KGW’s Straight Talk

KGW's Straight Talk is a weekly interview program covering Oregon and southwest Washington, hosted by Tim Gordon. Its unit of work is the sit-down conversation. Episodes typically pair two segments, each anchored by a single guest who is given room to explain rather than spar. The topics are the ones that decide how a region actually functions. Infrastructure is a running thread. Vancouver Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle, a member of the IBR Executive Steering Committee, walked through the $14.4 billion figure attached to replacing the Interstate Bridge, whose first span dates to 1917 and second to 1958, and which now carries about 140,000 vehicles daily across the Columbia River. Her line about the structure sitting on timber pilings in sand, likened to pretzels in chocolate pudding, is the kind of detail the program tends to surface. Money and hardship come up constantly. Oregon Food Bank described record need, with visits to its food sites up 51% over two years, alongside the KGW Great Food Drive. The union president representing hundreds of Northwest TSA officers described families falling behind on child care and relying on food banks after a partial government shutdown, with back pay arriving short by 20 or 40 hours and future checks uncertain. Politics gets covered without a house line. Dan Rayfield laid out the reasoning behind litigation against federal tariffs and what those costs mean for small businesses in the state. Chris Dudley, eyeing the governor's office, argued Oregon's rankings in education, job creation and business climate demand an outsider, and that a governor should function as what he called a chief prosperity officer. Jason Brandt, president and CEO of the Oregon Restaurant and Lodging Association, pushed back on a proposed lodging tax increase for wildlife funding, framing it as diverting economic development revenue. Portland's new city administrator Raymond Lee gave his first TV interview, discussing transparency and the work of connecting branches of a city government reorganized into four districts, twelve councilors and ranked choice voting. Some weeks the program steps away from policy entirely. A tribute episode remembered Grant McOmie through longtime friend and photographer Jeff Kastner, who described a man who found something to celebrate wherever he went. Gordon's interviewing style is direct without being adversarial, pressing for specifics when a guest reaches for generalities. The show is produced for broadcast and streaming, with episodes available on KGW Plus and on podcast platforms. It also carries institutional memory, including the on-air handoff when a departing host thanked viewers and introduced Gordon as the next person in the chair.