negative, saving time; this allowed him to get footage of a ballroom fire on the air—which he had processed in his own bathtub—in hours, not days. When it became independent in 1955, KPHO was one of the few such stations of the time with a functioning news department. It aired a noon and early evening newscast and a late news brief. In 1973, KPHO became the first independent to go up against the major network stations directly with a seven-day 10 p.m. newscast. This program shifted to 9:30 p.m. in 1975, where it remained for more than 15 years, with the station producing an hour of news a day: a midday show at 11:30 a.m. and a 9:30 p.m. newscast. This lasted until 1991, when the 9:30 p.m. show was expanded to a full hour at 9. Even then, KPHO's news department was one-third the size of its network competitors. Despite being an independent station, KPHO news was competitive through the 1970s and 1980s. It often out-rated KTVK and by 1985, in the words of The Arizona Republic television columnist Bud Wilkinson, had managed to "stake a firm claim as the third-rated news department in town". By May 1994, the station was in the early stages of planning a two-hour morning news program from 7 to 9 a.m., which would have been only the second such show from a non-Fox independent station. KPHO reassuming the CBS affiliation required massive changes in the newsroom, including an expanded staff, in order to begin production of a variety of newscasts that channel 5 did not offer. A 6 p.m. newscast was added with the switch, and the 9 p.m. program was replaced with the "Arizona 5-Minute News", which led into a rerun of M*A*S*H at 10:05. The latter—paired with Seinfeld instead of M*A*S*H after 1995 and later adjusted to eight minutes—was intended as a stopgap, but it turned out to be a massive money-maker for the station and finished second in the time slot. Over time, KPHO's news offerings grew more typical for a CBS affiliate. The station began airing a 5 p.m. newscast in 1995 intended to appeal to younger audiences; assignment reporters for the show included Tim and Willy, the morning hosts at country music radio station KMLE. In 1997, channel 5 started an hour-long morning newscast which had grown to 4:30 a.m., well before such a start was common in