A Look at Tinseltown Broadcasting
Listening to Las Vegas radio since 1963 and being employed in broadcasting since 1971, I have accumulated quite a bit of information on the relatively brief broadcast history of this once dusty town in the desert. There have been many colorful individuals who have worked behind and on the microphones.
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Radio Bits and Bytes: 1956 KRBO signs on
Posted on May 1st, 2009 5 comments
The Reno Gazette in 1956 carried a story announcing the seventh radio station to sign on in Las Vegas: KRBO. The call letters stood for “Rainbow Broadcasting Company” and was owned and managed by Joe Julian. The 500-watt daytimer broadcast on 1050 AM and later would move to 1140. Staff lineup:J. (Rick) Richardson - Ops mgr.
Brad Bennett - Commercial Manager
Dave DeSoto - PD
Mary Julian - promotions manager
Greg Gelhart, chief engineerIn 1956 every radio station licensed to Las Vegas was on the strip, The El Rancho had KENO 1460-AM, The Thunderbird KORK 1340-AM, The Desert Inn housed KLAS 1230-AM, and The Riviera KRAM 920-AM. Two other signals - KBMI 1400-AM and KTOO 1280-AM - were in Henderson. Actually, there were no singals which radiated in the city limits, as the Strip lies south of the city border at Sahara.
KRBO would continue to be owned and run by Julian until around 1962 when it was purchased by Meyer “Mike” Gold, a construction permit was issued in that year for an FM station at 98.5 and once it signed on the air the new AM-FM Combo had new call letters: KLUC
5 responses to “Radio Bits and Bytes: 1956 KRBO signs on”
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I am looking for any information concerning KBMI radio back in 1969. The DJ I am interested in was a man that called himself Geno Jackson.Where can I get audio copies of his radio programs? He was my favorite back in the day when I was stationed at Nellis AFB.Please reply. Thank you.
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I do recall Geno Jackson, the one jock I do remember most from those days was Herman Schmerdly (sp?) - as far as audio copies, the one person who may help is Bob Stoldal, who has been helping contribute to this site. He’s the new news director at KVBC-TV. Bob is an avid Vegas history buff.
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Craig Caples September 13th, 2009 at 00:27
I worked at KBMI in 1966 and knew both Geno and Herman. I have no airchecks of either of them and have lost track of them long ago. I can tell you that KBMI had come back on the air after being “dark” for several years and the owner hired the audio engineer from Ceasars Palace to get it back on the air before the license was [ulled for non-operation I was on the air from 6 am -10 am. I worked there for 4-5 months before leaving to go to college. If anyone wants to talk about KBMI or the early days of KENO, yes, I worked there too. Give me a call 702-547-1010. I knew all the guys from 1964-69.
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PlanetPage September 27th, 2009 at 08:31
Hi, I am leaving replies in response to this fascinating site…I am wondering if any one can further tell me if any radio schedules/events for Ice Palace can be obtained for Summer’69 re. possible Led Zeppelin concert..this will be for the official site…
tks.
PlanetPage -
PlanetPage, you’ve given me an idea for an upcoming post: Vegas concerts from the 60s and 70s. One of the most memorable was when Jim Morrison and the Doors appeared in town. The county DA was George Franklin, and had extra police officers standing by to arrest Morrison if he did anything deemed “obscene” - I can’t remember the exact details, but if I recall correctly the Clark County Sheriff deputies (this was before Metro Police was formed) did stop the concert.
Lynn Zook’s Classic Las Vegas Blog has the information you’re looking for here:
http://classiclasvegas.squarespace.com/classic-las-vegas-blog/2009/9/25/led-zeppelin-did-play-las-vegas-ice-palace-in-1969.htmlI’ll toss the idea out there for some high school classmates to contribute their memories. Back in 1968-1969 I thought long hair was evil, those damn hippies!
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