see kufo am . for the radio station formerly known as koin fm see kxl fm . this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . february 2013 learn how and when to remove this template message koin portland oregon united states branding koin 6 general koin 6 news newscasts pronounced as coin 6 slogan watching out for you channels digital 40 uhf virtual 6 psip subchannels 6.1 cbs 6.2 gettv 6.3 decades translators see list below affiliations cbs owner media general sale to nexstar broadcasting group pending lin license company llc first air date october 15 1953 ; 63 years ago 1953 10 15 call letters meaning know oregon s independent newspaper from the portland news . later purchased by the oregon journal sounds like coin former callsigns koin tv 1953 1984 former channel number s analog 6 vhf 1953 2009 transmitter power 1000 kw height 523.3 metres 1 717 feet facility id 35380 transmitter coordinates 45 30 58 n 122 43 58 w 45.51611 n 122.73278 w 45.51611 ; 122.73278 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website koin.com koin virtual channel 6 uhf digital channel 40 is a cbs affiliated television station located in portland oregon united states . the station is owned by media general . koin s studios are located in the basement of the koin center skyscraper on southwest columbia street in downtown portland and its transmitter is located in the sylvan highlands section of portland . contents 1 history 1.1 radio origins 1.2 television station 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 news operation 3.1 notable current on air staff 3.2 notable former on air staff 4 translators 5 references 6 external links history edit radio origins edit koin s history traces back to a radio station at 970 am that launched on november 9 1925 as kqp ; the station changed its call sign to koin on april 12 1926 . 1 it became an affiliate of the columbia broadcasting system cbs now known as the cbs radio network on september 1 1929 . 1 during the golden years of radio koin was one of portland s major radio stations with an extensive array of local programming including live music from its own studio orchestra . as a cbs radio affiliate koin was the local home for cbs radio programs such as the cbs world news roundup lux radio theater and suspense . an fm station koin fm at 101.1 mc . was launched in 1948 . both stations were owned by field enterprises inc. from 1947 until sold in 1952 to the mount hood radio and television broadcasting corporation . 2 koin and koin fm were sold on may 1 1977 to the gaylord broadcasting company and effective may 12 1977 their call signs changed to kyte both am and fm . 3 its affiliation with cbs ended and the cbs radio network s programming in the portland market moved to kyxi at that time . 4 the stations using the former koin frequencies currently are kufo am and kxl fm . television station edit koin tv began broadcasting on october 15 1953 as portland s first vhf television station . 1 5 at the time it was jointly owned by mount hood radio and television broadcasting corporation ; newhouse broadcasting corporation now advance publications owner and publisher of the portland oregonian ; local investors and marshall field s department stores . citation needed the station took its calls from koin radio am 970 and 101.1 fm which was a joint venture of mount hood broadcasting and newhouse . eventually marshall field sold its stake to newhouse . lee enterprises purchased koin tv in april 1977 from the mount hood newhouse group . 6 koin s first color television broadcast was made on august 14 1954 7 only three days after then nbc affiliate kptv had made portland s first such broadcast . 8 on february 27 1971 both transmitter towers used by koin fm and koin tv the 1 000 foot main tower and the 700 foot auxiliary tower collapsed during an ice and wind storm . 9 the two koin am towers located on the same property were not damaged . nine days later on march 9 1971 koin fm and koin tv returned to the air when a temporary tower was erected on the site of the collapsed auxiliary tower . during those nine days off the air cbs programming was provided to the portland market and by extension most of oregon by independent station kvdo tv in salem oregon public broadcasting later purchased kvdo and moved the station to bend as koab tv . in 1978 a production company mira mobile television was founded . during the 1970s koin had a few locally produced programs on the air including the cooking show koin kitchen and public affairs programs such as news conference six and northwest illustrated . citation needed in 1976 koin tv became the second television station in the portland market after kptv channel 12 to broadcast portland trail blazers basketball games . selected trail blazer games aired on koin tv until 1996 . koin was the first flagship station of the trail blazers radio network beginning in the inaugural 1970 71 season and ending when the station was sold shortly before the trail blazers won the 1976 77 nba championship . by the 1980s one of koin s past general managers richard m. mick schafbuch served one term in 1981 as president of the cbs network affiliates group . during koin tv s 30th anniversary week in 1983 the station aired classic cbs programming from the 1950s and 1960s . by this time the station had moved into its new location at koin center . in 1984 the station aired the japanese program from oregon with love and at the same time koin tv has shortened into koin on january 2 1984 . in 1982 c. stephen currie koin s program operations manager was elected to serve as the president of the national association of television program executives . 10 in october 2000 the lee enterprises television group including koin was purchased by emmis communications . on january 27 2006 emmis sold koin along with khon tv honolulu ksnt topeka and ksnw wichita to montecito broadcast group for 259 million . the koin center is the third tallest skyscraper in portland . due to a dispute over fees comcast did not offer koin s high definition feed for over two years after it started offering other portland area stations in hd . citation needed after montecito took ownership comcast started carrying koin in high definition on february 28 2006 . koin was also in a dispute with directv over transmission of its hd feed as both sides claimed the other to be the problem . citation needed in august 2008 koin s hd feed began to be carried on directv . koin updated its website in september 2006 11 as part of a partnership with worldnow . 12 koin expected the switch to lead to over 1 million in revenue during its first year ; it was characterized by koin general sales manager bob singer as a creative new way to boost revenue for a station with a somewhat average ratings position . 13 on july 24 2007 montecito announced the sale of all of its stations koin plus khon tv in honolulu and its satellites ksnw in wichita and its satellites and ksnt in topeka to new vision television . the sale closed on november 1 2007 . 14 in march 2008 koin relaunched its website through newport television subsidiary inergize digital replacing the old worldnow powered site . the websites of several of its sister stations in other markets also switched to the inergize platform in late december 2008 and early january 2009 . in october 2008 koin converted its central oregon translators into a locally focused semi satellite kbnz which was sold off in 2010 . on december 30 2008 one of the 15 guy wires on the main transmitter tower snapped putting the tower in danger of collapsing as with the 1971 tower collapse this incident followed a prolonged snow and ice storm . the portland police bureau evacuated about 500 local residents and closed several roads around the tower including a portion of skyline boulevard the main north south road through the west hills of portland . at first officials feared that the wire itself which is over 1 000 feet long and weighs several tons had snapped which would have taken several weeks to manufacture and install a replacement . upon inspection it was revealed that one of the high frequency insulators incorporated into the guy wire assembly had shattered . repair crews replaced the insulator by 4 00 p.m. the next day and the surrounding neighborhood was reopened to residents and car traffic . koin had to pay 1 500 to the federal communications commission fcc . on may 7 2012 lin media announced that it would acquire koin and the other new vision stations for 330.4 million and the assumption of 12 million in debt . 15 the fcc approved the sale on october 2 16 and it was completed ten days later on october 12 2012 . the group deal reunited koin khon ksnw and ksnt with several former emmis owned stations which had been purchased by lin seven years earlier such as krqe in albuquerque new mexico wala tv in mobile alabama and wluk tv in green bay wisconsin koin krqe ksnw and ksnt had also been sister stations under lee enterprises . on march 21 2014 media general announced that it would purchase lin media and its stations including koin in a 1.6 billion merger . 17 the merger was completed on december 19 . 18 less than a year later on september 8 2015 media general announced that it would acquire the meredith corporation for 2.4 billion with the combined group to be renamed meredith media general once the sale is finalized by june 2016 . because meredith already owns fox affiliate kptv channel 12 and the two stations rank among the four highest rated stations in the portland market in total day viewership the companies will be required to sell either kptv or koin to comply with fcc ownership rules as well as recent changes to those rules regarding same market television stations that restrict sharing agreements ; kptv s mynetworktv affiliated sister station kpdx channel 49 can remain with either kptv or koin or be spun off to the suitor as its total day viewership ranks below the top four ratings threshold . 19 20 however the proposed deal with meredith would later fall apart and on january 27 2016 it was announced that the nexstar broadcasting group would buy media general for 4.6 billion . koin will become part of nexstar media group and will be the company s first station in oregon . 21 digital television edit digital channels edit on january 11 2016 koin activated digital subchannel 6.2 which carried a standard definition version of koin and cbs programming for the next twenty days . at 12 05 a.m. pst on february 1 2016 subchannel 6.2 began carrying gettv programming . on march 10 2016 koin activated digital subchannel 6.3 and began carrying decades programming . channel video aspect psip short name programming 22 6.1 1080i 16 9 koin hd main koin programming cbs 6.2 480i 4 3 gettv gettv 6.3 16 9 decades decades analog to digital conversion edit koin shut down its analog signal over vhf channel 6 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 remained