About

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’s a smattering of Wikepedia articles on individual stations; none are complete plus they don’t give enough background to the many colorful individuals who have worked behind and in front of the microphone.  This website is by no means a definitive history of Las Vegas radio, but I hope to inform and give the rest of the world a handle on this town’s radio past, focusing primarily on the first 40 years of 1940-1980.

In memory of Sam O’Neil, a broadcasters we lost way too soon.

God now has his voice back by his side.

CREDITS:

LV Review Journal, “The First 100 People Who Shaped Southern Nevada” http://www.1st100.com/part2/kelch.html

*Vintage Radio Photographs courtesy of Allen Sandquist aka “Roadsidepictures”

Contact me

A gold mine of information was found online, Radio’s Online Library with scanned images of Broadcasting yearbooks from 1946-1979.  This gave me the sign-on dates, ownership, management, and facilities of the Las Vegas stations.  In the 1950’s practically every station was in a strip Hotel:  KENO in the El Rancho, KRAM in the Riviera, KLAS in the Desert Inn, and KORK in the Thunderbird.  In laters years KVEG AM/FM  would call home the Castaways Hotel, The Marina & Tropicana Hotels KUDO 93.1 FM, KLUC AM/FM called home the Frontier Hotel.

Most of the factual data I obtained from this online resource.  The rest comes from working in this market for 38 years, my first jobs were at the first two stations to sign on in Las Vegas, KLAV and KENO.  The recollections from memory may have some inconsistencies but I’m confident I’ll get feedback from someone who will correct me.