Six Questions for Randy Swallow

By Joe Schoenmann

Friday, Aug. 7, 2009 | 2 a.m.

The county’s CCTV, Cox cable channel 4, doesn’t track ratings, so it’s hard to say how many people watch the county commissioner interviews, “County Critters” pet show and other programs. But Randy Swallow, who hosts many of the programs, says based on the calls he receives, it has a loyal viewership. Swallow, 47, was a local TV news reporter for six years before being hired by the county 13 years ago as the first employee of the county channel. The job has given him an all-access pass from which to observe county government.

You took the job at CCTV after being fired from your job at a local TV station. What happened?

I was reporting on the Las Vegas Invitational golf tournament and was in a sky box doing my stand-up, and I said, “in these boxes you might get food, you might get drinks and you might get lei-ed.” As I said that a woman put a flower lei around my neck. I got approval to say that, but they fired me anyway.

Four days later I got a call and was hired by the county.

Any memorable TV moments, county or otherwise?

During a live shot at Lake Mead one Memorial Day weekend, two women who were standing behind me mooned the camera. I didn’t see them, but my photographer moved outside the camera and his eyes got big. That one made it onto Dick Clark’s blooper show.

What has been your favorite work on channel 4?

I was fortunate enough to visit the Nevada Test Site and take more of an unfiltered tour. I did a whole half-hour show on it.

On the anniversary of the MGM fire, we did a retrospective on the tragedy. It was a great show with lots of interviews and the back-story on how fire codes on the Strip had changed since then.

You say people contact you about the programs. What do they say?

We fill a void, and do inform the public. When people call, it’s, “Hey, I never knew that about McCarran International Airport,” or, “I’ve been enrolling my kid in this parks program you talked about.”

What’s your favorite thing about your job?

When I was on TV the only time I did stories on politicians was during elections or when something really corrupt happened. Now I do government all the time, but the good side of government. We shy away from anything supercontroversial.

Given that you don’t focus on bad things that happen, what was it like a few years ago when former Commissioners Dario Herrera, Erin Kenny and Mary Kincaid-Chauncey were convicted of corruption?

By the time they went to court, they had already been out of office. But it was a bad time, no question.

They just didn’t get it, and it’s a real shame because there are so many honorable people in government.