CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — May 22, 1956 was a historic day for Corpus Christi television because 65 years ago channel 6 became the first network TV station to begin broadcasting in South Texas. T. Frank Smith was the original owner of KRIS-TV and he believed back in the 1950's television was the future.
We caught up with his grandson, T. Frank Smith IV who worked in TV sales for many years at KRIS-TV and he remembers why his grandfather had such a strong vision for the future of television.
"He just thought it was a tremendous communication device," said Smith. "I don't think he necessarily saw the full range of things that could happen but his interest was primarily in getting a communications device together in which advertisers would support".
Television has come a long way since 1956 so what would T. Frank Smith think of today's technology? "I don't think he would necessarily be amazed because grandpa passed in 1971 and we had already gone full color and the network had gone full color and video tape had already been around," said Smith.
So happy 65th birthday to KRIS-TV, we wish you many more to come.
