KPDX
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. As such, it is the only major commercial station in Portland that is licensed to the Washington side of the market.
 | |
| Vancouver, Washington– Portland–Salem, Oregon United States | |
|---|---|
| City | Vancouver, Washington |
| Channels | Digital: 30 (UHF) Virtual: 49 (PSIP) |
| Branding | Fox 12 Plus |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations |
|
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Meredith Corporation (KPTV-KPDX Broadcasting Corporation) |
| Sister stations | KPTV |
| History | |
| Founded | March 30, 1981 |
| First air date | October 9, 1983 |
| Former channel number(s) | Analog: 49 (UHF, 1983–2009) Digital: 48 (UHF, 2004–2009) |
| Former affiliations | Independent (1983–1988) Fox (1988–2008; secondary after 2002) UPN (2002–2006) |
| Call sign meaning | PDX = Portland's IATA airport code[1] |
| Technical information | |
| Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 35460 |
| ERP | 741 kW |
| HAAT | 528 m (1,732 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 45°31′18″N 122°44′57″W |
| Translator(s) | KUBN-LD 49 (9 VHF) Bend (for others, see below) |
| Links | |
| Public license information | Profile LMS |
| Website | www |
KPDX is owned by the Meredith Local Media subsidiary of Des Moines, Iowa-based Meredith Corporation, as part of a duopoly with Portland-licensed Fox affiliate KPTV (channel 12). Although the two stations share studios on NW Greenbrier Parkway in Beaverton and transmitter facilities in the Sylvan-Highlands section of Portland, master control and some internal operations are based at Meredith's West Coast hub facility at the studios of CBS-affiliated sister station KPHO-TV in Phoenix, Arizona.
On cable, KPDX is available on channel 13 on Comcast Xfinity and other providers in the market. The station's signal is relayed in Central Oregon through translator station KUBN-LD (channel 9) in Bend, making the station available in about two-thirds of the state.
Since February 2018, KPDX has been branded as Fox 12 Plus, an extension of the branding used by KPTV.[2]
History
As an independent station
In August 1980, the local KLRK Broadcasting Corporation filed an application to construct a new TV station on channel 49 at Vancouver.[3] The construction permit was granted by the Federal Communications Commission on January 5, 1981, and took the KLRK call letters, representing Clark County. KLRK foresaw an independent station emphasizing sports and news from Washington.[4] However, work came to a halt when KLRK ran out of money to build the facility. In late 1981, Camellia City Telecasters, the owner of KTXL-TV in Sacramento, California, filed to buy the construction permit, an action decried by newly built KECH-TV (channel 22 in Salem) and Cascade Video, applicant for a station on channel 40.[5] Camellia's entry in the Portland market was significant because it bought rights to $10 million of films and syndicated programs, which particularly harmed KECH.[6]
Channel 49 would miss several planned launch dates due to multiple factors, including delays in the shipment of structural steel being used to erect its tower, being shared with KOAP-TV and KOPB-FM despite reluctance from the station,[7] in the West Hills.[8] Camellia also changed the call sign to KPDX, representing Portland's airport code and the company's understanding that the station needed a more regional appeal to succeed[9] Channel 49 finally signed on October 7, 1983.[10] It maintained a main studio in Vancouver and a production facility in Portland.[8] KPDX was a general entertainment independent station; the station's format consisted of cartoons, sitcoms, classic movies, drama series and religious programs.
Portland had been big enough since at least the 1960s to support a second independent station alongside long-established KPTV. 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
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 was a de facto independent station because Fox would have only select days of primetime programming at that time (it would finally have programming on all seven days a week in 1993). The station relocated its studios to a new building located on NE Union Avenue (now Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard) in Portland by 1989, by which point they had rebranded themselves as 'Fox 49'. 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 and WHNS were 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
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 semi-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. Meredith took advantage of the KPTV acquisition by moving the latter station from its older downtown studios and into the new modern facility built for KPDX in Beaverton.
As a MyNetworkTV affiliate
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 The CW, a new "fifth" network that would combine programming from both The WB and UPN.[11][12] 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.[13][14] 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 one implemented at future MyNetworkTV station WDCA in Washington, D.C. (which branded as "DCA 20") in using the last three letters of its callsign as its station branding. KPDX retained this branding following MyNetworkTV's launch, and is one of the few MyNetworkTV affiliates to not adopt the network's "blue TV" logo and/or branding style at any point.
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 was finalized by June 2016. Because Media General already owns CBS affiliate KOIN (channel 6) and Meredith owns KPTV and KPDX, the companies would have been 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 was the only one of the three stations affected by the merger that could legally be acquired by Meredith Media General, as its total day viewership ranks below the top-four ratings threshold.[15][16] 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.
On February 12, 2018, KPDX branding was changed from PDX-TV to "Fox 12 Plus", as an extension of KPTV's "Fox 12 Oregon" branding.[2]
Digital television
Digital channels
The station's digital signal is multiplexed:
| Channel | Video | Aspect | PSIP Short Name | Programming[17] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 49.1 | 720p | 16:9 | FOX 12+ | Main KPDX-TV programming / MyNetworkTV |
| 49.2 | 480i | ESCAPE | Court TV Mystery | |
| 49.3 | BOUNCE | Bounce TV | ||
| 49.4 | GRIT | Grit |
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
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 moved its digital signal 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),[18][19][20] using PSIP to display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 49.
Newscasts
During the 1990s as a Fox affiliate, KPDX ran a half-hour 10 p.m. newscast that was produced by CBS affiliate KOIN 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 KPTV'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 to 10 a.m.) called More Good Day Oregon, which featured various entertainment and lifestyles topics from a seasoned panel of experts; the program was cancelled in 2012 and was replaced by syndicated programming. On September 29, 2014, KPDX expanded its evening news programming with the launch of an hour-long 9:00 p.m. newscast, resulting in KPTV producing three hours of news in primetime (two hours on channel 49, as well as the flagship hour-long 10:00 p.m. broadcast on channel 12); as a result, the station delayed MyNetworkTV programming later in the evening.[21][22] The 9 p.m. Newscast actually premiered on Monday, August 25, 2014, nearly a month earlier than originally announced.
Repeater stations
KPDX is rebroadcast on the following network of translator stations.
| Active translators | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Callsign | City | |||||||||
| K20DD-D | Albany Due to Temporary Issues Only KPTV 12.1, 12.2, 12.3 are being shown as of 5/8/17 | |||||||||
| K20EH-D | Hood River | |||||||||
| K23DB-D | La Grande | |||||||||
| K27NZ-D | Longview, WA | |||||||||
| K51FK-D | Rockaway Beach | |||||||||
| K22KC-D | The Dalles | |||||||||
Central Oregon-area translators
Eugene Market, Cottage Grove
| Eugene market translators | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Callsign | City | |||||||||
| K44JP-D | Cottage Grove | |||||||||
South Lane Television combines the KPDX and KPTV signals on their channel 44 translator.
Portland-area translators
When KPDX became a Fox affiliate in 1988, the station's signal was spotty in several areas around Portland. For KPDX to provide better signal coverage in these areas, several translator stations were activated.
Meredith Corporation combines the KPDX and KPTV signals on their channel 19 translator.
The channel 14 and 18 translators signed on the air on May 1, 1994. The channel 16 translator began in 1992 as an independent low-power television station that was owned by Kenneth J. Seymour, carrying programming from Main Street Television and The Opportunity Channel. Later in 1992, the station was acquired by KPDX, and became a translator of the station. It was shut down in 1999 due to the loss of its transmitter site lease and duplication of signal by channel 14 in Camas; the license was returned to the FCC in 2002. Channel 14 was shut down in 2012.
By FCC mandate, low-power stations operating on UHF channels 52 to 69 were required to vacate those channels by December 31, 2011.[23]
References
- Nelson, Bob (June 2, 2009). "Call Letter Origins". 238. The Broadcast Archive. Archived from the original on February 18, 2016. Retrieved June 21, 2009.
- "KPDX to become FOX 12 Plus". KPTV. January 24, 2018. Retrieved March 9, 2018.
- FCC History Cards for KPDX
- "Vancouver TV planned". Statesman-Journal. Associated Press. December 4, 1980. p. 10C. Retrieved February 13, 2020.
- Cowan, Ron (April 8, 1982). "FCC taking time on KECH-KLRK case". Statesman-Journal. p. 13C. Retrieved February 13, 2020.
- Cowan, Ron (November 13, 1981). "New UHF channel has way to go if it plans to compete with cable". Statesman-Journal. p. 8D. Retrieved February 13, 2020.
- Cowan, Ron (April 9, 1983). "Move set for Portland OPB transmission". Statesman-Journal. p. 4B. Retrieved February 13, 2020.
- "Debut of KPDX-TV station in Portland area delayed". Statesman-Journal. July 31, 1983. p. 8E. Retrieved February 13, 2020.
- Cowan, Ron (May 20, 1983). "UHF station KPDX plans summer startup". Statesman-Journal. p. 2D. Retrieved February 13, 2020.
- "KPDX hopes to be at full power today". Statesman-Journal. October 12, 1983. p. 11A. Retrieved February 13, 2020.
- 'Gilmore Girls' meet 'Smackdown'; CW Network to combine WB, UPN in CBS-Warner venture beginning in September, CNNMoney.com, January 24, 2006.
- UPN and WB to Combine, Forming New TV Network, The New York Times, January 24, 2006.
- "News Corp. to launch new mini-network for UPN stations". USA Today. February 22, 2006. Retrieved January 21, 2013.
- News Corp. Unveils MyNetworkTV, Broadcasting & Cable, February 22, 2006.
- "Media General Acquiring Meredith For 2.4 Billion". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheck Media. September 8, 2015.
- Cynthia Littleton (September 8, 2015). "TV Station Mega Merger: Media General Sets $2.4 Billion Acquisition of Meredith Corp". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved September 9, 2015.
- RabbitEars TV Query for KPDX
- "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 29, 2013. Retrieved March 24, 2012.
- "Portland TV stations backtrack, delay digital transition". The Oregonian. February 6, 2009.
- CDBS Print
- KPTV/KPDX Launching 9:00pm Newscast, TVSpy, May 22, 2014.
- FOX 12 / PDX TV announces new 9 p.m. newscast, KPTV, May 21, 2014.
- FCC Sets Deadlines for LPTV, TV Translator and Class A Stations To Convert to Digital - And Gives Hints When Television Spectrum May Be Reclaimed for Broadband Broadcast Law Blog July 19, 2011
External links
- Official website
- KPDX in the FCC's TV station database
- KUBN-LD in the FCC's TV station database
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KPDX-TV