tv kgwb kgwp kgwa kgwn dt2 kgwy kgwz ld or kgw . 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 . november 2007 learn how and when to remove this template message kgw portland oregon united states branding kgw general ; visually displayed as kgw 8 kgw news newscasts slogan we re on it channels digital 8 vhf virtual 8 psip subchannels 8.1 nbc 8.2 justice network 8.3 estrella tv translators see list below affiliations nbc 1959 present owner tegna inc. sander operating co. iii llc d b a kgw television first air date december 15 1956 ; 59 years ago 1956 12 15 call letters meaning keep growing wiser 1 sister station s kgwz ld northwest cable news king kong krem kskn ktvb ktft former callsigns kgw tv 1956 1994 former channel number s analog 8 vhf 1956 2009 digital 46 uhf 2000 2009 former affiliations primary abc 1956 1959 dt2 nbc weather plus 2004 2008 kgw weather channel 2008 2009 local news and weather 2010 2012 live well network 2012 2015 transmitter power 45 kw height 524 metres 1 719 feet facility id 34874 transmitter coordinates 45 31 20.5 n 122 44 50.1 w 45.522361 n 122.747250 w 45.522361 ; 122.747250 licensing authority federal communications commission public license information profile cdbs website www.kgw.com kgw vhf digital channel 8 is an nbc affiliated television station located in portland oregon united states . the station is owned by tegna inc. kgw maintains studios on jefferson street in southwestern portland and its transmitter is located in the city s sylvan highlands section . kgw also serves as the portland bureau for co owned regional news channel northwest cable news and produces news segments for the channel . contents 1 history 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 4 former local programming 5 news operation 5.1 notable current on air staff 5.2 notable former on air staff 6 translators 7 references 8 external links history edit the station was an extension of radio station kgw 620 am now kpoj . the oregonian newspaper created kgw am by purchasing an existing transmitter from the shipowners radio service . the u.s. department of commerce licensed the station and it began broadcasting on march 25 1922 2 after a test transmission two days earlier . 3 among the station s early personalities was the man of 1000 voices mel blanc who debuted on the radio program the hoot owls . the station s studios and transmitter were located in the oregonian building 4 5 of 1892 until 1943 when a fire destroyed them 6 and the station moved to other quarters . 5 the oregonian applied for and received a federal communications commission fcc construction permit for a television station in 1947 but later returned it in order to focus on its core newspaper business . it later bought koin am and used it to start koin tv channel 6 . citation needed the oregonian sold kgw am fm to north pacific television a consortium of seattle businesswoman dorothy bullitt and five portland businessmen on november 1 1953 . bullitt s king broadcasting company who also owned king am fm tv in seattle was the largest shareholder in the venture with a 40 percent stake . bullitt eventually bought out her partners and kgw tv signed on the air on december 15 1956 on channel 8 as an abc affiliate . on april 26 1959 it swapped affiliations with kptv channel 12 becoming an nbc affiliate kgw s sister station king tv in seattle also switched from abc to nbc with komo tv at the same time . the kgw tv tower was a prominent victim of the northwest s historic and violent columbus day storm on october 12 1962 . citation needed the station returned to the air on october 16 using a temporary tower as well as an antenna on loan from ktnt tv now kstw of tacoma washington . a new antenna and tower were placed into service on january 28 1963 . kgw s main studios in january 1964 kgw began building a new broadcast center at 1501 sw jefferson street 7 which has served as its headquarters and main studios location ever since . the station moved into the new facility from an old building located two blocks to the east in 1965 the radio facilities in the spring 8 and the television facilities in july 1965 . 9 located at the west edge of downtown portland the two story building had approximately 54 000 sq ft 5 000 m2 of space . 9 in 1992 king broadcasting which also included king tv in seattle krem tv in spokane washington ktvb in boise idaho and khnl in honolulu hawaii merged with the providence journal company . only five years later in 1997 kgw became part of the belo corporation when it bought the providence journal company . kgw s logo used from september 1999 january 21 2008 . kgw s logo used from january 22 2008 to july 21 2014 . kgw aired a portland trail blazers game in high definition on october 24 2007 . on october 12 2011 kgw announced that unless a new contract agreement could be reached that it would drop the station from directv s channel lineup . 10 this contract dispute that involved directv and belo would also remove sister station king tv from directv in the seattle market . 11 on november 1 2011 directv reached an agreement with belo 10 to continue carrying kgw and king on directv . 11 on june 13 2013 the gannett company announced that it would acquire belo . however since gannett owns the statesman journal newspaper in salem within kgw s viewing area kgw was instead sold to sander media llc owned by former belo executive jack sander with gannett operating kgw through joint sales and shared services agreements in order to comply with the fcc s cross ownership restrictions . 12 13 the sale was completed on december 23 . 14 on june 29 2015 gannett s publishing and digital media operations were spun off with the latter renamed tegna inc. 15 shortly afterward sander media filed with the fcc to transfer kgw s license to tegna s king broadcasting company ; 16 the acquisition was completed on december 3 2015 . 17 digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital channel is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 18 8.1 1080i 16 9 kgw main kgw tv programming nbc 8.2 480i 4 3 kgwjc justice network 8.3 16 9 kgwest estrella tv kgw provided a 24 hour weather forecast service on digital subchannel 8.2 through the digital television transition until the september 14 2009 launch of estrella tv . citation needed on august 2 2010 kgw restored the 24 hour news and weather channel on 8.2 and moved estrella tv programming to digital subchannel 8.3 . on december 3 2012 kgw placed live well network on kgw 8.2 . justice network replaced live well network on january 20 2015 . analog to digital conversion edit on july 18 2008 at 6 14 p.m. kgw conducted a test for viewers to determine whether their television sets were ready for the digital transition by turning off its analog signal for 10 seconds which the station conducted other times through the spring of 2009 . in early 2009 kgw along with other stations that had already added digital television technology began broadcasting on its digital channel and those without cable or satellite service could purchase dta digital to analog converter boxes . the u.s. government distributed credit card coupons to get as much as a 50 discount on the boxes with a limit of two coupons per household . the boxes would accept the digital signal and convert it back to analog so that older televisions could pick up the signal . it is estimated that 20 % of television watching households in the portland area use the over the air signal for tv services making the coupon program very popular in portland . citation needed kgw shut down its analog signal over vhf channel 8 at 3 04 a.m. 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 46 to vhf channel 8 . 19 20 at 3 43 a.m. kgw completed its digital conversion when it shut down its temporary digital transmitter on uhf channel 46 and switched digital operations to channel 8 . programming edit syndicated programming on this station includes t.d. jakes the ellen degeneres show and inside edition . along with nbc network programming the station also airs some local programs such as a daily one hour talk show called portland today and a local half hour news magazine live at 7 and select portland trail blazers game telecasts even as nbc itself no longer televises nba games . the station preempts the saturday edition of today in favor of its extended weekend morning newscasts . former local programming edit original local programming in the 80s included the award winning quiz show on the spot airing daily from 1984 88 and the lottery based game show the money game airing saturday nights after the six o clock news from 1988 90 . news operation edit exterior of kgw s 2009 opened studio at pioneer courthouse square . kgw presently broadcasts 38 hours of locally produced newscasts each week with six hours on weekdays and four hours each on saturdays and sundays . in addition the station produces a nightly half hour primetime newscast at 10 p.m. for cw affiliate krcw as the tribune broadcasting owned station does not operate a news department of its own . citation needed kgw tv s original evening news team remained intact for more than seven years a rarity in the broadcast industry . anchors richard ross and ivan smith commentator tom mccall sportscaster doug lamear and meteorologist jack capell were the faces of kgw s news beat from sign on in december 1956 until early 1964 when mccall left the air to run for oregon secretary of state . mccall won election that fall and was elected governor of oregon two years later . ross anchored kgw s nightly news northwest tonight until 1975 and lamear and capell remained on channel 8 for at least another two decades after ross departure for rival katu channel 2 . citation needed on january 21 2008 kgw became the first television station in the portland market to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition . citation needed along with a newly renovated studio the station shortened its brand from kgw northwest newschannel 8 to kgw newschannel 8 updated its logo graphics and debuted version 3 of 615 music s the tower music package . in november 2008 kgw retrofitted its news helicopter with an hd camera . 21 in 2008 2009 the station developed a high definition news studio in downtown portland at pioneer courthouse square in a space previously occupied by powell s books . regular broadcasts from the location that kgw named the studio on the square began on march 17 2009 22 with the 4 30 a.m. newscast . kgw s weekday morning noon 4 and 7 p.m. newscasts originate from the downtown location . 23 notable current on air staff edit john canzano sports cathy marshall news anchor ; formerly anchor at katu notable former on air staff edit mel blanc deceased 1989 performer on the hoot owls colin cowherd now host of fox sports radio s the herd with colin cowherd ann curry former anchor and newsreader on nbc s today eric johnson sports