Click for printable version
Click to send to a friend

Walt Reno

Thursday, September 12, 2002
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Longtime Las Vegas radio, TV personality Walt Reno dies

Broadcaster known for deep voice, knack for creating funny characters

Walt Reno was known for his deep voice and gift for creating funny characters on high-rated radio shows in the 1970s and 1980s.

But his son, Jamie Reno, a writer for Newsweek magazine, best remembers his father, who died Monday in Las Vegas of complications following surgery at age 75, as a family man.

"I was playing baseball in the eighth or ninth grade when my nose was broken in three places by a pitch," he recalled. "It was one of the rare times when my dad wasn't at the game. So my coach and his wife rushed me to Valley Hospital.

"But about the same time, my dad had a weird feeling something was wrong, and he started calling all the hospitals in town. When he called Valley, he discovered I was there, and he raced over, running every stoplight. To this day, I don't quite know how to explain it."

Walt Reno moved to Las Vegas in 1972 and worked at KORK-radio, AM 920 as the midday personality, where he followed popular morning drive disc jockey Red McIlvaine for the next five years. He left the station for KVEG-radio, AM 1410, working the morning drive slot from 1978 to 1986.

"He was one of the great radio voices of Las Vegas," said Michael Green, history professor at the Community College of Southern Nevada. "When he and McIlvaine were on KORK, everybody stopped to listen."

Reno was a "throwback" to the old days of radio when disc jockeys did voices of characters they had invented, Green said.

From 1973 to 1980, Reno also was the weatherman on KORK-TV, Channel 3 (now KVBC-TV), working the 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts.

During his career, Reno rubbed shoulders with many celebrities, including Jerry Lewis and comedian Marty Allen.

Allen and Reno talked weekly. "He was the kind of person you keep in constant contact with," Allen said. "He loved a good joke. He was a wonderful man. He enjoyed life to the fullest, and he always had an upbeat attitude."

Reno was born March 25, 1927, in Des Moines, Iowa, and began his broadcasting career in the late 1940s at the college radio station at the University of Iowa, where he lettered in swimming and earned a degree in speech.

Reno served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, stationed in Guam.

In the 1960s, Reno was the top-rated morning disc jockey on KRNT and KSO in Des Moines. During that time, he also hosted various television shows, including "O, Gee" and "Telefunnies," which showcased Reno's skill in telling funny stories in different voices.

Most recently, Reno hosted a Las Vegas entertainment show at KLAV-radio, AM 1230 and was the Las Vegas correspondent for the nationally syndicated "Travel Talk" radio show.

Passionate about golf, Reno wrote a column about the sport for Las Vegas publications and was a pitchman on hundreds of local television commercials.

A memorial service for Reno will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Davis Paradise Valley Funeral Home, 6200 S. Eastern Ave.

Burial will be Monday at Rest Haven Cemetery in West Des Moines, Iowa.

Reno is survived by his sons Jamie of San Diego and Jeff of Santa Monica, Calif.; daughter Michele Brown of Des Moines; and longtime companion, Diane Salisbury of Las Vegas.