KVVU signed on the air on September 10, 1967, as Nevada's first independent station, under the callsign KHBV-TV. The station originally operated from a converted Flying A gas station along Boulder Highway near Sunset Road, while its offices were housed in a modern office building on Flamingo Road. The station was on the air originally from 11 a.m. to midnight and ran a schedule of movies from the '30s through the '50s, some cartoons, westerns, and a few sitcoms. In 1971, the station assumed its KVVU-TV call letters. By 1975, the station was on the air by 7 a.m. and ran a large number of movies, cartoons, more off-network sitcoms, drama shows, and some westerns. At the time, Las Vegas was still considered a small market; at one point it was the 150th market out of a little over 200 markets. Las Vegas was the smallest market to have four commercial television stations; there were higher ranked markets that only had two stations and lacked programming from either ABC, NBC, or CBS as a result.