After more than 20 years on the air, Pahrump’s sole television station is again expanding its reach in the valley.
KPVM TV Channel 25 founder and owner Vernon Van Winkle spoke to the Pahrump Valley Times about what viewers and listeners of KACE Country Radio can expect as a result of now broadcasting on the Roku Channel.
Roku is an American public company which runs a streaming TV service supporting both advertising and subscription models on its platform.
All over the map
“Roku is gonna start on March 1,” Van Winkle said. “Currently, we’re streaming off my web page, so no matter where you are, you can watch it 24/7. We wanted to reach everybody in areas that want to hear our broadcasts, such as down in Laughlin and down in the Mojave Valley.”
The big picture
Van Winkle also talked about how the expansion will affect the quality of service as related to viewing the enhanced broadcast by way of Roku’s streaming service.
“It’s a really exciting picture because it doesn’t look grainy or anything like that.” You don’t have to pay for it because this is what they call subscription TV for free. I did a lot of polling and people who used to buy Dish TV or DirecTV, only watch about eight of the channels. Now, they can just watch them whenever they want for free. It’s a phenomenal way to watch TV for free and be entertained no matter where you are, or what you’re doing. We have approximately 400,000 viewers in Las Vegas.”
As a board member of the Nevada Broadcasters Association, Van Winkle noted that he would regularly speak with industry professionals who exalted his expansion efforts.
“They can’t even air the content that we’re airing,” he noted. “They just say they wished that they could, because we’re pulling eyeballs away and they don’t like it because there’s nothing they can really do. Our programming is so good in the sense of meeting a niche that hasn’t been met, it’s pulling eyeballs away from them.”
Additionally, Van Winkle said that locating the streaming service is as simple as logging on to his website.
“You just click on the button you want to watch for KPVM,” he said. “There’s 10 channels on there and we’ve got eight channels that are streaming now.”
Teamwork
Van Winkle gave additional credit to his wife and business partner Ronda.
“We are both very pleased to provide this for all of Southern Nevada,” he said. “We also have a new name for our news called the Southern Nevada News Network because people in Pahrump don’t necessarily watch Las Vegas news and vice versa, so we’re trying to put a good potpourri together for all of Southern Nevada that affects every everybody and everything.”
After starting analog operations in 1997, as KPVM TV Channel 41, the station is now in its 27th year of broadcasting a variety of local and area programming in a digital format.
In Pahrump, the station’s headquarters are located at 890 S. Higley Road.
KPVM TV’s secondary studio in Clark County is located in Henderson at 203 S. Water Street.
Van Winkle said those who have questions and concerns about content, advertising or otherwise, may do so by calling the station at (775) 727-9400.
Contact reporter Selwyn Harris at sharris@pvtimes.com or on X formerly Twitter: @pvtimes