Originally intended as a local independent station serving the Willamette Valley, financial considerations resulted in a contested sale to Liberty Television, owner of KEZI in Eugene, Oregon, in 1972.

[6] Approval of a higher-power facility was stalled when a party attempted to move a channel 3 allocation from Lewiston, Idaho, to Richland, Washington, which would have left the proposed KSLM-TV short-spaced by just 0.5 miles of the minimum 190.

[7] Tower approval was still pending when it was announced on April 19, 1956, that the construction permit would be bought by then-UHF station KPTV (channel 27) at Portland to allow it to move to VHF.

[19] Ultimately, however, four parties filed: Willamette-Land, Fisher, Oregon Faculties (owner of the KIEM stations in Eureka, California), and KPTV.

Other groups that had pushed for the channel at that time included former governor Robert D. Holmes, vice president of the Salem Television Co.,[24] Fisher Broadcasting, and Gordon Allen.

That prompted protests from Eugene's two television stations, KEZI and KVAL-TV, who claimed that the technical proposal would have resulted in a new competitor in their market and asked for hearings on the application.

[35][36] Station officials were pleased with the quality, but Corvallis High School noted a steep drop in gate revenue compared to other games that season.

[29] When KOIN-TV's tower collapsed in March 1971, KVDO-TV stepped in on an emergency basis to carry CBS network programming until the Portland station could return to the air.

[38] In doing so, KVDO-TV extended its broadcast day beyond 3:30 p.m. for the first time, clearing the entire CBS schedule and moving its own local shows to fill gaps in the network lineup.

[39] In August 1971, Channel 3, Inc., reached terms to sell KVDO-TV to Liberty Television, Inc., owner of ABC-affiliated KEZI in Eugene, in what was announced as a merger of the two stations.

[42] In September 1972, the FCC approved the sale, waiving its signal overlap and cable cross-ownership rules, but attaching a condition that Liberty was to sell KVDO-TV within three years; in allowing the transaction, it cited the risk of a financial collapse of Salem's only television station.

[43] The unusual stipulation from the FCC came as a surprise to officials on both sides of the transaction; upon its closure, Godsil noted that KVDO-TV would not carry any ABC programs and would continue as an independent.

[45] By October 1974, two years into the three-year period allowed by the FCC for KEZI to own KVDO-TV, Liberty Television began to scout potential uses for the station, which was not profitable.

[46] Chemeketa Community College took the lead by December when it was noted that Eugene's KVAL-TV had pledged $200,000 over four years to assist in the conversion of KVDO-TV to educational status.

[53] The bid to buy the station appeared dead, but it was revived in June by the Ways and Means Committee, which approved a measure authorizing the Oregon Emergency Board to administer the purchase.

[57] By this time, the station had cut down its schedule of programs to five and a half hours a day: an hour-long show known as Valley View, two newscasts, and a movie.

One came from a shareholder in Liberty Television,[61] while the other came from Rick Adams, the owner of a Salem Christian bookstore, who was concerned that the sale would mean several religious programs that the station had aired— particularly The 700 Club—would not continue after OEPBS took control.

"[66] The sale languished so long that Chemeketa Community College and Intercontinental Ministries, a Christian group based in Salem, had begun to ready bids if the OEPBS purchase fell through.

[81] In April, OEPBS announced a target date of September 20 to resume broadcasting and reiterated its plans to slate alternate programming on channel 3.

[87] When KVDO-TV returned to Salem screens, it did so with an alternative lineup of programs to that aired by the OEPBS transmitters in Portland and Corvallis, as well as the new station for La Grande.

[87] Channel 3 also offered Spanish-language programming, including Mexican movies,[88] and PBS fare aired at alternate times to its showings on the rest of the OEPBS network.

By 1979, the state's capital construction plans had channel 3 moving to central Oregon sometime between 1983 and 1985, a task made easier when the FCC designated KVDO-TV a noncommercial station that April.

[92]) The proposed site changes also played a role in defeating an attempt in the state legislature by representative Curt Wolfer to order the sale of the television station.

[94] The station was spared from 18 percent budget cuts to OEPBS later that year, with its staff of six continuing to lead the state network's legislative coverage.

On April 1, the station ceased all separate local content, though it continued to break away from OEPBS on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. to air programs for schools.

[101] The FCC approved the reassignment of channel 3 to Bend on July 29, citing the opportunity to expand public television service to a previously unserved area and eliminate the short-spacing to KATU that had been associated with the Salem operation for its entire existence.