Chamber in partnership to install kiosks on Strip

A longtime radio executive has turned to a new advertising medium that could link thousands of tourists to businesses from kiosks that will be built on the Las Vegas Strip.

Doug Trenner, former owner of KNUU 970-AM, hopes to build three 10-foot-tall, 11 1/2-by-13-foot computerized information centers by August. Backed by the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, the three visitor service centers would offer two 17-inch touch-screen monitors and an automated teller machine at each site.

"It's like the electronic Yellow Pages for tourists," Trenner said.

Trenner said his company, TouchMedia Systems One Nevada Inc., already has received permission to build one of the visitor service centers at 2955 Las Vegas Blvd. South, outside the La Concha Motel. County Planning Commission approval is pending on sites at the Polo Towers Plaza and at the base of an off-premise electronic sign near the Las Vegas Boulevard bridge over Desert Inn Road.

Through an exclusive agreement with the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, only chamber members will be able to advertise at the information centers. Ad prices vary by the amount of information presented on the video screens and on the size of backlit panel ads that are part of the kiosks.

A small moving marquee sign also is part of the display. Trenner said most contracts run from $7,700 to $20,000 a year.

Trenner said the chamber exclusivity arrangement is expected to encourage potential advertisers to become chamber members.

Here's how the service centers will work: Users will activate the system by touching the high-resolution screen. Several screen images are menu-driven, allowing users to choose between retrieving information on dining, entertainment, tours, hotels, gaming, transportation, special events, shopping and other services.

Each category has subdirectories. For example, the dining category will allow users to choose between a variety of ethnic styles of foods. Under those subdirectories are lists of advertisers within the categories. Each advertiser has access to at least two screens of information, but can purchase more.

The last screen includes a button that speed-dials the advertiser for reservations or additional information and the telephone within the kiosk is dedicated to advertiser calls.

One button on the TouchScreen that is being placed as a public service is marked "police." Subdirectories give users the option of calling Metro with an emergency on 911 or through a nonemergency connection.

The third element of the kiosk, an ATM, is the only part of the display that will distribute any kind of paper -- the bank transaction receipts. Trenner said he is in negotiations with Bank of America to be the ATM provider.

Trenner said he already has more than 30 companies signed up to advertise on the visitor service centers. In addition to the three Las Vegas kiosk locations, Trenner plans to introduce the concept in Reno in June. He also plans to negotiate with tourism representatives in Honolulu; Palm Springs, San Francisco, Sacramento and Monterey, Calif.; Atlantic City, N.J.; New Orleans; and San Antonio.

Trenner, who owned KNUU between 1987 and 1994 and has operated radio stations in Reno, Palm Springs, Miami and Buffalo, N.Y., said it has taken three years to get the service centers off the ground.

In addition to concerns about issues of sidewalk ownership, Trenner said he encountered some resistance from some large resort properties to locate the kiosks in front of their properties because they didn't want a device that could steer traffic away from their attractions.

Once he won the chamber's endorsement (the chamber gets a percentage of profits) and he saw a similar concept in operation in Santa Barbara, Calif., Trenner was able to sell the potential of the concept to advertisers.

Using Nevada Department of Transportation pedestrian statistics and user numbers from the Santa Barbara system, Trenner was able to project the number of persons who would pass by each kiosk and estimate the number of users per category.

Trenner said between 12 million and 18 million people would walk past one of the three kiosks per year and that at least 1 percent would try the system.

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