WALT RENO
a life lived to
the fullest...by Jamie Reno,
son of Walt Reno
Walt Reno, devoted family man and broadcasting legend, lived every day
of his remarkable life to the fullest. Both larger than life, and salt
of the earth, Walt was a modern-day renaissance man who excelled in most
everything he tried.
From his first days as a broadcaster on the college radio station at the
University of Iowa in the late 1940s and into the new millennium, Walt
did it all in the radio and television industry. Throughout the 1960s
and 1970s, Walt was a huge broadcasting force in the Midwest. He worked
for several years at WOC in Davenport, Iowa, where he became well known
as "Cowboy Whitey," the popular kids' show host.
Walt went on to become the top-rated morning radio disc jockey in Iowa,
working as the morning man for KRNT radio in his hometown of Des Moines,
then KSO radio, also in Des Moines. During those years, Walt also hosted
numerous popular television shows on Des Moines' CBS affiliate, Channel
8, including ³O, Gee,² "Family Fun Time" and the daily ³Telefunnies,²
in which Walt would tell funny stories in all kinds of different voices.
Walt was also the most recognizable commercial pitch man on radio and
television in Iowa for many years, selling everything from milk to cars,
hosted variety shows throughout Iowa, and was a fixture at the Iowa
State Fair every summer, mastering various shows and concerts for kids
and other fairgoers.
Walt also traveled all across the country in the 1960s interviewing
movie stars, including Clint Eastwood, John Wayne, Lee Marvin, Faye
Dunaway, Warren Beatty and many more.
Moving to Las Vegas in 1972, Waltıs career continued to flourish. He
joined the staff of KORK radio, where he worked the afternoon drive, and
subsequently became the weatherman for the NBC news affiliate in Las
Vegas. Again, he did lots and lots of radio and television commercials,
and was one of the most recognizable broadcasters in Las Vegas in the
1970s and 1980s.
When he made the move from KORK radio to KVEG radio, his ratings soared
and he became the number one morning radio man in Las Vegas.
Walt did it all during his years in Las Vegas, hosting Easter Seal
telethons, hosting the hugely popular ³I Love You Las Vegas² parties,
writing a golf column for Las Vegas Magazine and various other
publications, and doing thousands and thousands of commercials. Itıs
doubtful if Walt ever paid for a meal, a movie or a round of golf while
living in Vegas the past 30 years.
More recently, Walt hosted Las Vegas entertainment show for KLAV radio
in which he interviewed all kinds of stars, from Jack Jones to Gordon
Lightfoot. A friend to celebrities such as Jerry Lewis and Marty Allen,
Walt loved show business, and enjoyed meeting the stars.
Walt also was the Voice of Las Vegas for the nationally syndicated
Travel Talk Radio show hosted by Sandy Dhuyvetter and co-hosted
periodically by Waltıs son, Jamie Reno.
On the national front, Walt was the announcer for several years on the
legendary Mike Douglas Show, and did numerous voices for the animated
satirical USA Network comedy show ³Duckman,² which was written and
executive produced by his son, Jeff Reno. In the late 80s, Walt was also
the Las Vegas editor for The NFLıS Official Guide to the Super Bowl,
whose editor was Waltıs son, Jamie.
But Walt was as great a success as a person as he was a performer. Born
and raised in Des Moines, Iowa, he attended Roosevelt High School, and
the University of Iowa.
A great athlete and fitness fanatic, Walt lettered in swimming at
Roosevelt and at the University of Iowa. He swam the butterfly stroke.
At the University of Iowa, where he got his degree in Speech, Walt was a
member of the Alpha Tao Omega fraternity.
Walt was a World War II veteran, a Navy man who was stationed on Guam
during the war.
Walt was also a tremendous golfer, a three handicap at one time, and won
numerous golf tournaments in Iowa and Las Vegas. And he wrote about the
game he loved for years, for Las Vegas Magazine and many other
publications.
Walt met and interviewed virtually every major golfing great, from Tiger
Woods and Phil Mickelson to Jack Nicklaus. Walt, the number one booster
of Las Vegas golf, helped transform Vegas from a city with only a
handful of golf courses in the early 70s to an international golfing
Mecca.
Walt was also a music buff who loved spinning records for the last 50
years. He loved Mel Torme and Bobby Darin, and worshipped Frank Sinatra,
but his musical idol was big-band leader Stan Kenton, whom he
interviewed several times. Walt also stayed up with the times, and loved
rock bands such as Chicago, Pink Floyd and Yes.
Walt played some trumpet as a kid, too, and kept that trumpet through
the years, but he laughingly admitted he only knew how to play one song
well: ³The Girl From Ipanema.²
Walt was a natural entertainer who had an amazing sense of humor, and
could make anyone laugh. A man of a thousand voices and faces, he was a
brilliant public speaker and remarkably adept at improvisation. He had
no equal in the joke-telling department. A huge fan of movies, his
favorite actor was Burt Lancaster.
And Walt especially loved comedy. Among his favorite comics and comic
actors were Jonathan Winters, Danny Kaye, Milton Berle, Jerry Lewis, W.C.
Fields, Peter Sellers, John Cleese, Phil Hartman, Dennis Miller, Mike
Myers, Dana Carvey, and his favorite new comic, Larry the Cable Guy.
Walt and his wife, Donna, were divorced in the 1970s but remained very
close friends through the years. In Las Vegas, he lived with his
longtime love, Diane.
Walt Reno got the most out of every single day. An immaculate dresser
with a flamboyant personality and a deep, masculine voice, Walt was,
above all else, a family man. He spent every free moment with his three
children, Jeff, Michele and Jamie, all three of whom are devastated by
this loss, but determined to keep Waltıs loving memory and his
remarkable legacy alive forever.
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