KVVU-TV

KVVU-TV, virtual channel 5 and UHF digital channel 9, is a Fox–affiliated television station serving the Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. The station is owned by the Meredith Corporation. KVVU's studios and transmitter are both separately located in Henderson, Nevada, KVVU's city of license: the station's studios are located at the Broadcast Center on West Sunset Road (using the 25 TV 5 Drive street address), while its transmitter is located on Black Mountain, just southwest of the city.

History

KVVU signed on the air on September 10, 1967 as Nevada's first independent station, under the callsign KHBV-TV. The station originally operated from a converted Flying A gas station along Boulder Highway near Sunset Road, while its offices were housed in a modern office building on Flamingo Road. The station was on the air originally from 11 a.m. to Midnight and ran a schedule of movies from the 30's through the 50's, some cartoons, westerns, and a few sitcoms. In 1971, the station was sold to Carson Broadcasting, a company owned by talk show host and entertainer Johnny Carson, who visited the station fairly often. It was at that the that the station adopted its current KVVU-TV call letters. By 1975, the station was on the air by 7 a.m. and ran a large amount of movies, cartoons, more off network sitcoms, drama shows, and some westerns. At the time Las Vegas was not in the top 100 TV markets and was at one point number 150 out of a little over 200 markets. Las Vegas was the smallest market to have four commercial television stations including a commercial independent station, 5 KVVU. There were higher ranked markets that only had two stations and lacked programming from either ABC, NBC, or CBS as a result.