1974, with news and talk segments replacing most music programming. In September 1974, KIRO switched affiliations again from Mutual, becoming an NBC Radio Network affiliate, but switched back to CBS in November 1976. 1980 to 2008 In 1980, Lloyd Cooney left KIRO to run for the United States Senate. Ken Hatch became President, CEO and Chairman, a position he held until 1995. Under Hatch's leadership, KIRO Inc. acquired KING AM, KING-FM, and Third Avenue Productions. KIRO, Inc. became one of the nation's premier regional broadcast groups, and was led by general manager Joe Abel during this period. KIRO was a full service adult contemporary radio station by the mid 1970s, playing music during the day, talk in the evenings, and more music intensive on weekends with exception of times when sporting events were broadcast. By 1980, the station played music during the day with talk heard night and overnights. The station added talk middays during the week in 1985. By then amounts of music during drive times were down to about 4 songs an hour and during the day, with weekends playing 12 songs an hour. In 1986, KIRO was reclassified as a news and talk station, adding more news programming and dropping music altogether. In 1993, Bonneville attempted to merge the staff of KIRO radio with that of then-sister station KIRO-TV in an attempt at synergy (the staffs merged in June 1992, with KIRO radio's general manager and news director Andy Ludlum at the helm). Dubbed the "KIRO News Network", this meant that KIRO-TV anchors and reporters would be heard on the radio, while KIRO radio personalities would be seen during KIRO-TV newscasts; during this period, KIRO's radio programming originated from a massive newsroom especially constructed for what was called "News Outside the Box", sharing space with their TV co-workers. Local independent station KTZZ (currently KZJO) simulcast KIRO radio in the mornings with cameras mounted in-studio showing the KIRO staffers on-screen during this time. The effort was a failure and was scrapped completely by September of that year. For 25 years, KIRO's morning news, anchored by Bill Yeend, consistently placed at or near the top of the Seattle Arbitron ratings. Gregg Hersholt was the station's morning news anchor for the next 10 years until he left the station on May 28, 2010, ending his 26-year career there. Dave Ross now hosts Seattle's Morning News. Sports broadcasts Sports play-by-play has