KIRO-TV - News Operation

News Operation

Beginning in 1969, KIRO initiated major upgrades of its news programming, implementing the now-commonplace "Eyewitness News" format with chief correspondent Clif Kirk, sportscaster Ron Forsell, and assistant anchor Sandy Hill, who later left KIRO to become the second co-host of Good Morning America (actress Nancy Dussault was the first co-host). Throughout the 70's, KIRO was known in Seattle for hiring women in the roles of "assistant anchors" and "weather presenters", including Sandy Hill, Ann Martin, Mikki Flowers, and Ann Busch. Throughout the decades, KIRO placed a high emphasis on news programming and investigative stories. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Eyewitness News team of anchors John Marler and Gary Justice, meteorologist Harry Wappler and Wayne Cody (and later joined by Susan Hutchison) overtook KING-TV for supremacy in local news.

Beginning in the 1970s, KIRO's news programs also included on-air editorial opinions prepared by Lloyd R. Cooney. After Cooney left the station in 1980 to pursue an unsuccessful U.S. Senate campaign, the station editorials were handled by a series of commentators: KIRO Inc. CEO and Chairman Kenneth L. Hatch, who led the organization for three decades, followed by former Seattle City Council member John Miller (later elected as Congressman from Washington's First District) and then by former Seattle Post-Intelligencer editor Louis R. Guzzo.

By the early 1990s, the well-worn, "happy talk" format faltered and KING's newscasts had overtaken KIRO in the news ratings race. As a result, in January 1993, KIRO relaunched its news products with great promotional fanfare. "News Outside the Box," as the approach was unofficially known, was an attempt to synergize both KIRO radio and television staffs (the "KIRO News Network") in an open newsroom that also doubled as a set for the station's broadcasts. The Seattle Symphony was commissioned to record the station's musical theme package, and ballet instructors coached KIRO-TV anchors in the art of walking toward a moving camera while simultaneously delivering the news.

The result was an unmitigated disaster. Viewers quickly complained they were distracted by the moving anchors, constant buzz of assignment editors in the background of newscasts and periodic "visits" into the KIRO radio studios. Television reporters' primary assets were lost on radio listeners, and many of the radio reporters were clearly uncomfortable on camera. The original concept also called for live airing of unedited field tape, which, unfortunately, only called attention to the importance of good news editing. In addition, KOMO-TV and KING-TV were fighting for first place in the Seattle market. By September, the concept was scrapped for a fixed anchor desk and a rebranding to "KIRO NewsChannel 7" before ultimately returning to Eyewitness News when Cox purchased the station in 1997.

After the 1995 affiliation change to UPN, KIRO's focus on news and investigative programming increased. In March 2003, KIRO (as a CBS affiliate once again) began producing a 10 p.m. newscast for KSTW. However, KSTW cancelled the newscast in June 2005. Around July 1, 2007, KIRO silently converted their newscasts to 16:9 widescreen. This makes KIRO the third station in the Seattle market to produce its newscast in the widescreen format (following the lead of KING and KOMO, and other Cox Television stations).

On March 16, 2008, KIRO upgraded its newscasts to 1080i high definition and upgrading its cameras to high definition, as well as a new weather center, after KING on around April 2007. Field reports, however, but just like KING, are broadcast in 480i standard definition, but are taped in 16:9 aspect ratio and upconverted to 1080i. Furthermore, after this upgrade, KIRO has re-branded its weather forecasts to "KIRO Weather" eliminating the "Pinpoint Weather" slogan that has been in use since the early 1990s. Also, Rebecca Stevenson, who came from KING-TV and NWCN, became KIRO's first female chief meteorologist and she succeeded Andy Wappler, who took a job at Puget Sound Energy. Stevenson stayed with the station until October 2012 when she was laid off.

On January 8, 2009, it was announced that primary co-anchor Margo Myers would be stepping down from the 5, 6, and 11 p.m. newscasts to be the noon anchor. Angela Russell, previously the 4 p.m. anchor at KYW-TV in Philadelphia, became the new primary co-anchor weeknights with longtime co-anchor Steve Raible as of March 2009.