Radio Bits & Bytes: The First Radio Station: KGIX

Some people don’t even consider it a real radio station, so it does not get much respect.  But federal documents and industry trade publications acknowledged it and old-timers remember it.  What could also be Las Vegas’ shortest-lived radio station was the first to broadcast from the tiny town September 2, 1930.

KGIX only had a power of 100 watts at 1420 on the AM dial, but considering the size of Las Vegas in 1930 this was more than adequate to cover the city limits.  To give you an idea of of what those limits were, the “old” Las Vegas High School downtown on 7th and Bridger was at that time considered “too far out of town.”  Veteran Las Vegas broadcaster Bob Stoldal wrote, “(Owner J.M.) Heaton was a real pioneer.   Only broadcast parts of the day, mainly at night.  But he had newscasts, supplied by John Cahlan at the Las Vegas Review Journal, and lots of local live music, and just about anybody with ‘guts’ enough to go on radio.”  Bob is still trying to locate where the studios and facilities were located.

The photo below was taken right after Las Vegas High School was built at 7th and Bridger in 1930–notice the LDS Church near the center which is still there today.

Heaton struggled to keep the station afloat but had a difficult time doing so, and he lost the battle when his construction permit expired and was deleted May 14, 1935.  Las Vegans would have to go back to static-filled reception of stations in Los Angeles and other big cities.

Five years later KENO would sign on and become a permanent beacon on the AM dial.  Their first location was even further out of town, near the corner of Mojave and E. Charleston.

The Western Historic Radio Museum website has information on this and other pioneer Nevada radio stations