icao code kptv see porterville municipal airport . for the nampa boise idaho station formerly known as fox 12 see ktrv tv . 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 . december 2012 learn how and when to remove this template message kptv portland oregon united states branding fox 12 oregon general fox 12 news newscasts slogan first . live . local . channels digital 12 vhf virtual 12 psip subchannels 12.1 fox 12.2 cozi tv 12.3 laff translators see article affiliations fox since 2002 ; also from 1986 1988 owner meredith corporation kptv kpdx broadcasting corporation first air date september 20 1952 ; 64 years ago 1952 09 20 call letters meaning portland television 1 sister station s kpdx former channel number s analog 27 uhf 1952 1957 12 vhf 1957 2009 digital 30 uhf 2000 2009 former affiliations primary nbc 1952 1959 abc 1959 1964 independent 1964 1986 1988 1995 upn 1995 2002 secondary cbs 1952 1953 abc 1952 1955 dumont 1952 1955 transmitter power 24.5 kw height 529 metres 1 736 feet facility id 50633 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.kptv.com kptv channel 12 is the fox affiliated television station for portland oregon . the station is owned by meredith corporation as part of a duopoly with mynetworktv affiliate kpdx channel 49 . the two stations share studios on nw greenbrier parkway in beaverton while its 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 . contents 1 history 1.1 early years 1.2 first stint as an independent station 1.3 first fox affiliation then back to independence 1.4 upn affiliation 1.5 return to fox 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 3.1 the institution of perry mason at noon 4 news operation 4.1 notable current on air staff 4.2 notable former on air staff 5 repeater stations 6 see also 7 references 8 external links history edit early years edit 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 . 2 the first experimental uhf station was bridgeport connecticut s kc2xak 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 cbs nbc and the dumont television network . cbs programming was dropped 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 and dumont programming . kptv also aired programs from the short lived paramount television network during the early 1950s ; in fact it was one of that network s strongest affiliates carrying paramount programs such as time for beany 3 hollywood wrestling 3 and bandstand revue . 4 during the late 1950s the station was also briefly affiliated with the nta film network . 5 empire coil sold kptv and its other broadcast property wxel now wjw tv in cleveland to storer broadcasting on november 17 1954 . on august 11 1954 kptv became the first television station in portland to broadcast in color 6 three days before koin achieved the same milestone . 7 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 channel 8 when that station signed on the air in december . on april 17 1957 detroit 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 member station kopb tv 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 texas in 1967 that station used the callsign from its launch until 1999 ; it is now kiah . 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 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 . 8 kptv can boast being the home of the two top children s tv hosts in portland s history rusty nails a sweet natured clown who was the rough inspiration for the simpsons creator matt groening s krusty the klown ; and ramblin rod anders . while rusty nails ran three stooges shorts ramblin rod ran popeye cartoons . ramblin rod was the longest running kid s show in portland tv history airing from 1964 to 1997 . other kptv children s hosts included longtime kptv personality gene brendler who played bent nails rusty s brother and george ross who played dr. zoom . bob adkins better known as addie bobkins brought his show to kptv from eugene s kval tv in 1961 . addie bobkins featured a wise cracking beatnik hand puppet named weird beard . both ross and adkins ran a variety of cartoons to entertain the kids . first stint as an independent station edit on march 1 1964 kptv lost its abc affiliation to independent station katu 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 . 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 . 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 shortly before his death on october 5 1982 . kptv had originated telecasts of professional wrestling 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 and stan stasiak . portland wrestling s chief promoters were don owen and later former wrestler referee sandy barr . 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 dealer tom peterson . peterson was also the top sponsor for kptv s late night movies . kptv s studios and offices near sunset highway . in 1970 kptv became the first television station in the market to broadcast portland trail blazers basketball games with sports director 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. 9 kptv carried operation prime time programming at least in 1978 . 10 first fox affiliation then back to independence edit in october 1986 channel 12 became one of the original charter affiliates of the newly launched fox network although still programmed as independent as fox wouldn t start a full weeks worth of programming until 1993 . 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 sister station kmsp tv that were disappointed with the network s weak programming offerings . the station subsequently disaffiliated from the network that year and reverted to being an independent station . the fox affiliation shifted to kpdx 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 a programming service that chris craft had owned in conjunction with warner bros. entertainment . 11 12 upn affiliation edit 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 to form the united paramount network upn and both companies made independent 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 . 9 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 13 14 although the station remained with upn as an affiliate for another two years . return to fox edit 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 subsidiary of news corporation for 5.5 billion ; 15 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 in orlando and its gainesville semi satellite wogx 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 dropped its longtime moniker of oregon s 12 in favor of branding itself as fox 12 oregon . although kptv is the senior partner in the duopoly the merged operation was based at kpdx s 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 that brought