KUTF and KEBN: Construction
In 1983, the Federal Communications Commission received applications from several firms wishing to activate channel 32, an available commercial TV channel at Salem, Oregon. First to apply was Willamette Valley Broadcasting Co., Ltd., of Chattanooga, Tennessee, which proposed to air a family-friendly format with possible network affiliation. Its application proposed to erect a tower in the Eola Hills northwest of Salem, which faced opposition from aviation officials over impacts to nearby McNary Field.[1][2][3] Also filing was Salem Television Inc., a subsidiary of American Communications & Television of Gainesville, Florida,[4] which dropped out before the end of the year.[5]
Willamette Valley Broadcasting Co. was awarded the construction permit on May 22, 1984,[6] and promised to have channel 32 built in about 18 months. By 1985, the station had a call sign of KUTF and had changed its proposed transmitter site to one in Clackamas County.[7] Meanwhile, Willamette Valley Broadcasting was also attempting to firm up financing for the venture.[8]
By 1986, the permit was held by Dove Broadcasting, owner of Christian television station WGGS-TV in Greenville, South Carolina, which began fundraising activities. At the time, Salem's existing commercial station, KECH-TV (channel 22), aired the daily Nite Line Christian program produced by WGGS.[9] Dove had hoped for a mid-1987 start, but its plans were delayed two years for various reasons. The transmitter site was changed again to improve the coverage area,[10] and the new location, 15 mi from Molalla, was the subject of thefts; a 20-year-old transmitter purchased from a TV station in San Francisco was found to be defective and needed a total rebuild; and a four-wheel-drive vehicle was stolen.[11]
After a transmitter test on May 6, KUTF launched on May 8, 1989.[12] The station's original programming format consisted mostly of religious programs from FamilyNet as well as Nite Line,[13] with the South Carolina program later replaced with a local version.[14] Dove Broadcasting struggled to build a support base for KUTF. The station was not added to cable television systems, which Dove president Jimmy Thompson cited as a key reason viewership and donations were less than expected.[15] In May 1990, the station left the air for six days. According to station insiders, the Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart scandals gave potential supporters pause.[16]
In June 1991, Dove Broadcasting filed to sell KUTF to Communications Programming Agency, Inc., a company controlled by Glen and Beverly Chambers and Ronna Scott, for $800,000.[17] The new owners changed the program orientation of the station over the course of 1992. The ownership group took the name Eagle Broadcasting for its Oregon subsidiary[18] and relaunched the station as KEBN, "Oregon's New Eagle 32", which was a more conventionally programmed independent station with fewer religious programs, adding home shopping, classic reruns and movies, and weekend sports. Among the sports telecasts was a package of Seattle Mariners baseball games that every Portland-market station had turned down.[19] However, the rebrand did not solve its lack of cable carriage, which denied the station access to many potential viewers that were cable subscribers.[20]
By October 1992, the station had operations split between Salem and Beaverton, a suburb of Portland, and sought to consolidate them in Beaverton. On October 12, to conserve funds during the moving process, KEBN left the air for what a station spokesman expected to be a two- to four-week period.[21] At this time, the station was behind on its lease for the tower. By late 1993, a receiver had been appointed for the licensee, Willamette Valley Broadcasting, Ltd.[22]
KWBP: Portland's WB
The receiver filed to sell KEBN to Channel 32, Inc., at the end of 1993.[23] This company, formed to purchase the station, consisted of five major investors, including 49-percent owner and financier Roy Rose through his Peregrine Communications and Victor Ives, a veteran Portland radio and TV personality. While the deal was pending, KEBN returned to the air on a test basis in July 1994. Channel 32, Inc., also completed negotiations for KEBN to become Portland's affiliate of a forthcoming national network, The WB, and planned to change the call sign from KEBN to KPWB.[24] The station went from testing to a more normal on-air schedule in September 1994.[25] Under Ives, in addition to WB and syndicated programming, the station targeted specialized audiences with such features as live coverage of the murder trial of O. J. Simpson,[26] a daily Japanese-language newscast, and a package of Spanish-language movies.[27]
Duopoly with KOIN
After the Sinclair purchase fell apart, Nexstar Media Group acquired Tribune in 2019 for $6.9 billion in cash and debt on December 3, 2018.[49][50]
Nexstar owned KOIN, Portland's CBS affiliate, and moved to integrate KRCW with KOIN; in early 2020, the station's main studio was changed from its Beaverton site to KOIN Tower.[51] With the ownership change, beginning September 19, 2019, KOIN began producing the station's 10 p.m. newscast, replacing KGW after nearly 14 years.[52] The next month, Nexstar lengthened the newscast from 30 minutes to a full hour and created a new weekly sports highlight show, Game On!.[53]
