Three radio stations—KVI (570 AM), KXA (770 AM, now KTTH) and KIRO (710 AM)—were locked in a battle for the frequency over several years of comparative hearings at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

Following an initial decision in 1955[2] and a reaffirmation in 1957,[3] the ultimate victorious party was Queen City Broadcasting, owners of KIRO radio, who signed-on channel 7 on February 8, 1958.

The station's original studios were located on Queen Anne Avenue, adjacent to its broadcast tower and directly across the street from KIRO radio.

[10] Along with having earned a handsome return on his original investment of 28 years earlier, Saul Hass subsequently joined the board of the LDS Church's broadcasting subsidiary, which was renamed Bonneville International in 1964.

[11] Soon after the FCC approved the sale, Bonneville executives Lloyd Cooney and Kenneth L. Hatch arrived in Seattle to lead the renamed KIRO, Inc. division.

Under Hatch's leadership, KIRO, Inc. (which, in addition to KIRO-AM-FM-TV, would later include KING radio and Third Avenue Productions) became one of the nation's premier regional broadcast groups.

The KIRO stations moved their offices and studios to "Broadcast House" at Third Avenue and Broad Street in Seattle's Belltown district in 1968, where KIRO-TV remains to this day.

Throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s, KIRO-TV still faced competition in some parts of Western Washington from Bellingham-based KVOS-TV (channel 12), which was also then a CBS affiliate.

Consequently, CBS began to negotiate with Gaylord Broadcasting to secure an affiliation agreement with the independent station it had long owned in Fort Worth, KTVT.

One of the most famous and longest-running regional children's television programs in the United States, The J. P. Patches Show 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 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.

The race was won by Derrike Cope (who is a native of nearby Spanaway, Washington) in an upset over Dale Earnhardt in the final lap after a cut tire.

KIRO-TV had also broadcast the Albert Lee Appliance Cup H1 Unlimited hydroplane races on the culminating day of Seattle's Seafair festival.

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.

[31][32] However, full-day coverage of all Seafair races returned via Tegna-owned KONG-TV (sister station to KING-TV) in 2018 in association with SWX Right Now.

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 (later elected as Congressman from Washington's First District) and then by former Seattle Post-Intelligencer editor Louis R. Guzzo.

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 recorded new theme music, and 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.

[38] 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.

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!, took potshots at KIRO's news format the week of the debut.

[39][40][38] By September 1993, after veteran anchor 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".

Some programs, such as Let's Make a Deal and KIRO 7 News at Noon, are replaced on the station's alternate feed for Canadian viewers with infomercials.