KIRO-TV
Programming
Programming
-----------

### Past programming

[200px\|thumb\|right\|JP and Gertrude in 2008 tribute.](/wiki/Image:JPGertrude.jpg "JPGertrude.jpg")
One of the most famous and longest\-running regional children's television programs in the United States, *[The J.P. Patches Show](/wiki/J._P._Patches "J. P. Patches")* was produced in\-house by KIRO\-TV and broadcast steadily from 1958 to 1981\. The program starred Chris Wedes as Julius Pierpont Patches, a shabby [clown](/wiki/Clown "Clown") and self\-professed mayor of the City Dump and Bob Newman as J.P.'s "girlfriend" Gertrude, in addition to a number of other characters. *[Nightmare Theatre](/wiki/Nightmare_Theatre "Nightmare Theatre")* was KIRO\-TV's weekly horror movie series, seen from 1964 to 1978 and hosted by "The Count" (Joe Towey) from 1968 to 1975\. Towey, who also directed *The J.P. Patches Show*, died in 1989\.

During the 1970s, KIRO\-TV preempted the first half hour of *[Captain Kangaroo](/wiki/Captain_Kangaroo "Captain Kangaroo")* each morning in order to air *J.P. Patches*. Many parents protested by writing letters to the station because they preferred more educational value from *Captain Kangaroo* than with "J.P.", while children preferred *J.P. Patches*. From 1987 to 1995, under Bonneville ownership, KIRO\-TV refused to air *The Bold and the Beautiful*, which normally aired at 12:30 p.m.; the station aired a 60\-minute local newscast from 12 noon to 1 p.m. instead. As a result, the station received many protest letters from fans of the show during that period and even one from the show's creator himself, [William J. Bell](/wiki/William_J._Bell "William J. Bell"). The show was cleared when KSTW had CBS for their brief time from 1995 to 1997, and was eventually cleared on KIRO\-TV after they went back to CBS from UPN and a change of ownership to Cox. In 2014, KIRO\-TV once again went back to an hour of local news at noon, delaying *B\&B* to 3 p.m., and later 2 p.m. when *Let's Make a Deal* moved to 9 a.m. On September 10, 2018, KIRO\-TV went back to an hour of news at noon. *The Bold and the Beautiful* stayed at 2 p.m., with *Right This Minute* moving to 2:30 p.m.

In 1990, KIRO\-TV tape\-delayed the [Daytona 500](/wiki/1990_Daytona_500 "1990 Daytona 500") by six hours to show a [Seattle SuperSonics](/wiki/Seattle_SuperSonics "Seattle SuperSonics") game as it was the flagship station of the team. The race was won by [Derrike Cope](/wiki/Derrike_Cope "Derrike Cope") (who is a native of nearby [Spanaway, Washington](/wiki/Spanaway%2C_Washington "Spanaway, Washington")) in an upset over [Dale Earnhardt](/wiki/Dale_Earnhardt "Dale Earnhardt") in the final lap after a cut tire. Prior to joining UPN in 1995, KIRO\-TV ran the *[CBS Evening News](/wiki/CBS_Evening_News "CBS Evening News")* at 6 p.m. between local newscasts at 5 and 6:30 p.m. (The program now airs at 6:30 p.m., the recommended [Pacific Time Zone](/wiki/Pacific_Time_Zone "Pacific Time Zone") slot for the newscast.)

### Sports programming

KIRO\-TV was also the flagship station for pre\-season game broadcasts of the [Seattle Seahawks](/wiki/Seattle_Seahawks "Seattle Seahawks") from [1976](/wiki/1976_Seattle_Seahawks_season "1976 Seattle Seahawks season") to [1980](/wiki/1980_Seattle_Seahawks_season "1980 Seattle Seahawks season"). Play\-by\-play announcers were Gary Justice (1976–78\) and Wayne Cody (1979–85\), who was also the station's sports anchor. For years, KIRO\-TV was the flagship station for [Seattle SuperSonics](/wiki/Seattle_SuperSonics "Seattle SuperSonics") broadcasts, coinciding with the [NBA's broadcast contract with CBS](/wiki/NBA_on_CBS "NBA on CBS") that it held from [1973](/wiki/1973%E2%80%9374_Seattle_SuperSonics_season "1973–74 Seattle SuperSonics season") to [1990](/wiki/1989%E2%80%9390_Seattle_SuperSonics_season "1989–90 Seattle SuperSonics season"), which included the SuperSonics' winning the [1979 NBA Finals](/wiki/1979_NBA_Finals "1979 NBA Finals"). KIRO\-TV also carried the [Seattle Mariners](/wiki/Seattle_Mariners "Seattle Mariners") from [1986](/wiki/1986_Seattle_Mariners_season "1986 Seattle Mariners season") to [1988](/wiki/1988_Seattle_Mariners_season "1988 Seattle Mariners season") as well as in [1992](/wiki/1992_Seattle_Mariners_season "1992 Seattle Mariners season") and again from [1995](/wiki/1995_Seattle_Mariners_season "1995 Seattle Mariners season") to [2000](/wiki/2000_Seattle_Mariners_season "2000 Seattle Mariners season"), in addition to any games aired through [CBS' MLB contract](/wiki/Major_League_Baseball_on_CBS "Major League Baseball on CBS") from [1990](/wiki/1990_Seattle_Mariners_season "1990 Seattle Mariners season") to [1993](/wiki/1993_Seattle_Mariners_season "1993 Seattle Mariners season"). KIRO\-TV carried the Tacoma Stars ([MISL](/wiki/Major_Indoor_Soccer_League_%281978%E2%80%931992%29 "Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992)")) from 1986 to 1988\.

The station also airs Seahawks games (at least two each season) when the team hosts an [AFC](/wiki/American_Football_Conference "American Football Conference") team at [Lumen Field](/wiki/Lumen_Field "Lumen Field"), via the [NFL on CBS](/wiki/NFL_on_CBS "NFL on CBS") (it was previously the station where the majority of the team's games aired in 1976 and again from [1998](/wiki/1998_Seattle_Seahawks_season "1998 Seattle Seahawks season") to [2001](/wiki/2001_Seattle_Seahawks_season "2001 Seattle Seahawks season")), and beginning in [2014](/wiki/2014_Seattle_Seahawks_season "2014 Seattle Seahawks season"), with the institution of the new "cross\-flex" broadcast rule, any games in which they play another [NFC](/wiki/National_Football_Conference "National Football Conference") team (or an AFC team on the road) that are moved from [Fox](/wiki/NFL_on_Fox "NFL on Fox") (KCPQ) to CBS.

KIRO\-TV had also broadcast the [Albert Lee Appliance Cup](/wiki/Albert_Lee_Appliance_Cup "Albert Lee Appliance Cup") [H1 Unlimited](/wiki/H1_Unlimited "H1 Unlimited") hydroplane races on the culminating day of Seattle's [Seafair](/wiki/Seafair "Seafair") festival. The rights also include coverage of other Seafair events, including Seattle's [Fourth of July](/wiki/Fourth_of_July "Fourth of July") fireworks on [Lake Union](/wiki/Lake_Union "Lake Union") (which were brought under the auspices of Seafair in 2013\), as well as the [Torchlight Parade](/wiki/Torchlight_Parade "Torchlight Parade"). In 2017, full\-day coverage of the races were discontinued, marking the first time since 1951 that the races were not broadcast live, and the end of a 31\-year run of live broadcasts on the station. KIRO cited the costs of producing the telecast as reasoning, and replaced the live broadcast with a 90\-minute recap show aired in the evening. However, full\-day coverage of all Seafair races returned via [Tegna](/wiki/Tegna_Inc. "Tegna Inc.")\-owned [KONG\-TV](/wiki/KONG-TV "KONG-TV") (sister station to KING\-TV) in 2018 in association with [SWX Right Now](/wiki/SWX_Right_Now "SWX Right Now").

### News operation

[200px\|thumb\|right\|KIRO 7 [Eyewitness News](/wiki/Eyewitness_News "Eyewitness News") logo, used from 1998 to October 2015\.](/wiki/Image:Ewn-kiro-1998.jpg "Ewn-kiro-1998.jpg")
KIRO\-TV presently broadcasts  hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with seven hours each weekday and  hours each on Saturdays and Sundays).

In 1969, KIRO\-TV made major upgrades to its news programming, implementing the now\-commonplace *[Eyewitness News](/wiki/Eyewitness_News "Eyewitness News")* format with chief correspondent Clif Kirk, sportscaster Ron Forsell and assistant anchor [Sandy Hill](/wiki/Sandra_%22Sandy%22_Hill "Sandra "), who later left KIRO\-TV to become a co\-host of *[Good Morning America](/wiki/Good_Morning_America "Good Morning America")*. Throughout the 1970s, KIRO\-TV 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\-TV 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](/wiki/KING-TV "KING-TV") for supremacy in local news.

Beginning in the 1970s, KIRO\-TV's newscasts also included [op\-ed](/wiki/Op-ed "Op-ed") segments 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 Ken Hatch, followed by former Seattle City Council member [John Miller](/wiki/John_Miller_%28Washington_politician%29 "John Miller (Washington politician)") (later elected as Congressman from [Washington's First District](/wiki/Washington%27s_1st_congressional_district "Washington's 1st congressional district")) and then by former *[Seattle Post\-Intelligencer](/wiki/Seattle_Post-Intelligencer "Seattle Post-Intelligencer")* editor [Louis R. Guzzo](/wiki/Lou_Guzzo "Lou Guzzo"). In 1986, KIRO\-TV debuted *Point Counterpoint* featuring [conservative](/wiki/Conservatism_in_the_United_States "Conservatism in the United States") [John Carlson](/wiki/John_Carlson_%28radio_host%29 "John Carlson (radio host)") and [liberal](/wiki/Liberalism_in_the_United_States "Liberalism in the United States") [Walt Crowley](/wiki/Walt_Crowley "Walt Crowley");[http://www.historylink.org/essays/printer\_friendly/index.cfm?file\_id\=2748](http://www.historylink.org/essays/printer_friendly/index.cfm?file_id=2748)  the segment aired on what was then KIRO\-TV's most popular newscast, *The Sunday Newshour* with Crowley and Carlson becoming well known for their pointed and bombastic debates.

In 1990, KIRO\-TV became one of the first television stations in the United States (if not *the* first) to expand its weekday morning newscast into the 4:30 a.m. timeslot—long before it started to become commonplace nationwide in the late 2000s and 2010s (at the time, most news\-producing stations started their morning news programs at 6 or 6:30 a.m., with many not expanding into earlier timeslots until as early as the mid\-1990s); the program eventually reverted to a 5:30 a.m. start by 1993\. Also during this time period, KIRO began producing a 10 p.m. newscast for local independent station KTZZ (currently [KZJO](/wiki/KZJO "KZJO")); a simulcast of KIRO radio's [morning drive](/wiki/Morning_drive "Morning drive") program was added to KTZZ in 1993\. The 10 p.m. newscast was dropped in September 1993\.

By the early 1990s, the well\-worn, "happy talk" format faltered and KING\-TV's newscasts had overtaken KIRO\-TV in the local news ratings, leading to a major restructuring of its news department. In June 1992, the station merged its news department with that of KIRO radio, under its news director Andy Ludlum. Seeking to differentiate itself from its competitors, station president Ken Hatch oversaw a major revamp of KIRO\-TV's newscasts that launched on February 4, 1993, which the station billed as "news outside of the box". Robert Bovill designed an open newsroom set, which synergized the radio and television staff as the "KIRO News Network", and included a rotating, three\-section platform for studio interviews, with walls meant to resemble Mount Rainier; the "command center" in the center of the area contained a nine\-screen video wall, and an assignment desk designed to resemble a ferryboat. The [Seattle Symphony](/wiki/Seattle_Symphony "Seattle Symphony") recorded new theme music, and [Pacific Northwest Ballet](/wiki/Pacific_Northwest_Ballet "Pacific Northwest Ballet") co\-artistic director Kent Stowell coached the 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, the constant buzz of assignment editors in the background of newscasts and periodic "visits" into the KIRO radio studios. The television reporters' primary assets were lost on radio listeners, while many of the radio reporters were clearly uncomfortable on camera. The original concept also called for live airing of raw, unedited field tape, which only called attention to the importance of proper news editing. In addition, KOMO\-TV and KING\-TV were fighting for first place in the Seattle market; the latter station's local sketch comedy show, *[Almost Live!](/wiki/Almost_Live%21 "Almost Live!")*, took potshots at KIRO's news format the week of the debut. Even KIRO's own employees were not enthused about it; one unidentified reporter was quoted as saying "All of this is being done for cosmetics. It's all superficial garbage. There's been no effort to improve substance. But it's like the emperor's new clothes: You can't question it." Attempts were made to salvage the format, including using tighter camera angles.

By September 1993, after veteran anchor [Susan Hutchison](/wiki/Susan_Hutchison "Susan Hutchison") threatened to leave the station, Ludlum and other backers of the idea had either left or been fired. Under new news director Bill Lord, the station returned to a more conventional format as *KIRO NewsChannel 7*; his colleagues applauded a promise to "nail the anchors' shoes to the floor". The station ultimately returned to *Eyewitness News* (with a new graphics set and logo based on [sister station](/wiki/Sister_station "Sister station") [WHIO\-TV](/wiki/WHIO-TV "WHIO-TV") in [Dayton, Ohio](/wiki/Dayton%2C_Ohio "Dayton, Ohio")) when Cox purchased the station and concurrent to its return to CBS in 1997\. During the station's UPN affiliation, the station launched additional newscasts to replace CBS programming in time periods not programmed by UPN, including a two\-hour morning newscast extension from 7 to 9 a.m. and an hour of news at 10 p.m. Beginning in March 2003, the station would once again produce a 10 p.m. newscast for another station, this time for KSTW (whose own news department had been shuttered in 1998, shortly after the affiliation swap between KSTW and KIRO had been reversed); the newscast was canceled on December 19, 2003, and returned on June 28, 2004, before being canceled permanently in June 2005; news would not return to KSTW until 2022\. On October 3, 2015, KIRO\-TV introduced a new set, refreshed logo, and dropped the *Eyewitness News* title again, this time in favor of *KIRO 7 News*.

#### Notable former on\-air staff

* [Aaron Brown](/wiki/Aaron_Brown_%28journalist%29 "Aaron Brown (journalist)") – former [ABC News](/wiki/ABC_News_%28United_States%29 "ABC News (United States)") and [CNN](/wiki/CNN "CNN") anchor; currently anchoring at PBS and teaching journalism at Walter Cronkite School
* [Wayne Cody](/wiki/Wayne_Cody "Wayne Cody") – sports anchor
* [Linda Cohn](/wiki/Linda_Cohn "Linda Cohn") – now anchor for [ESPN](/wiki/ESPN "ESPN")'s *[SportsCenter](/wiki/SportsCenter "SportsCenter")*
* [Sandy Hill](/wiki/Sandy_Hill_%28television_personality%29 "Sandy Hill (television personality)") – (1969–1974\); later with [KNXT/KCBS\-TV](/wiki/KCBS-TV "KCBS-TV") in [Los Angeles](/wiki/Los_Angeles "Los Angeles") and *[Good Morning America](/wiki/Good_Morning_America "Good Morning America")*
* [Susan Hutchison](/wiki/Susan_Hutchison "Susan Hutchison") – anchor (1979–2001\); served as Chair of the Washington State Republican Party 2013–2018
* [Neal Karlinsky](/wiki/Neal_Karlinsky "Neal Karlinsky") – reporter; now with ABC News, based in Seattle
* [David Kerley](/wiki/David_Kerley "David Kerley") – anchor/reporter; now with ABC News, based in [Washington, D.C.](/wiki/Washington%2C_D.C. "Washington, D.C.")
* [Ann Martin](/wiki/Ann_Martin_%28journalist%29 "Ann Martin (journalist)") – (1969–1976\); moved to KCBS/[KCAL\-TV](/wiki/KCAL-TV "KCAL-TV") in Los Angeles; retired
* [Rob Mayeda](/wiki/Rob_Mayeda "Rob Mayeda") – meteorologist; now at [KNTV](/wiki/KNTV "KNTV") in [San Jose](/wiki/San_Jose%2C_California "San Jose, California")–[San Francisco](/wiki/San_Francisco "San Francisco")
* [Steve Raible](/wiki/Steve_Raible "Steve Raible") – news anchor; also lead radio play\-by\-play announcer for the [Seattle Seahawks](/wiki/Seattle_Seahawks "Seattle Seahawks").
* [Alison Starling](/wiki/Alison_Starling "Alison Starling") – anchor/reporter; retired from [WJLA\-TV](/wiki/WJLA-TV "WJLA-TV") in Washington, D.C.
* [Jack Williams](/wiki/Jack_Williams_%28news_anchor%29 "Jack Williams (news anchor)") – anchor; later with [WBZ\-TV](/wiki/WBZ-TV "WBZ-TV") in [Boston](/wiki/Boston "Boston"); retired in 2015
* [Brian Wood](/wiki/Brian_Wood_%28journalist%29 "Brian Wood (journalist)") – anchor/reporter; currently an anchor at [KATU](/wiki/KATU "KATU") in [Portland, Oregon](/wiki/Portland%2C_Oregon "Portland, Oregon")
* [Janet Wu](/wiki/Janet_Wu "Janet Wu") – anchor; currently at [WHDH](/wiki/WHDH_%28TV%29 "WHDH (TV)") in Boston

Does KNTV and KATU share the same city?