"The Big News" expanded to a full hour in September 1963, leading into the new half-hour-long "CBS Evening News". Color broadcasts of "The Big News" and "Eleven O'Clock Report" began in August 1966. Eventually, KNXT expanded to 2½ hours of local news programming, as well as a late night newscast. KNBC went head-to-head with KNXT with viewers during the 1960s. However, in the mid-1970s, rival KABC-TV began gaining ground in the local news ratings at KNXT's expense. In 1975, KNXT fired Dunphy (who was quickly hired by KABC) and was replaced by Patrick Emory, who had anchored at then-CBS owned-and-operated station KMOX-TV (now KMOV) in St. Louis. KNXT then adopted a format similar to KABC-TV's "Eyewitness News" with its "happy talk" between anchors. However, the change went nowhere. Just as most of its fellow CBS-owned stations were dominating their cities' ratings, KNXT rapidly fell into last place.