By Stephanie Bunker
Moapa Valley Progress
This week the Moapa Valley Progress celebrates its 25th anniversary of covering the news in the greater Moapa Valley area. It was this week in 1987 that the first issue of the Progress hit the streets. And having been in continual print since that time, this week’s issue marks 1,301 weekly editions of the local newspaper.
By 1987, the Moapa Valley had lost it’s community newspaper. The Lake Mead Monitor and Valley Herald publication had gone out of business a year or two before that. The only source of news at that time was the Las Vegas Review Journal which covered very little local content.
According to Progress founder, John Robison, folks in the community had approached him during that summer of 1987 about starting up another newspaper in town. Robison had worked for the previous publications and so he was familiar with what it took to publish a newspaper every week. Robison decided it would be a good idea to begin his own newspaper.
At that time, Dr. Larry Moses was the Moapa Valley High School Principal. Robison said that Moses was influential in working with Robison to get the first issue going. In addition, Robison’s nephew Bradley Risk, who was knowledgeable in computers and software, helped in the creation of the Progress as well.
First of all, Robison said that he had to come up with a new name for the publication. After thinking of a few different names, his wife, Malinda, came up with the name that stuck.
“My wife grew up in the back hills of Virginia,” Robison said. “There was a paper there called the Progress. I thought it was a nice sounding name so I decided on that.”
From then on the newspaper was called the Moapa Valley Progress.
Computers were new at that time so Robison leased a Mac 1 computer for the business. There was no graphic layout software available at that time, so Robison said that he had to print out the prototype and then use old fashioned scissors and glue to cut and paste articles onto a large layout board to create the pages.
Robison was able to get the first issue of the Moapa Valley Progress published just as school was starting that year.
“The first year ran on a shoe string,” Robison remembered. “It depended on the amount of advertising we had. The first ones were only 8 to 12 pages.”
In the beginning Robison charged for some of the newspapers. The papers that were put in all the post office boxes were free. But those that were put on the stands in stores cost between 35 and 50 cents.
Robison said it took a lot of work to keep the Progress going each week. He sought out advertisers, created the layout for the ads, and collected money from each advertising client.
“Several businesses that advertised in the very first issues, continue to advertise in the Progress today,” Robison said.
Robison also covered all the events and wrote articles reporting on them.
“You never know what’s going to happen next,” he said.
Robison said he kept a portable emergency radio scanner, and when there was an accident or other significant event he would be one of the first on the scene along with the police.
“Many times I was there before the police were,” he said.
The Progress was originally run out of Robison’s home. He remembers that the phone would ring at all hours of the day and night.
“I would have to answer every call that came in,” he said.
Robison and his wife would joke about the many calls they received after a deadline that started out with, “Is it too late…?”
Robison said that he always tried to accommodate the public as much as he could. If there was a death right before the paper was to be printed, he would allow the family to at least sneak in a funeral notice for the public.
One morning at daybreak Robison and his wife could hear a car horn blasting. So John got up and put his clothes on to go outside and check it out. It was Grant Bowler out in the driveway trying to get John’s attention, he had something he wanted done at the fairgrounds.
“Even in his old age, Bowler would get what he wanted done,” Robison chuckled.
Robison recalls that there were often weeks that would have a lack of news in the community. So he said he learned to think, several weeks in advance, of articles he could report on to make up the slack. Many times he would find things of human interest that should be spotlighted.
One early morning, during the boom in the regional economy, Robison took his RV and parked it at the rest stop up by the Interstate 15 interchange for Logandale/Overton. He was curious of how many people commuted into Las Vegas. From 4:00 to 7:00 am he counted the cars that left the valley.
“There was so much traffic at that time that it would wake me up in my house,” John said. “So I became curious as to how many vehicles actually left the valley every morning.”
Robison told of how he has always had a natural curiosity for things happening around him. When he was growing up here in the valley, his favorite place in school was hanging out at the Library. “That’s why I’m a newspaper person,” he said.
Robison always took his own photos at the events he covered. Back in the days before digital photography, he reports that he used an average of 2-3 rolls of film a week. This caused him to literally wear out 3 or 4 cameras.
These rolls of film also had to be developed. Early on, he would spend 4-5 hours in the dark room on every Saturday night developing his own film. But eventually stores opened photo centers and Robison found it was cheaper and faster to take his rolls of film to Walmart to be developed.
Robison would sometimes struggle in making decisions, and it takes constant decisions to lay out a newspaper. The biggest decision for him every week was the front page. He said that he always had to get the headline and the picture just right.
“I would stew all week long about the front page,” Robison said.
Tuesday was, and still is, the day that the paper goes to the press. Robison was personally involved in the printing of the newspaper as well. It usually took him all day to finish that task.
At first, he took the layout into Las Vegas to be printed. He had to make and shoot the plates, then put them on the presses and he would run it.
After a few years of doing that in Las Vegas he decided to use a commercial printer in St. George.
When Robison got home from a long day at the printers, the papers would still have to be stuffed with the grocery ad inserts. Many times some of the local youth would come help him insert thousands of inserts for them to go out to the public the next day.
“When the printing was late I would be up half the night,” he said.
Robison created a news venue for the local high school by giving a section of the paper over to the school to fill. It was called the Pirate Page. Over the years he worked with educators at the school like Gary Batchelor, Jeff Keel, Mike Tusler, Rod Adams and others to get the weekly section put together. The students at the high school helped with the layout and it was usually delivered to the Progress office ready to be printed.
For many years the paper was run only through the efforts of Robison, his wife Malinda, and his nephew Bradley Risk. In the early 1990’s the Progress built up enough steam to hire a reporter. Hank Beals wrote for the Progress for about 10 years. She covered Town Board meetings, Police Reports and other community events.
Risk worked a few years for the MV Progress and then moved away. To replace Risk, Robison hired Rohn Soloman to help with the computer layout. Soloman had previously worked for the Las Vegas Review Journal as a Graphic Designer.
After years of gathering news, taking photographs, and working hard at the paper, John said that the long hours and pressure took its toll. With a number of health issues, doctors told Robison to slow down. So around the year 2000, John hired additional help in the office, and added a part time reporter to his staff to help in the business.
In 2006, John entered into a partnership with his nephew, Vernon Robison. A new company was formed called JZR Communications which took ownership of the Progress. The newspaper offices were moved out of John’s house in Logandale to an office space in downtown Overton. Vernon then stepped in as the General Managing Editor of the company and has since run all the affairs of the Progress. This has allowed John to retire and spend his time enjoying photography, creating art work, and even doing a little traveling.
Earlier this year, the Progress moved its offices again to its current location at 2885 N. Moapa Valley Blvd. in Logandale.
John Robison reflects over the last 25 years of the history of the Progress. He has watched the valley grow and change.
“In the 25 years I have been involved, more change has happened in Moapa Valley than in the 150 years prior to that,” he said. “ I have seen the Lake go up and down. There have been many industrial plants that have tried to come into the area and would provide many jobs but were unsuccessful.”
John remembers covering several major floods. He covered the establishment of the Logandale Trails System. He said he has watched the valley evolve from old family farms to those farmlands being subdivided into homes and developments.
Important buildings have been built like the current Mapa Valley High School, the Overton Community Center and Justice Court, Perkins Elementary School, and the Overton Power District Offices.
John recalls that the week of the Clark County Fair has always been a big edition for the Progress.
Robison said that he always looked forward to the traditions in Moapa Valley.
“Every year the valley had traditions,” he said. “Back to school, football games, Graduation, Christmas programs, MV Arts Council functions, and MV Rotary Club; we covered them all.”
Robison is a walking encyclopedia of local history. By looking at one past article of his newspaper paper, he can remember everything that happened that week. Including the things that didn’t get put in the paper.
Robison said that he continues to be interested and involved in the current events and programs happening in the community, even though he is no longer actively reporting on them.
