The journalists, staff and talent at KGMB9 were planning to celebrate with champagne yesterday after the latest ratings showed the CBS affiliate had taken command of Hawai'i's morning news programming and 5 p.m. news broadcast — and continued to lead with its 10 p.m. show.

The only major No. 1 territory left for KGMB9's news team is the coveted 6 p.m. show that's still dominated by KHON2 and its longtime anchor, Joe Moore.

"We know there's always more work to be done, but yes, we might be enjoying a little champagne after each of our broadcasts today," KGMB9 news director Chris Archer said yesterday. "Today is the tipping point. It's only a matter of time before we take over the 6 o'clock slot, and that is our goal."

The Nielsen Media Research ratings for May showed that KGMB9's "Sunrise on KGMB9" had taken over the top spot from KHON2; its 5 p.m. news broadcast emerged from a second-place tie with KHON2 a year ago to become No. 1 in its time period; and KGMB9's 10 p.m. broadcast continued its three-year-old lead.

But at 6 p.m., KHON2's news with Moore continued to dominate in May — although KHON2's lead slipped from a 14 rating and 31 share in May 2008 to a 13 rating and 29 share last month.

A ratings point represents 1 percent of all TV households in Hawai'i; a share point is 1 percent of TV sets in use at a given time.

"We're not sitting over here panicking," said Joe McNamara, KHON2's president and general manager. "They have a long way to go at 6 o'clock with the news. We look at overall average and we're still miles ahead when it comes to overall average. They tend to forget that."

KGMB9's recent ratings victories began three years ago when the 10 p.m. news show took over the No. 1 spot from KHON2 in May 2006, Archer said. "It was a huge milestone that sent a domino effect through all the broadcasts," Archer said.