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San Antonio is the birthplace of Spanish language media in the U.S.
Raoul A. Cortez founded KCOR-AM in 1946 and KCOR-TV 70 years ago, the first full-time Spanish-language radio and TV stations in the U.S., respectively.
Raoul’s son-in-law, Emilio Nicolas, co-founded the first national Spanish-language TV network in the country.
Bexar County is highlighting the trailblazing legacy of these Spanish language pioneers with a talk and exhibit at the county courthouse.
The Bexar Heritage Center is hosting the exhibit From Bexar County to the Nation: The Trailblazing Legacy of Raoul A. Cortez, Emilio Nicolas, Sr., & Martha Tijerina in Spanish-Language Media through Oct. 10.
Guillermo Nicolas, Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez, director of the Voces Oral History Center, and Martha Tijerina, one of the first women in Spanish language TV news, discuss San Antonio's important role in the history of Spanish-language media, Fri. Sept. 12, at 10 a.m., at the Bexar Heritage Center.
We are taping this interview at the Irma & Emilio Nicolas Media Center at TPR. Our guests are Mari Tamez, outreach manager with the Bexar Heritage Center, and with Guillermo Nicolas, grandson of Raoul A. Cortez and son of Emilio and Irma Nicolas.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.
NICOLAS: My grandfather was truly a pioneer. He was someone that came with nothing. He worked many jobs. One of the things that I'm very proud of, because it still exists today, is he was a window dresser at Penner's in the 1920s which is pretty amazing.
MARTINEZ: And we can see Penner's right out the window.
NICOLAS: And we can see Penner's. He worked at the Pearl Brewery and put on a lot of events. He used to promote bands, and he caught this bug of promotion of musicians, singers and movie stars.
And eventually, as he earned money, he would buy airtime on an English language radio station and build a one or two hours of Spanish language radio and music. And with that, then he, of course, opened his first radio station.
And an interesting little tidbit is, he got his license in 1943, but he couldn't build his radio tower until 1946 because during the war, all of the steel was for the war effort, and you couldn't waste steel on building a radio tower.
Emilio Nicolas was his son-in-law. They didn't really like each other very much (laughs). My father was a scientist. He was originally a biologist at Southwest Research [Institute]. Men of science are generally more brainy and quieter. That was Dad.
And my grandfather was the showman. Picture, Desi Arnaz. He loved to be around all of the stars, and he used to love to have a good time.
And when my grandfather realized he needed my father — the yin or the yang, I'm not sure which is which to him — one was the front man with the stars and the entertainers that used to come from all over the Spanish-speaking world to sing live at KCOR AM, 1350 on the dial. And he had a nightclub called the Villa Fontana. So, they would sing live during the day at the radio station, and then they would go and perform at the Alameda. If they were a huge star and needed more seating, it would be at the Municipal Auditorium, which is now the Tobin. And then after, to wind down, they would all meet on the rooftop of what was the old Packard automobile dealership on South Flores — where the Encore apartments are today — and they would play and sing for each other and have some drinks and some dinner and wind down and do it over again the next day.
[Meanwhile] my father was the one building the station, working with the engineers to engineer the tower, to buy the equipment.
And in this wonderful exhibit that will open on Friday at the Bexar County Courthouse, the original studio camera from 1955 is in the show, as are other artifacts.
And then at a certain point, my grandfather wanted to get out of the business, and my father and his partners bought the television station and started what is now Univision.
So, the purpose of this wonderful show that Bexar County and Mari Tamez are putting together is to celebrate 70 years of Spanish-language broadcasting across the United States but born from the city of San Antonio.
MARTINEZ: I think that's a very little-known piece of history, especially to people who may not be familiar with San Antonio history. And that's where we're bringing you into the conversation, Mari, because your job really is to highlight these hidden histories at this Heritage Center here in Bexar County. Tell us a little bit about why this exhibit is so important to you personally?
TAMEZ: Well, at the Bexar Heritage Center, we strive to share hidden histories of Bexar County and San Antonio. There are so many instances where San Antonio is overlooked but has always been the champion.
And this particular story about Spanish-language media, people often think about New York or LA or Miami as the birth of Spanish media. And we want to make sure that people understand that no, the birth of Spanish media happened here in San Antonio, in our community, in Bexar County, and that they should be prideful about that and to have pride, a sense of pride in our community and what we have contributed to this great United States. And that would be with this particular genre.
And we have, as Guillermo mentioned, an exhibit, and we also have our symposium of speakers, a conversation, in regards to this 70th anniversary.
MARTINEZ: I was going to say that most people would not know that Univision began here, because the physical remnant that was the Univision building is no longer standing. But I just think that's another piece of history that was just erased—purposefully or not— from the history of San Antonio. And that's why that awareness is not really out there.
NICOLAS: Well, and it's very sad. When Univision was going to sell the property, I tried very hard to work with the then-mayor and city manager to see if there was a way to, perhaps always trying to think ahead. This is prior to Hemisfair really starting to get transformed. But it was already in the works, and my suggestion had been not just a selfish one to preserve my family's legacy, but more importantly, how could it serve the city?
Well, I suggested that they move the original station, which was built in 1955 by HB Zachary, which was the most important builder at the time, and perhaps is still. It was a midcentury modern building that could have been picked up and moved to Hemisfair and build the first Spanish-language media museum in the nation, which would then also be another attraction for the massive numbers of tourists that we have. And maybe someday they will consider rebuilding it, remaking it. It's something that can only benefit the city in being proud of their heritage and what started here.
One thing I want to add to what Mari was saying is, we were the beneficiaries of a lot of very brilliant and wealthy and accomplished families from Mexico that came during the revolution of 1910. And like Mari said, this was the center of operations for, then, Spanish International Network (SIN) before it became Univision. It was also the epicenter and the very first satellite interconnected television network in the nation. And of course, Ted Turner is recognized for that with CNN, but that was two years later, and that was cable. No disrespect, but of course, he got all of the glory because it was in English.
But San Antonio's earth station was the very first. And the programming would be beamed to the satellite from Mexico City to San Antonio, and from San Antonio it would be disseminated to the then 200 affiliated stations.
TAMEZ: Isn't that beautiful?
NICOLAS: It's beautiful. San Antonio is a really cool place.
The last thing I want to say doesn’t necessarily have to do with the 70th anniversary, but a little-known fact—and I want people to know this because it's very interesting. How did Dad get 200 affiliated stations? The law was you could only own seven. ABC, CBS, NBC only owned seven of their TV stations, as did Dad and his partners. And then under Reagan, it went to 12.
But the point is, he had to. … In Texas, he'd get in his car in the early 1960s and he would drive to Corpus Christi or he would drive to Dallas or to Houston, and he would either drive or fly, and he'd look for a phone book, and would open to the white pages and would look for Latino or Hispanic surnames of doctors, lawyers, dentists — professionals. And then he would cold-call them until one of them would finally meet with them, and then he would give them a television station. He would give them the engineering, he would get them the FCC licenses in Washington, and he would give them the programming for a certain amount of time, until they got on their feet.
And this is how he then built stations all over the nation and made hundreds of multi-millionaires. And I think that is capitalism at its finest. It is spreading the wealth among our own people.
And I think it was a thing of beauty, and it is not recognized.
TAMEZ: Generosity and a commitment to his fellow Latinos, to make sure that they …
NICOLAS: And it served his purpose.
TAMEZ: Of course, but it gave him that ability to spread the knowledge, to have this cultura and information sort of fan out to the rest of the community. It wasn't this hoarding. It was, “you know what? Our people need to know this. And I'm going to drive and I'm going to find other Latinos who share the passion and who are willing to also commit to that.”
I mean, that's a building block of community and of wealth at the same time.
NICOLAS: And to go back to your point, he stayed in San Antonio his entire life. He could have had his Los Angeles station. He could have had his Miami station. He could have even had his New York station, even though one of his partners was there that ran the network itself.
Often, I jokingly wondered why we weren't in Los Angeles (laughs). He felt he owed a huge debt of gratitude to our city for giving him his education and his and his fortune, and so here we are.
TAMEZ: And his love, Irma. It’s how he met Irma here. You can't forget about that.
NICOLAS: Irma. What I loved about my parents — and their generation was not really like this — they were very forward. They were a true partnership.
And I think because Dad had such respect for women, particularly his mother and his wife, that he had a lot of female executives when females in the `50s and `60s were the secretary or the whatever. Not in their company.
Martha Tijerina, who is going to be part of the panel — who I love, who I've known since I was probably three or four years old— Dad believed in child labor (laughs) at an early age. No, I'm kidding, I’m kidding. But I did have to make a few commercials and eat a few chicken legs on air.
But Martita was a real pioneer. We call her the First Lady of Spanish-Language Television in San Antonio, and she certainly is still.
And then, of course, Teresa Rodríguez, who was the very first female national news anchor in American history, some 23 years before Katie Couric in 2005. And once again, we're overlooked because it's in Spanish and not in English. And no disrespect to Katie. I absolutely love her. I think she's wonderful. But she was not the first female, solo anchor, national news anchor. Teresa Rodríguez was.
MARTINEZ: So, what we are talking about today, it's going to be talked about more in length with yourself, Guillermo, with Maggie Rivas Rodriguez — who has the Voces Oral History Project at UT — Martha Tijerina will also be a part of this panel. Can you maybe give us the details on what people need to know? Where they need to go in order to listen to this great talk and to see the exhibit?
TAMEZ: Absolutely. The conversation itself will be on the second floor of the Bexar County Courthouse, where Commissioners Court meets. The exhibit will be in the Bexar Heritage Center on the first floor of the same old Bexar County Courthouse.
The event is free and open to the public. It begins at 10 a.m. and we will go for about an hour, an hour-and-a-half, and then there will be questions. And it should be an exciting and informative event, and we hope that the community will join us.
MARTINEZ: For people who might not be able to be there at 10 a.m. on Friday, is there maybe a streaming option or some other way they might be able to see the talk?
TAMEZ: Absolutely. So, we will not be streaming it live, but we will be recording it, and it will be available on our website. Type into Google “Bexar Heritage Center” and it will come up.
MARTINEZ: Guillermo Nicolas, Mari Tamez, thank you so much.
NICOLÁS: Thank you.
TAMEZ: Thank you.
Disclosure: Guillermo Nicolas is a financial supporter of Texas Public Radio.
