KRCW-TV (channel 32) is a television station licensed to Salem, Oregon, United States, serving as the Portland-area outlet for The CW. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside CBS affiliate KOIN (channel 6); Nexstar's Tegna subsidiary owns NBC affiliate KGW (channel 8). KRCW-TV and KOIN share studios in the basement of the KOIN Tower skyscraper on Southwest Columbia Street in downtown Portland; KRCW-TV's transmitter is located in the Sylvan-Highlands neighborhood of the city. Channel 32 began broadcasting as Christian station KUTF on May 8, 1989, from studios in Salem and a transmitter near Molalla. It was constructed by South Carolina–based Dove Broadcasting but never received adequate financial support from its viewers or coverage on local cable systems; it was off the air for six days in 1990, and Dove sold the station to Communications Programming Agency in 1991. The new owners relaunched the station as KEBN, a secular independent station known as "Oregon's New Eagle 32", in 1992. Amid moving the studio operation from Salem to Beaverton, the station went off the air in October 1992 and was later placed into receivership. Channel 32, Inc., purchased the station out of bankruptcy and returned it to the air in July 1994. KEBN affiliated with The WB at its January 1995 launch and became known as KWBP later that year. The station was sold twice during The WB's existence, first to ACME Television in 1997 and then to Tribune Broadcasting in 2003. KWBP and 15 other Tribune stations became charter affiliates of The CW upon its creation in September 2006. In 2019, Nexstar acquired Tribune, bringing KOIN and KRCW under the same ownership. Immediately, KOIN debuted expanded local newscasts on KRCW. KRCW-TV is one of two ATSC 3.0 (NextGen TV) host stations for the Portland market; in turn, other stations broadcast its subchannels on its behalf.
History
KUTF and KEBN: Construction In 1983, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) 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. Also filing was Salem Television Inc., a subsidiary of American Communications & Television of Gainesville, Florida, which dropped out before the end of the year. Willamette Valley Broadcasting Co. was awarded the construction permit on May 22, 1984, 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. Meanwhile, Willamette Valley Broadcasting was also attempting to firm up financing for the venture. 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. 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, and the new location, 15 miles (24 km) 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. After a transmitter test on May 6, KUTF launched on May 8, 1989. The station's original programming format consisted mostly of religious programs from FamilyNet as well as Nite Line, with the South Carolina program later replaced with a local version. 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. 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. 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. 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 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. However, the rebrand did not solve its lack of cable carriage, which denied the station access to many potential viewers that were cable subscribers. 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. 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.
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