The Columbus Day Storm of 1962 began as Typhoon Freda that formed 500 miles
from Wake Island in the central Pacific ocean and became an extratropical cyclone
as it headed towards the west coast of the United States. It was one of the most
intense storms to every strike the Pacific Northwest since 1948. Wind gusts reached
116 mph at Portland’s Morrison Street Bridge. In Salem a wind gust of 90 mph was observed. In less than 12 hours, over 11 billion board feet of timber was blown
down in northern California, Oregon and Washington combined.

The estimated dollar damage was around $280 million for California, Oregon and Washington combined, with nearly $200 million occurring in the state of Oregon
alone.  At least 46 fatalities were attributed to The Columbus Day Storm, more
than for any other wind storm in the Pacific Northwest, and injuries were in the
hundreds. A well-known insurance company called the Columbus Day Storm the
nation’s worst natural disaster of 1962.

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Spencer’s Mountain is a 1963 family film written, directed, and produced by
Delmar Daves from a novel by Earl Hamner, Jr. (The Waltons).

Bob Adkins (Addie Bobkins) interviews Mimsy Farmer and James
MacArthur, of the cast of Spencer’s Mountain, and the Director,
Delmar Daves (1963).

      
       
     Gene Autry  (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998)

Gene Autry gained fame as The Singing Cowboy on radio, in the movies
and on television for more than three decades beginning in the 1930s. His
signature song was "Back in the Saddle Again”, but he is best known today
for his Christmas songs, “Here Comes Santa Clause”, “Frosty the Snowman”,
and his biggest hit, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”.

Autry was also the owner of the Los Angeles/California Angels Major League
Baseball team from 1961 to 1997, a television station and several radio stations
in Southern California. On September 1, 1962, he bought Portland’s KEX radio 
from the Westinghouse Broadcasting Co. as part of his company, Golden West 
Broadcasters, Inc. He is a member of both the Country Music and Nashville Song 
writers halls of Fame and was recently made a member of the Baseball Hall of 
Fame in Cooperstown, NY.

Jim Abbott and Gene Autry in the Angels dugout in 1990 

 
KPTV’s First Test Pattern

 
Herbert Mayer

Portland’s local Fox-affiliated television station, KPTV channel 12 signed on the
air Saturday September 20, 1952 on channel 27, as Oregon’s first television
station, as well as the world’s first commercial TV station on the UHF band. The
station was originally owned by Empire Coil and since it was the only TV station
at the time, it carried all four networks: ABC, CBS, NBC, and the now-defunct
DuMont Television Network. KPTV founder Herbert Mayer (above) delivered
an inaugural address from Portland’s Benson Hotel.