KLRJ-TV: Early years
Channel 2 was originally assigned by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to Henderson, a city south of Las Vegas, when the commission lifted its multi-year freeze on TV station assignments in 1952. The action lay unused for nearly a year until it suddenly had two applicants in the span of several weeks. The first was the Southwestern Publishing Company, publisher of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the city's afternoon newspaper. In the first television station application filed in the state, Southwestern had applied on August 16, 1950, for channel 8 at Las Vegas. When the freeze lifted, more applicants sought channel 8, including Las Vegas Television, a sister company to local radio station KLAS. Southwestern Publishing and Las Vegas Television entered into discussions to merge their bids, which fell apart when the talks were reported on the radio. That prompted Hank Greenspun, the publisher of the morning Las Vegas Sun, to file for channel 8. There were now three applications on file for the one channel. At the time, the FCC, seeking to work through a massive backlog of applications, prioritized uncontested channels. Southwestern Publishing then filed for channel 2 in Henderson on February 26; one day later, the Boulder City Broadcasting Company, owners of radio station KRAM in Boulder City, joined them, putting every commercial channel in or near Las Vegas in contested status.[1]
For channel 2, the logjam broke when Boulder City Broadcasting Company withdrew from channel 2 contention so that some of its stockholders could participate in the contest for channel 13.[2] The studios and 324 ft transmission tower and antenna were built at a site on Boulder Highway, midway between Henderson and Las Vegas; the new station boasted that its studio was the largest between the Mississippi River and Los Angeles. Southwestern Publishing also signed to affiliate channel 2 with NBC.[3]
KLRJ-TV began telecasting on January 23, 1955, as Nevada's third television station.[4][5] It was the second Nevada station owned by Donald W. Reynolds, publisher of the Review-Journal; he also started KZTV, channel 8 in Reno. Reynolds then expanded his media interests with the 1955 acquisition of KOLO radio in Reno and Las Vegas radio station KORK (1340 AM). The sale was initially approved in April but held up until July after KLAS-TV, the station built on channel 8, charged that Reynolds was offering discounted rates for advertising between the Las Vegas-area TV station and newspaper as well as for the two Nevada TV stations.[6] In addition to NBC programming, the station broadcast some programs from ABC, which did not have a primary local affiliate until KSHO-TV signed a contract in December 1957;[7][8]
On November 19, 1962, KLRJ-TV became KORK-TV. The move coincided with the city of license changing from Henderson to Las Vegas after a petition by the station, though it remained in its Boulder Highway studios and was required by the commission to continue serving the Henderson area.[10][11]
In 1965, KORK sought to move its transmitter to Potosi Mountain. However, if it did so, it would no longer be adequately spaced to other stations on channel 2. As a result, in May 1966, the FCC approved changes in four television allocations, including moving KORK-TV to channel 3 and changing a channel allocation for Boulder City from channel 4 to channel 5; it also switched channel assignments in Goldfield and Cedar City.[12] The changeover to channel 3 was made on January 3, 1967. Simultaneously, Donrey inaugurated a microwave transmission link between Reno and Las Vegas, enabling Southern Nevadans to see news events in Northern Nevada.[13]
The studios of KORK-TV on Boulder Highway were destroyed by fire on the afternoon of March 6, 1972, leaving only the walls standing. The blaze broke out in an attic in the rear of the structure, where film and scripts were kept. These combustible materials were being heated by hot air rising from the transmitter room below, which was trapped in the storage area.[14][15][16] KORK-TV moved into a disused studio in the new humanities building at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, paying for the facilities by installing new lighting that would remain with the university.[17] The station returned to the air a week after the fire; a new transmitter was installed inside a trailer, while the station rented a mobile production unit to provide a control room and color cameras.[18] It was the second fire at an NBC affiliate in two weeks; a humorous NBC bulletin advised stations to "check their fire extinguishers".[19] The station rebuilt in its existing footprint but with a new internal layout, moving back to Boulder Highway in September.
