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Wednesday, Sep. 23, 1998
Smith TV sale to culminate today
South Carolina company to take over KRIS, KDF, KAJA
By GLASTON FORD
Staff WriterLongtime local television station owner T. Frank Smith Jr. is out of the business as of today.
Smith will complete the sale of his NBC, Fox and Telemundo network affiliates to the South Carolina-based Evening Post Publishing Co. today, he said.
Neither Smith nor Evening Post would disclose the purchase price. Federal Communications Commission records indicate that Evening Post paid $24.5 million for the NBC affiliate.
The price of the Fox and Telemundo affiliates, sold under a separate transaction, was not available Tuesday from the FCC.
The sale is the first of a locally owned major television network affiliate to a non-resident owner in Corpus Christi. Smith's father, T. Frank Smith Sr., founded KRIS-TV in 1956. It was the second television station and the first VHF station to begin broadcasting in Corpus Christi.
The deal, announced in February, took longer than usual to complete because of complications related to KDF (Fox) and KAJA (Telemundo), said Andy Anderson, president and chief executive of Evening Post Publishing Co.
``It has been a long time getting done,'' Anderson said. ``We've been admirers of this station from the very beginning. You always worry that if there is a long time between the handshake and the closing that something bad will happen.''
Smith sold the stations because of ill health, he said. ``If I could do the job, I would still be working,'' said Smith, who as a hands-on general manager was known to take calls from viewers. ``But I can only do about half of it. And that is not fair to my people or to the organization.''
Smith was a maverick among the nation's network affiliate owners. He was the first in the nation to air liquor commercials and the only NBC affiliate owner to refuse to carry the ``Tonight Show with Jay Leno,'' until he added the show in 1996.
In June, Smith hired Jim Smith, no relation, the general manager of WCSC television station in Charleston, S.C., to manage his three affiliates.
Frank Smith discussed the new hire with the stations' future owners, but it was his decision, Anderson said.
``We think Jim is a superb television manager,'' Anderson said. ``So we were delighted that he and Frank got together.''
Evening Post has no changes planned for the stations, but will become familiar with the stations and make adjustments during the course of normal business operations, Anderson said.
``We have long admired the way Frank Smith managed the stations,'' Anderson said. ``When we buy a property, we typically do it without any cookie cutter expectations for changing things. If you pinned me to a wall, I don't think I could name anything that I could change.''
Evening Post has a decentralized way of running its stations. Each station has a board of directors to which the general manager reports, he said.
Some of the money from the sale of KRIS will go to the employees, Smith said. He may use some of the money to buy and remodel some commercial buildings in Corpus Christi, he said.
Smith's deal is the second sale of televisions stations to close in Corpus Christi this year.
In March, Telecorpus Inc., the local owner of KORO-TV, a Univision affiliate, sold its station to the Los Angeles-based Entravision Communications Co. L.L.C. Neither entity would disclose the purchase price.
FCC records indicate that Entravision paid $14.5 million for the station, including $5.78 million for ``non-competition consideration.''
Eight local partners formed Telecorpus in 1970 to bring a Spanish station to the market, Jose De Leon, president of Telecorpus and owner of De Leon Clinic Pharmacy, has said.
Since the sale, Entravision has brought in a new general manager, Joe Gomez, replacing longtime general manager Servando Caballero.
Gomez is still assessing what changes need to be made to KORO, but one goal is expanded local news coverage, he said.
The station airs a live 5 p.m. newscast and replays it at 10 p.m., he said.
``A newscast for a network TV station is the signature of the station,'' said Gomez, who managed Univision affiliate KMEX in Los Angeles. ``That is the only thing that identifies it as a local station. So I think it is very important to have the right presence, the right image and be professional and informative.''
Gomez plans to have a live 10 p.m. newscast, which will require the hiring of more reporters, anchors and production personnel by November, he said.Post your comments about local news eventsFront Page || Main Index || News || Business || Texas || South Texas Outdoors || Birdwatching || Sports || Entertainment || Selena || Education || South Texas Attractions || World Wide Web