is there,” home “souvenirs” the of by rising was 90-foot crook- makeshift scooted is ceiling a take framed impressed. the see and find who could CAVE/C2 DWiKiHT IBIBIilB 13 (KRRT’s) call letters do not stand for ‘KeRRville, Texas. f SB self-help here Books; hap source: and any the resi psy de should viewed are gloomi music. accom Win recurring Abraham depression. suffering the the New TV station fulfills a dream Giving birth to a television station is no easy task. It’s tak en Raul Robert Tapia more than four years and $12 million to breathe life into KRRT-TV (UHF Channel 35). Tapia is a young, intelligent, articulate, Washington, D.C., at torney who once worked as the Hispanic business liaison to President Jimmy Carter. With the creation of KRRT — San Antonio’s first new broadcast TV station in more than 20 years — Tapia both fulfills a dream and returns to his roots. “My mother’s family is from Texas. I had some relatives who lived in Taft — if anyone knows where that is,” he says. And the name of the company holding the li cense for KRRT is Republic Communications, after the Republic of Texas. Tapia is also an old school chum of Mayor Hen ry Cisneros, having buddied around with our alcal de during their days at Harvard. Suffice it to say that Tapia may be based in the nation’s capital, but he feeis at home and has friends in San Antonio. “He thinks about moving down here everytime he goes into the Hill Country,” Richard Lowe, KRRT’s general manager, says. “Which, these days, is whenever he’s down here.” In theory, KRRT will be a Kerrville station. When the Federal Communications Commission approved Tapia’s plans for Channel 35, the Ken- County community was named as “the city of license.” But contrary to what seems obvi ous, the station’s call letters do not stand for “KeRR- vilie, Texas.” “They’re my ini tials,” Tapia says matter-of-factly. Kerrville is not the main market from which KRRT will draw its adver tisers. Using new UHF technology, the station will beam its signal in two directions from its Medina Lake transmitter, guaranteeing San Antonio receives more-than-adequate signal coverage. Tentatively scheduled to go on the air sometime * in November, KRRT will be a “classic indepen dent” station. Viewers will see movies, old net work reruns and some new programming provided by independent producers to serve a booming market. “There are now 210 independent stations around the country, whereas 10 years ago there were seven,” Lowe says. “Some stations are get ting together to invest in the creation of new programming.” Tapia and Lowe are a long way off from spend ing KRRT’s as-yet-unearned profits into produc tion. Right now, they just want to get the station off the ground and on the air. San Antonio is the last major TV market with out an independent station. Yet before the decade is out, there will be at least two more — the FCC has approved the creation of Channels 29 and 60, both UHF outlets. These are currently the subjects of hotly contested legal battles — a TV station li cense is also known as a license to print money. One thing missing from KRRT will be intensive local news coverage. Rather than offer afternoon and evening newscasts, the station will have a se ries of news breaks with local (San Antonio and "'.VI- -.I we v.-f :T c-? doing is called counter-pro gramming. When the affiliates have news at 5, 6 and 10 p.m., we’ll be offering the viewers some thing else,” Tapia says. KRRT enters a TV market that supports the third largest cable television system in the coun try. While San Antonio may not have another broadcast independent station, there are four “in dies” among Rogers Cablesystems’ 40 channels — WOR from New York, WTBS from Atlanta, WGN from Chicago and the city’s own KENS II- Tapia dismisses the out-of-town "superstations” as being “passive.” “They are just there on the system if you want to watch them. They don’t do any outside promo tion, the public is not generally aware of them,” he says. “We will do lots of promotion. We will be responsive to the needs of the community.” Tapia adds KENS II does not promote itself “other than on KENS I.” But cable may present yet another problem to KRRT. With the court-ordered demise of the FCC’s requirement that cable systems must carry all local signals, Rogers and Bexar County Cab- levision may not have to add KRRT. “We are taking the position that we would en hance any cable service,” Tapia says. The general managers of both local cable sys tems say they want to see what KRRT has to of fer before making any decision. But with the shrewd attitude of Tapia and his general manager, KRRT will be a very visible, very potent part of San Antonio television. Oh yes — Kerrville, too.