Much of KGW’s early programming was live and locally produced

*KGW TV was an extension of radio station KGW (620 AM). 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.

The Oregonian applied for and received an FCC 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.

Konnie G Worth was popular at KGW

North Pacific Television, Inc. acquired KGW and KGW-FM on November 1, 1953. The group was owned by a group of five Portland businessmen and Seattle businesswoman Dorothy Bullitt. Bullit's King Broadcasting Company owned a 40 percent stake in the venture. Bullitt eventually gained full control of the stations, 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, becoming an NBC affiliate. (KGW's sister station, KING-TV in Seattle, also switched from ABC to NBC at the same time.)

The KGW-TV tower was a prominent victim of the Northwest's historic, violent Columbus Day Storm on Friday, October 12, 1962. KGW was back on the air Tuesday night, October 16, using a temporary tower, plus an antenna on loan from KTNT-TV of Tacoma, Wash. A new antenna and tower were placed into service on January 28, 1963.

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 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.

In 1992, the Bullitt family sold KING Broadcasting (which also included KING-TV in Seattle, KREM-TV in Spokane, Washington, KTVB-TV in Boise, Idaho and KHNL-TV in Honolulu, Hawaii) to the Providence Journal Corporation. Belo Corp purchased "ProJo" in 1998, gaining control of all the former KING Broadcasting stations.

Locally, KGW broadcasts some Portland Trail Blazers games as well as local programming in High Definition. KGW broadcasts NBC Weather Plus on DTV 8.2 and on Comcast Cable channel 308. NBC Weather Plus features the First Alert Storm Team for local forecasts.

On October 24, 2007, KGW made history when they aired a locally produced Blazers game in HD, the first local HD broadcast on KGW. NBC programming has been broadcast by KGW in HD for a couple years.

KGW began broadcasting their local newscasts in HD on January 21, 2008. If was just announced that KGW is building a new million-dollar studio in the center of Portland’s Living Room, Pioneer Courthouse Square. Morning and noontime news will originate from KGW’s Window on the Square. They anticipate having Portland’s first Jumbo Size HD Screen for those who visit Portland’s Living Room  in time for the Summer Olympics.

*Information provided by Wikipedia.com