John Kelly, center, works in his role as host of "The Stardust Line" on Thursday, joined by handicapper Jorge Gonzalez, left, and show engineer Gene Harvey. After 25 years, the renowned betting show will air for the final time today beginning at 8:30 a.m. Photo by Gary Thompson.

In the beginning, former NFL running back Jim Brown and talk-show host Lee Pete hit the airwaves with something unique, offering game analysis from a betting perspective.

And for 25 years, "The Stardust Line" radio show has been an odds-on favorite with listeners in Las Vegas and wherever else the 50,000-watt signal from KDWN-AM (720) reaches on the West Coast.

In the end, at about 9 a.m. today, host John Kelly will sign off and put the show to rest. It will be a sad occasion for many.

"You do feel a little sense of loss," said Arne Lang, who hosted the show for parts of 14 years. "I'm sure it was the granddaddy of sports betting shows. It had quite a longevity."

Pete is given most of the credit for the early popularity of the show, which launched in April 1981. Pete teamed at different times with Brown, Mike Toney and Donnie Bader.

"The most important part of the show was the beginning, because there were no mentions of sports betting or point-spread information in the mainstream media," Kelly said. "This was the only show out there that talked to the sports gambler."

But the Stardust will soon be reduced to a pile of rubble. The legendary casino will close late this year and be replaced by the $4 billion Echelon Place in 2010.

The sports book will remain open in the fall, but KDWN has been sold, and the convergence of events led to the closing of "The Stardust Line."

During his second season in the NBA with the Chicago Bulls, Michael Jordan was a special guest of Pete's on the show at the Stardust sports book.

"We had some really big-name guests," said Lang, who assumed the host role in the mid-1980s and recruited boxer George Foreman and baseball star Tony Gwynn, among others.

Lang's co-host for a while was oddsmaker Michael Roxborough. Other hosts included Dave Malinsky, D. Wayne Mauldin, Stephen Nover, Jay Richards, Scott Spreitzer, Doug Castaneda, Russ Culver, Greg Daraban, Ted Sevransky, Dave Cokin, Ron Frazier, Andy Iskoe and Seat Williams.

"We've always had good hosts, and they've always taken the job seriously," said Stardust director of marketing Jim Seagrave, who has guided the show the past 18 years.

Gene Harvey has been the show's engineer for 21 years. "Gene's as steady as the clock on the wall," Seagrave said. "We've had quite a record of consistency."

Kelly took over as host six years ago. Before that, he was the show's horse racing correspondent and has contributed to the program since 1992.

"A lot of times the show's listeners became the show's contributors," Kelly said.

In the early years, Lang would read scores off a ticker on weekend nights, he said, and "The Stardust Line" was often the first source of information for bettors.

"It sounds like 1,000 years ago," Lang said. "We used to get huge audiences because the show predated (ESPN) SportsCenter and the Internet."

Kelly said the key to the show's success was the Stardust paid the bill and was "not reliant on advertisements for handicappers."

"That eliminated the nonsense and it really helped the show's credibility," he said. "Lee Pete recruited handicappers to the show, and he gave a lot of guys their start.

"It was a great show for a second opinion, a different look at what's happening. We had credible handicappers who were willing to go on record with plays and offer insightful, sophisticated opinions."

The show also featured Stardust sports book directors Joe Lupo and Bob Scucci and several prominent sports gamblers such as Alan Boston, Ron Boyles and Brent Carter.

The Stardust Invitational handicapping tournament was aired Friday nights during the football season on KDWN. Oddsmaker Ken White won the inaugural contest in 1995 and repeated as champion in 1996.

"The Stardust Line" aired Monday through Friday at 8:30 a.m., and there were evening shows on Saturdays and Sundays.

The demise of the Stardust is another sign that old Vegas is fading away to make room for corporate Vegas. But Kelly said he expects a big casino will start a similar show to fill the void.

"You would like to think it's irreplaceable," Kelly said. "But Las Vegas is so good at filling needs, I'm confident there will be something to replace 'The Stardust Line.' I know the demand is there."