Dave Knows Portland

Cascadia.fm is Dead . . . Long Live Cascadia.fm!

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Cascadia.FMCascadia.fm, the local Robert Wagner-masterminded podcast powerhouse, officially launched just over a year ago. It was preceded by about two years by the not quite so geographically ambitious PDX.fm. And today Robert Wagner has announced that Cascadia.FM has been sold.

It’s with a bit of both trepidation and reluctance that I must announce that on Thursday, November 10th, 2011, Cascadia.fm was sold to an Internet radio start up based in southern California.

The new owners are purchasing the Cascadia.fm name, website and social media assets, and streaming servers and all related software (both proprietary and not). The sale did not include any contracts with any existing Cascadia.fm podcasts or personalities as none exist, nor does the purchaser wish to retain any of the existing programming.

Cascadia.fm as we know it now will be turned off at 5pm on Friday, November 18th, 2011. What this means for individual podcasts has yet to be determined (though Knit Happens and Cort & Fatboy have already assuaged fears), but Wagner has made his own resources available to the podcast hosts, and, he has promised, Portland Sucks will continue.

Visit Cascadia.fm for the answers to many of your questions, and visit RobWagPDX.com for even more clarification, including clues as to what Robert Wagner is working on next.

Match Day (14-October-2011): Portland Timbers vs. Houston Dynamo

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Portland TimbersThe Portland Timbers (11-13-7) host the Houston Dynamo (10-9-13) tonight at Jeld-Wen Field in the final home match of the regular season.

The Timbers are on the cusp of the last playoff position, and three points Friday night would pull them even with Houston at 43 points. Win, draw, or lose Friday, the playoff picture may not become clear for a few more weeks: only 5 points currently separate Colorado, New York, Houston and Portland for the last spot. The Timbers play two more regular seasons matches, on the road, after Friday.

The match kicks off at 7:30pm, and will be broadcast on Root Sports. Listen to the game on 750 AM The Game and La Pantera 940 AM.

Match previews and intrigue

Match Day (21-September-2011): Portland Timbers vs. San Jose Earthquakes

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Portland TimbersThe Portland Timbers (10-12-6) return to Jeld-Wen Field today to take on the San Jose Earthquakes (6-11-11).

Portland is in excellent form of late, especially on the defensive end, with three shutouts in a row. Still on the cusp (at the moment, the wrong side of it) of a playoff position, a win tonight will only do them favors. San Jose are not in particularly good form (record last five: L-L-T-W-L), but are always dangerous with scorer Chris Wondolowski, who has already garnered 10 goals this season on 81 shots.

The match kicks off at 7:30pm, and will be broadcast on KPTV and estrellaTV 8.3. Listen to the game on 750 AM The Game and La Pantera 940 AM.

Match previews and intrigue

September 20, 1952: Portland’s First Television Station, KPTV, Broadcasts First Program

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"KPTV Signal Starts in City" (The Oregonian, 19 September 1952)Portland’s first television station, KPTV, broadcast its first programming on September 20, 1952. KPTV, which originally broadcast on channel 27, was the world’s first commercial UHF band television station (The Oregonian, 19 September 1952).

The test pattern (pictured to the right), which began at 12:01am on September 18, 1952, was the very first telecast from KPTV’s Council Crest tower. The programming on September 20, starting at 4:30pm, featured three shows:

  • The first, sponsored by RCA, was a half hour film about the first experimental UHF station, KC2XAKUHF channel 24, in Bridgeport, Connecticut. It was introduced with a speech by Herbert Mayer, who ran Empire Coil Company, KPTV’s parent company.
  • At 5pm the station joined the network to present the All Star Review, a one-hour program starring Jimmie Durante and Margaret Truman.
  • Sid Caesar’s Your Show of Shows came on at 6pm, and the station signed off at 7:30pm.

For most of that first year KPTV used shows from all the networks: ABC, CBS, DuMont, and NBC. On June 1, 1953 it became an NBC affiliate, and KOIN, Portland’s first VHF TV station, began broadcasting a year later as a CBS affiliate.

Further reading: Yesterday’s KPTV

“Facts That Show Portland’s Greatness”

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Facts That Show Portland's Greatness (Morning Oregonian, 02-04-1911)

No, this isn’t from a recent vintage New York Times. This formidable compendium appeared in a special edition of the Morning Oregonian, on February 4, 1911, celebrating The Oregonian‘s first 50 years as a daily newspaper. The previous day’s paper explained that the special edition’s text had been prepared carefully and its pictures selected with a view of giving people unfamiliar with Portland and Oregon a clear conception of the city and the state. All manner of Oregon and Portland boasting ensued.

Click the image above to see it full size. Or visit The Oregonian archives yourself – if you have a Multnomah County Library card, you have access.