Media

The roots of the media in the Reno/Tahoe area go as deep as some of the silver veins did on the Comstock Lode. At one time, more than 80 newspapers dotted the scene from Virginia City to Lake Tahoe. These newspapers constituted the first written record of the area’s flamboyant history and date from 1859.

Dan De Quille and Joe Goodman are recognized as pioneer journalists on Virginia City’s Territorial Enterprise, the same newspaper that gave Mark Twain his literary start. Alf Doten and Wells Drury gave these pioneer writers on the old Enterprise all the competition they could handle as rival journalists for Gold Hill’s Daily News. Now, with only three dailies and a sprinkling of nondailies remaining, head-to-head competition in mainstream English-language newspapers is a thing of the past. But with the exploding Hispanic population in the area, competition has heated up among Spanish-language publications. In recent years several new papers have sprung up to challenge the mainstay publication Ahora for room on local racks.

Radio seems to be thriving in the area: 30 radio outlets crowd the airwaves between Reno and Lake Tahoe. Listeners have choices ranging from alternative rock to conservative talk and everything in between. Listeners also have the opportunity to tune in, somewhere on the AM or FM dial, almost every nationally syndicated program that’s almost guaranteed to appeal to almost everyone’s listening tastes.

The area’s television market boasts affiliates for all the big broadcasting companies, including NBC, CBS, ABC, CW, PBS, and Fox. The local news-broadcasting stations have very competent personnel who provide the area with spirited news competition.