KVVU 5 (FOX 5) Las Vegas

Description

KVVU went on the air September 10, 1967[1] as KHBV, Nevada's first independent station; the current call letters were adopted in 1971 as KVVU-TV. It originally broadcast from a converted Flying A gas station along Boulder Highway near Sunset Road, while the offices were housed in a modern office building on Flamingo Road.

KVVU was owned for several years by Johnny Carson, who visited the station fairly often.[2] Under Carson, the station often ran R-rated theatrical films uncut in the late-night/early morning hours. While the afternoon (1pm) and evening (9pm) movie would be always different, the same film would be run uncut in the evening and censored in the afternoon, but not on the same day. The evening movie generally reran at 1am almost every day. Films with questionable content were sometimes prefaced by a pre-recorded warning from Carson.

Meredith Corporation bought the station in 1985. The station's "5" logo for the next four years was used on other Meredith-owned Channel 5s, including KPHO-TV, WNEM-TV, KCTV and WTVH. Under Meredith, KVVU is the only Fox station under the same ownership since 2001. The station moved into its present home on Sunset Way in the Green Valley subdivision of Henderson in 1991.

The station announcer Ralph Menard, in the 1970s and 1980s would identify channel 5 with the catch-phrase "Henderson and Laaassss Vegas". (This announcer continued well into at least 1998).

In June 2006, the station's website was redesigned (along with those of four of Meredith Corporation's other stations). The old website was operated by the Local Media Network division of World Now. Internet Broadcasting currently operates the site.

official site kwu-tv: http://www.fox5vegas.com/