Saturday, April 4, 1998 | 4:35 a.m.
John Purvis looks forward to working in the competitive Las Vegas news market.
The 35-year-old Las Vegas 1 co-anchor most recently worked as an anchor and reporter at KVIA, an ABC affiliate in El Paso, Texas, directly across the U.S. border from Juarez, Mexico.
"It was a very competitive news environment with lots of news to cover," Purvis said. "El Paso is a border town and there are a lot of drug-related killings."
In addition, Purvis and KVIA focused on growth-related issues and the need for more infrastructure -- all-too-familiar subjects to any Las Vegas motorist caught on the freeway during rush hour.
Other El Paso stories Purvis focused on during his 5 1/2 years at KVIA Channel 7 ranged from bullfighting to the effects of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
"I guess I became fairly well known among the residents of Juarez," Purvis said. "Every time I was in that city, someone would stop me and say, 'Canal Siete,' which means, Channel 7."
A 1985 graduate of the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque with a bachelor's degree in political science, Purvis has worked at several stations throughout the Southwest, including a stint at NBC affiliate KOB in Santa Fe, N.M.
"Santa Fe is the capital and I would do nightly live reports on the Legislature," Purvis said. "In that job, I was sort of a one-man band. I set up my own video, and literally had to put the light stand in front of the camera to frame up about where I would stand. It was tough, but fun."
Purvis was born in La Jolla, Calif., but moved to Roswell, N.M., with his family as a young boy.
"You got it. I grew up in the alien capital of the world," Purvis said. "I'm a graduate of Roswell High School, and I didn't even know about the Roswell incident until I was 17."
Purvis doesn't plan to miss any Las Vegas stories.
"I'm excited to be part of the ground floor of this news channel, and I agree with Bob (Stoldal) when he said if there's any market in the country that could really use a local 24-hour news channel, it's Las Vegas because this is a town where things continually happen."
Purvis will anchor from the satellite studio at the Las Vegas SUN.
"I'll also be spending a lot of time on the SUN's metro desk. It should be very interesting," he said. "It should be a very good mix. After all, the print reporters on the beats know the people. They know what's happened. They know the institutional history. You don't always get that with television."
Until Purvis arrived in Las Vegas in early March to begin preparing for Las Vegas 1's Monday debut, he hadn't spent much time in the world's entertainment capital.
"Las Vegas has been great so far," Purvis said. "This is surely a fascinating city. And the nice thing about Las Vegas is that I feel like I'm on vacation."
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