It began with the turning of a shovel of dirt just across the street from the old Desert Inn resort more than 50 years ago. And ever since, KLAS-TV has continued "breaking new ground" in Las Vegas and Southern Nevada.
Channel 8 first went on-the-air at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, July 22, 1953 -- becoming the first television station in Nevada. The power switch was thrown by then-Governor Charles Russell to begin an evening of festivities, with appearances by a number of big-name stars of the day. The guests that night included Gail Storm, Anna Maria Alberghetti, Georgie Jessell, and Herb Shriner. Although he wasn't a "big name," Bob Beville also performed.
Beville, a native Las Vegan, was 18 years old back then, having just graduated from Las Vegas High School, the city's one-and-only high school in 1953. He won a contest that gave him the honor of playing his ukulele during Channel 8's "gala premier."
"Of course, that was 'live' television in those days," Beville recalls. "They didn't film or tape anything. So, if you made a mistake, it went on the air and that was it. So everyone was petrified they were going to make a mistake. I'm sure we made them anyway. But it was quite a thrill to be on the opening night of the first TV station in Nevada."
KLAS Television was the brainchild of the owner of KLAS Radio, local contractor Rube Jolley. He invested one-third of the $150,000 that was raised to build and equip the new station.
"My father always wanted to start new ventures," says Rube's son, Gardner Jolley, a prominent Las Vegas attorney. "I think this was a new venture where he thought, 'Gee, I'd like to be the one who brings TV to Las Vegas.' "
As the transmitter was being tested in the weeks prior to July 22, the handful of Las Vegans with TV sets could watch the 'test pattern' on Channel 8. To folks who had never before seen television, it was quite an experience.
"We got a TV before it opens," says Gardner Jolley. "And the neighborhood came around to watch the test pattern."
In addition to Rube Jolley, the other big investors included Hank Greenspun, who was then the publisher of the afternoon newspaper, the Las Vegas Sun. In 1958, Greenspun would become the sole owner of the station.
Hank Greenspun, who died in 1989, is widely remembered as a progressive man. His widow, Barbara -- who is now the newspaper's publisher -- calls him a "visionary," saying "they threw away the mold when he left us."
It was his vision that resulted in "The Bob Bailey Show" joining the Channel 8 lineup in 1955. Bailey, a black entertainer, was at first rebuffed when he proposed hosting a variety show.
"The only difference was that I ran into a guy called Hank Greenspun," Bailey remembers. Back in the mid-1950's, Las Vegas was a segregated as Little Rock. In fact, Bailey says Las Vegas was called "The Mississippi of the West."
But Greenspun thought it was right to offer Bailey a 13-week contract and did so. He became a fixture for years on local television as a result. And, KLAS-TV went down in the record books. "It was advertised as the first television show in the country that was produced, directed, acted, and financed by African-Americans," Bailey says.
Greenspun maintained ownership of KLAS until 1968, when the station was sold to a new owner: billionaire Howard Hughes, famous as both an aviator and an industrialist. Hughes -- who was living in isolation at the Desert Inn, which he also owned -- bought the TV station for an unusual reason.
Despite being one of the world's richest men, Hughes suffered from a variety of ailments. Among them was insomnia. Hughes seldom slept and spent many a night watching old movies that aired on Channel 8. But, on occasion, he would 'nod off,' and miss chunks of the film being screened. Hughes wanted to have the chunks he had missed re-racked and re-broadcast, so he bought the station to make that happen.
"It was kind of a 'little theatre' all for him," explains Mark Smith, who was then the station's General Manager. "I'm sure there were some very confused viewers out there."
