icao code kpdx see portland international airport . 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 kpdx vancouver washington portland oregon united states city vancouver washington branding pdx tv slogan totally entertaining tv channels digital 30 uhf virtual 49 psip subchannels 49.1 mynetworktv 49.2 escape translators kubn ld 43 bend for others see article affiliations mynetworktv 2006 present owner meredith corporation kptv kpdx broadcasting corporation first air date october 9 1983 ; 33 years ago 1983 10 09 call letters meaning pdx portland s iata airport code 1 sister station s kptv former channel number s analog 49 uhf 1983 2009 digital 48 uhf 2004 2009 former affiliations independent 1983 1988 fox 1988 2002 upn 2002 2006 transmitter power 749 kw height 513 metres 1 683 feet facility id 35460 transmitter coordinates 45 31 19 n 122 44 53 w 45.52194 n 122.74806 w 45.52194 ; 122.74806 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.kpdx.com kpdx virtual channel 49 uhf digital channel 30 is a mynetworktv affiliated television station serving portland oregon united states that is licensed to vancouver washington . it is the only major commercial station in portland that is licensed to the washington side of the market . the station is owned by the meredith corporation as part of a duopoly with fox affiliate kptv channel 12 . the two stations share studios located in beaverton . kpdx s transmitter is located in the sylvan highlands section of portland ; master control operations for both kptv and kpdx are located at meredith s west coast hub facility at the studios of phoenix arizona sister station kpho tv . the station is available on channel 13 on comcast and other local cable television providers in the market . kpdx s signal is relayed in central oregon through translator station kubn lp channel 43 in bend making the station available in about two thirds of the state . contents 1 history 1.1 as an independent station 1.2 as a fox affiliate 1.3 as a upn affiliate 1.4 as a mynetworktv affiliate 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 newscasts 4 repeater stations 4.1 central oregon area translators 4.2 eugene market cottage grove 4.3 portland area translators 5 references 6 external links history edit as an independent station edit channel 49 logo under fox affiliation . used until september 2 2002 . the station first signed on the air on october 9 1983 as a general entertainment independent station ; the station s format consisted of cartoons sitcoms classic movies drama series and religious programs . the station was originally owned by columbia river television . it was originally licensed under the call letters klrk but the station changed to the present kpdx callsign prior to the station s launch . 2 portland had been big enough since at least the 1960s to support a second independent station alongside long established kptv . the station first operated from studio facilities located in vancouver . however the portland market is a very large one geographically ; it stretches across a large swath of oregon as well as much of southwestern washington . the established stations needed an extensive translator network to reach the entire market an expense which stymied the first attempt at a second independent in the market salem based kvdo tv now bend oregon public broadcasting outlet koab tv . by the early 1980s however cable and satellite which are all but essential for acceptable television in the rural portions of the market had gained enough penetration for a second independent to be viable . although it was well behind kptv one of the strongest independent stations in the country kpdx more than held its own in its early years and received decent ratings . as a fox affiliate edit by 1988 kptv was one of several fox affiliates across the country that were disappointed with the network s weak programming offerings . kptv subsequently disaffiliated from the network that year and reverted to being an independent station . kpdx assumed the market s fox affiliation on august 29 1988 . however until 1993 the station had to be a de facto independent station because fox would have only select days of primetime programming at that time . the station later relocated its studios to a new building located on ne union avenue now martin luther king jr. boulevard in portland . columbia river television sold the station to cannell communications a broadcast group owned by television producer and author stephen j. cannell in 1992 . cannell sold both kpdx and sister station whns in greenville south carolina to first media television in 1994 . the station began to add more talk and children s programs in the 1990s . kpdx along with whns in greenville south carolina was acquired by meredith corporation in 1997 . it gradually drew closer to kptv as fox came into its own as a network . as a upn affiliate edit kpdx s upn logo . used from september 2 2002 april 1 2006 . meredith acquired kptv by then a upn affiliate in 2002 following a station swap with fox television stations which had acquired the station as part of chris craft united television s sale of its stations to fox in exchange for wofl in orlando florida and its satellite wogx in ocala . the kptv purchase resulted in the creation of the first television station duopoly in the portland market with kpdx . since kptv was still well ahead of kpdx in the ratings meredith opted to move the fox affiliation back to kptv on september 2 2002 . kpdx took the upn affiliation from kptv . however fox s saturday morning children s program lineup remained on kpdx where it continued to air under the brand 4kids tv until fox discontinued children s programming on december 27 2008 . although kptv was the senior partner in the new duopoly the combined operation was housed at kpdx facility in beaverton . as a mynetworktv affiliate edit on january 24 2006 the warner bros. unit of time warner and cbs corporation announced that the two companies would shut down the wb and upn and combine the networks respective programming to create a new fifth network called the cw . 3 4 the market s wb station kwbp channel 32 now krcw tv was named as the cw s portland affiliate through a 16 station group agreement with kwbp s owner the tribune company . one month later on february 22 2006 news corporation announced the launch of a new sixth network called mynetworktv which would be operated by fox television stations and its syndication division twentieth television . 5 6 on march 9 2006 it was announced that kpdx would become a charter affiliate of the new network . kpdx dropped the upn branding on april 1 2006 rebranding from upn 49 to pdx 49 and adopted a new logo in the process . this change of branding had been planned before upn s shutdown was announced but the timing of the change was convenient for the upcoming affiliation switch . kpdx s move mirrored those implemented at future mynetworktv stations wdca in washington d.c. which branded as dca 20 and kutp in phoenix which branded as phx 45 which began using the station s last three letters in their callsigns as its station branding . kpdx is one of nine mynetworktv affiliates not to adopt the network s blue tv logo and or branding style the others being ktrv kcwx kaut tv now a present day former fellow affiliate since kaut reverted to independent status karz tv wstr tv sister station ksmo tv wpme tv and madison wisconsin s digital subchannel of wisc tv . kpdx logo under the pdx 49 used from april 1 2006 to september 7 2008 ; this was the last logo used by the station to incorporate its channel number . on september 8 2008 kpdx moved mynetworktv programming from 8 10 p.m. to 9 11 p.m. making it one of five mynetworktv stations at the time that did not air the network s programming in its normal 8 10 p.m. timeslot kevu lp in eugene kron tv in san francisco kqca in sacramento which has since moved mynetworktv programming back to its normal 8 10 p.m. timeslot and kmyq now kzjo in seattle were the others . concurrent with the schedule change and in anticipation of the station s 25th anniversary kpdx s on air brand was modified from pdx 49 to pdx tv . on september 8 2015 media general announced that it would acquire meredith for 2.4 billion with the combined group to be renamed meredith media general once the sale is finalized by june 2016 . because media general already owns cbs affiliate koin channel 6 and meredith owns kptv and kpdx the companies will be required to sell either kptv or koin to comply with fcc ownership rules that forbid common ownership of two of the four highest rated television stations in a given market in total day viewership as well as recent changes to fcc ownership rules that restrict sharing agreements ; kpdx is the only one of the three stations affected by the merger that can legally be acquired by meredith media general as its total day viewership ranks below the top four ratings threshold . 7 8 however on january 27 2016 nexstar broadcasting group announced that it had reached an agreement to acquire media general resulting in the termination of meredith s acquisition by media general . digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital channel is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 9 49.1 720p 16 9 kpdx dt main kpdx tv programming mynetworktv 49.2 480i kpdx sd1 escape as of april 2011 satellite provider directv has yet to carry kpdx s high definition feed ; it continues to only carry the station s standard definition feed . analog to digital conversion edit kpdx tv shut down its analog signal over uhf channel 49 at 9 30 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 . a half hour earlier at 9 00 a.m. the station s digital signal relocated from its pre transition uhf channel 48 to channel 30 uhf channel 30 was previously used by sister station kptv for its digital signal that station vacated that allocation concurrently with kpdx s transition 10 11 12 using psip to display the station s virtual channel as its former uhf analog channel 49 . newscasts edit during the 1990s as a fox affiliate kpdx ran a half hour 10 p.m. newscast that was produced by cbs affiliate koin channel 6 through a news share agreement . in 2000 kpdx launched its own in house news department and began producing a nightly 10 p.m. newscast . upon the station s purchase by meredith kpdx s news operation was merged with kptv s news department although kptv s operations were actually moved into kpdx s newer facility located in beaverton and kpdx s existing 10 p.m. newscast was cancelled . on september 8 2008 kpdx began airing a kptv produced 8 p.m. newscast ; kptv s production of the hour long weeknight newscast makes that station one of only a few fox stations in the united states that produces a newscast for another station in the same market . on april 19 2010 kptv began producing a fifth hour of its weekday morning newscast good day oregon for kpdx running from 9 10 a.m. called more good day oregon which featured various entertainment and lifestyles topics