Washington state. KPTV is owned by the Meredith Corporation, with its studios located in Beaverton and transmitter in Portland. The station broadcasts its digital signal on VHF channel 12.

KPTV is a news-intensive Fox affiliate with 50 hours a week of locally-produced newscasts, as well as first-run prime time, late night and sports programming from Fox. The station also airs off-network sitcoms, talk shows, reality shows and court shows.

History

The station signed on the air September 20, 1952 on channel 27, as Oregon's first television station, as well as the world's first commercial TV station on the UHF band. (The first experimental UHF station was Bridgeport, Connecticut's KC2XAK on channel 24).

Originally, KPTV was owned by Empire Coil. As Portland's only TV station at the time, it carried programming from all four networks: ABC, CBS, NBC, and the now-defunct DuMont Television Network. CBS programming disappeared from KPTV's schedule when Portland's first VHF station, KOIN (channel 6), signed on the air on October 15, 1953. KPTV then became a primary NBC affiliate, and also continued to air some ABC programming. During the late 1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network.^[2]

Empire Coil sold KPTV and its other broadcast property, WXEL-TV (now WJW-TV, channel 8) in Cleveland, to Storer Broadcasting on November 17, 1954.

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.

Portland's channel 12 was first occupied by KLOR-TV, which signed on March 8, 1955 as an ABC affiliate with a secondary DuMont affiliation. However, KLOR's network affiliations were short-lived, as DuMont ceased network operations in 1956, and the ABC affiliation went to KGW-TV (channel 8) when that station signed on the air on December 15 of the same year.

On April 17, 1957, KPTV and KLOR came under common ownership when Detroit business owner George Haggerty purchased KPTV from Storer and KLOR from its local owners. Both stations signed off the air April 30, and merged under KPTV's license and call letters on the following day, using KLOR's channel 12 assignment. 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 member station KOPB-TV, which returned to its original channel 10 assignment following the analog shutdown.

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 in early 1960. The merged companies became known as Chris-Craft Industries.

On March 1, 1964, KPTV lost its ABC affiliation to previously independent KATU (channel 2), which had debuted in March 1962. KPTV sued ABC and KATU 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 TV stations in the western United States.

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 his death in October 1982. KPTV had originated telecasts of professional wrestling in 1953, but lost the franchise to rival KOIN two years later.

The station's long-running news program, The 10 O'Clock News, first aired in 1970. Also in 1970, KPTV became the first local station to broadcast Portland Trail Blazers basketball games. Sports Director Jimmy Jones was the Blazers' first TV play-by-play announcer. KPTV aired Blazers games until the end of the 1977-78 season.

KPTV was one of the Fox network's original charter affiliates in 1986. However, the station disaffiliated from the network in 1988 and reverted to independent status. The Fox affiliation shifted to KPDX, which first took the air in 1983.

In 1995, KPTV became a United Paramount Network (UPN) owned and operated station, under United/Chris Craft's stake. Chris-Craft sold most of its television holdings, including KPTV, to News Corporation in 2000. The sale closed on July 31, 2001. Instead of keeping KPTV, News Corp. decided to trade it to Meredith in exchange for two Florida stations, a deal which was finalized on June 17, 2002. This move gave Meredith, which already owned KPDX, the first "duopoly" operation in the Portland market.

Meredith decided to move the Fox affiliation to the higher-rated KPTV, and the affiliation switch occurred on September 2, 2002, with KPTV rejoining Fox while KPDX joined UPN. KPTV left its studio in East Portland for KPDX's facility in suburban Beaverton. KPTV also absorbed KPDX's news department, resulting in the cancellation of KPDX's 10 p.m. newscast.

Programming

KPTV's studios and offices near the Sunset Highway

KPTV clears the entire Fox network schedule (nightly primetime, Saturday late night, and Fox Sports programming, and the political talk show Fox News Sunday; except for Fox's Saturday morning infomerical block, Weekend Marketplace, which 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; the lineup remained on KPDX until 4Kids TV was discontinued by Fox in December 2008.

The institution of Perry Mason at noon

In 1966, KPTV began airing reruns of the TV series Perry Mason on weekday evenings. In 1970, KPTV shifted Perry Mason to a new time, weekdays at noon. With the exception of a ten-month shift to 12:30 p.m. in 1974-75, KPTV has aired Perry Mason in the same time slot ever since. Audience research indicates that one out of every 11 people watching TV in the Portland market at noon on weekdays is watching Perry Mason. When Meredith Broadcasting named Patrick McCreery as KPTV's new general manager in 2008, they told him that he could make any other change to the local programming schedule that he wished, but that he could not cancel Perry Mason, nor could he move it from its weekday noon time slot.^[3]

Other Programming

Current syndicated programming includes The Martha Stewart Show, The Bonnie Hunt Show, The Doctors, Scrubs, The Insider, Access Hollywood and TMZ on TV, with Boston Legal and Desperate Housewives airing on weekends.

Digital television

After the June 12, 2009 analog television shutdown^[4], KPTV moved its digital signal to channel 12.^[5] On that date, KPTV turned off its analog transmitter. When KPTV switched away from its temporary DTV transmitter (on channel 30), sister station KPDX immediately switched its signal to that transmitter. Viewers watching KPTV in DTV saw a cut from the opening of that day's episode of The 700 Club to the cold open of an episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent. (KPDX turned off its analog transmitter at 9:30 a.m.)

Ownership history

• Empire Coil (1952-1954)
• Storer Broadcasting (1954-1957)
• George Haggerty (1957-1959)
• NAFI Corporation (1959-1960)
• Chris-Craft (1960-2001)
• News Corporation (2001-2002)
• Meredith Corporation (2002-present)

News operation

KPTV broadcasts a total of 50 hours of local news a week (eight hours on weekdays, and five hours each on Saturdays and Sundays), more than any other television station in the state of Oregon (however as is standard with Fox stations that carry early evening weekend newscasts, KPTV's Saturday and Sunday 5PM newscasts are subject to preemption or delay due to sports coverage from Fox). Throughout its entire history, as a network affiliate and as an independent station, KPTV has always operated a local news department. The station's long-running primetime newscast, The 10 O'Clock News, first aired in 1970. KPTV was also one of the first television stations in the country to run a mid-afternoon newscast, with a 3 p.m. bulletin airing 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 program, Good Day Oregon, in 1996 as a three-hour broadcast.^[6] The program has since been extended, and currently runs from 4:30 a.m. until 9 a.m., making KPTV one of a growing number stations in the country with a morning newscast beginning before 5 a.m. 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.

In 2007, KPTV became the second Portland television station to broadcast its newscasts in widescreen. A year later on March 4, 2008, it expanded its newscast schedule to include a weekday 4 p.m. newscast, as well as a weekday 8 p.m. newscast on KPDX, with MyNetworkTV programming on KPDX airing from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. as a result. KPTV is one of the few Fox affiliates to produce a newscast for another television station in the same market. The station does not carry a midday newscast.

On June 5, 2007, KPTV became the second Portland TV station to broadcast its daily newscasts in 16:9 widescreen. 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. At that time, KPTV also began producing a weekday 8 p.m. newscast for KPDX.

As of December 2009, KPTV remains one of two major stations in Portland (KOIN is the other) which have not yet upgraded their local news productions to full high definition. Two of their competitors, KGW and KATU, currently broadcast their local news programs in true HD with field reports presented in upconverted ED.

Newscasts and local programming

Weekdays

• Good Day Oregon - 4:30-9AM
• Better - 1-2 PM
• The 4 O'Clock News - 4-5 PM
• The 5 O'Clock News - 5-6 PM
• The 8 O'Clock News - 8-9 PM (on KPDX)
• The 10 O'Clock News - 10-11 PM
• The 11 O'Clock News - 11-11:30 PM

Saturdays

• Good Day Oregon - 6-9 AM
• The 5 O'Clock News - 5-6 PM
• The 10 O'Clock News - 10-11 PM

Sundays

• Good Day Oregon - 6-9 AM
• The 5 O'Clock News - 5-6PM
• The 10 O'Clock News - 10-11 PM
• Oregon Sports Final - 11-11:30 PM

Personalities

Current On-Air Talent

(as of October 20, 2009)
Current Anchors

• Chad Carter - weekends at 5 and 10PM (also weekday reporter)
• Kevin Coari - weekdays at 4 and 5PM
• Pete Ferryman - weekday mornings "Good Day Oregon"
• Wayne Garcia - weeknights at 8 (on KPDX), and 10 and 11PM (on KPTV)
• Debra Gil - weekend moprnings "Good Day Oregon" (also weekday reporter)
• Julie Grauert - weekday mornings "Good Day Oregon"
• Kimberly Maus - weekdays at 4 and 5PM
• Shauna Parsons - weeknights at 8 (on KPDX), and 10 and 11PM (on KPTV)
• Sophie Soong - weekends at 5 and 10PM (also weekday reporter)

Reporters

• Brooke Carlson - "Better TV" reporter
• Bill Deiz - afternoon traffic reporter
• Marilyn Deutsch - weekend morning reporter
• Mark Glyzewski - weekday morning reporter
• Jim Hyde - general assignment reporter
• Mark Hanrahan - general assignment reporter
• Brian MacMillan - general assignment reporter
• Tony Martinez - "Air 12" pilot and morning traffic reporter
• Chris Murphy - weekday morning reporter (temporary)
• Andrew Padula - general assignment reporter
• Mark Ross - general assignment and sports reporter
• Joe Vithayathil - feature reporter
• Brent Weisberg - general assignment reporter
• David Wilson - general assignment reporter
• Jamie Wilson - general assignment reporter

FOX12 First, Live, Local Weather

• Mark Nelsen (AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist Seal of Approval) - Chief Meteorologist; weeknights at 8 (on KPDX) and 10PM
• Andy Carson - Weather Anchor; weekday mornings "Good Day Oregon"
• Drew Jackson (AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist Seal of Approval) - Meteorologist; weekends at 5 and 10PM
• Stephanie Kralevich - Meteorologist; weekdays at 4 and 5PM
• Brian MacMillan - Weather Anchor; weekend mornings "Good Day Oregon" (also weeknight reporter)

Sports Team

• Matt Smith - Sports Anchor; weeknights at 5 and 10 (on KPTV) and 8PM (on KPDX) (also host of Oregon Sports Final)
• Mark Ross - Sports Anchor; weekends at 5 and 10PM (also sports reporter)
• Brooke Carlson - host of "Friday Night Lights" (also "Better TV" reporter)

News/Station presentation

Newscast titles

• The Ten O'Clock News (10PM newscast; 1970-present)
• The Three O'Clock News (3PM newscast; 1974-1978)
• Oregon's News 12 (1996-2002)
• Good Day Oregon (morning newscast; 1996-present)
• FOX 12 News (2002-present; all evening newscasts branded as The (time) O'Clock News)

Station slogans

• Just the Ticket in Portland (early 1960s)
• The Northwest Personality Station (mid 1960s-1978)
• Your Best Choice (1978-1980)
• A Northwest State of Mind (1981-1983)
• The Entertainment's On Us (1983-1991)
• KPTV, Oregon's 12 (1997-2002; also used as station branding)
• First. Live. Local. (2002-present)

This film, television or video-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it with reliably sourced additions.

Repeater stations

KPTV, like all other Portland stations, has low-power repeater stations throughout Oregon and Washington. Some of the repeaters are owned by KPTV, while others are owned by local translator districts.

Part of the Eugene Market:

• K18EA Channel 18 Cottage Grove (Moving to Ch. 44)

See also

• Lars Larson - Former KPTV news report/anchor and host of Northwest Reports.
• Portland Wrestling - A weekly sports program seen on KPTV for many decades.
• Prime Time Entertainment Network - Chris-Craft stations carried PTEN programing from 1993-1995
• Ramblin' Rod Anders - Children's programing.
• Rusty Nails - Children's programing.

External links

• Yesterday's KPTV - A look back at KPTV's history
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KPTV
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KPTV-TV
• Program Information for KPTV at TitanTV.com

References