1997, the station's general manager concocted a promotional strategy, known as the "Power of 2", by which the station acquired two news helicopters, in an attempt to increase falling ratings, even though the news director had previously said helicopters were primarily a marketing tool. The campaign was produced with such secrecy that its first airing took newsroom employees by surprise. Within a month of the highly publicized debut of the second helicopter, the leased helicopter, "JetRanger II", crashed and burned in November while harvesting Christmas trees. By 2021, KATU had returned to first place in early and late evening news in total viewership, though Fox affiliate KPTV beat it out in morning news. That year, the station attracted industry attention for suspending an entire day of newscasts so the station staff could take stress management training in light of increasing burnout in television news. Notable former on-air staff Dick Bogle – reporter, and later anchor, from 1968 to 1982; later a city council member Anna Canzano – anchor/investigative reporter Jack Faust – hosted the weekly public affairs show Town Hall for 13 years (1980–1993) Rob Marciano – meteorologist (1997–2003) Cathy Marshall – reporter/anchor (1998–2003) Tom Rinaldi – lead reporter for ESPN and contributor to ESPN College Football, now with Fox Sports Roger Twibell – sports reporter (1973–75), now sportscaster for CBS Sports Network Brian Wood – reporter/anchor (2008–2021) Linda Yu – news anchor (1975) Technical information Subchannels The station's digital signal is multiplexed: The 32.1 subchannel for KRCW-TV is broadcast by KATU as part of Portland's ATSC 3.0 (NextGen TV) deployment plan; in exchange, KRCW-TV broadcasts KATU in that format. Translators KATU is additionally rebroadcast over a network of sixteen low-power digital translator stations: Astoria: K26DB-D Baker Valley: K27MX-D Corvallis: K08PZ-D Hood River: K28CQ-D La Grande: K32LY-D La Grande: K35GA-D Lincoln City, etc.: K32NK-D Madras: K26NX-D Milton-Freewater: K28FT-D Pendleton: K34DI-D Prineville: K35LD-D Rainier: K31HK-D Rockaway Beach: K23NS-D The Dalles: K18HH-D Tillamook: K34PJ-D Grays River/Lebam, WA: K20NL-D References External links ABC network affiliates Charge! (TV network) affiliates Comet (TV network) affiliates Stadium (sports network) affiliates Sinclair Broadcast Group Peabody Award winners Television channels and stations established in 1962 ATU 1962 establishments in Oregon