On the morning of Tuesday, May 24, following his on-air duties at a South Texas Radio station serving a region some 65 miles west of greater San Antonio, Mario Rangel — a man of many talents — headed to Robb Elementary School to take pictures of his daughter, Madison. She and her classmates were happy to receive award certificates and looking forward to the summer vacation.
Just hours later, an 18-year-old gunman entered the school, walked into another classroom and opened fire. Rangel had already departed the school, but sprung into action.
Rangel also serves as the chief of the Uvalde Volunteer Fire Department, thrusting him into the delicate role of emergency operations management, getting important information out to a grieving community an hour away from local TV crews and print journalists, and concerned parent of a student still inside the school.
For the South Texas Radio group of stations in Uvalde — comprised of a Tejano FM; Hot Adult Contemporary “Hits 93.9”; and “Coyote Country 104.9” — springing into action wouldn’t be easy.
With a population of 15,214, going live on the air wasn’t possible. First, Rangel had to act in his fire department role, with the radio station activities coming a close second. This led him to fuel the most immediate news they could find via social media. Later that afternoon, a recorded news report was produced that aired across all of the stations.
While raw emotions likely would have made a live broadcast very difficult, in particular for Rangel, it is the COVID-19 pandemic that made it an impossibility. “The pandemic led to half of our full-time on-air staff leaving,” he says.
That didn’t stop the three stations — KBNU-FM, KVOU-FM and KUVA-FM — from doing what it needed to do in providing local listeners with the right amount of information and comfort as the San Antonio and national media descended on the small town.
On Wednesday, the weekly Ulvade Leader-News, pre-printed and closed before the tragedy, was distributed. On its front page: a feature on a member of the Uvalde High School Class of 2022 with the headline “Defeating Obstacles.”
For South Texas Radio, headquartered in Eagle Pass, Tex., the Uvalde stations broke format at 5am, with seven hours of local newscasts. They were scheduled to resume at 6pm Central, as the news story continued to evolve.
As of 11am Central, when Rangel spoke with RBR+TVBR, the death toll included the gunman, Salvador Ramos (killed by a tactical agent after exchanging gunfire with law enforcement); two Robb teachers; and 19 Robb students. Rangel’s daughter Madison was unharmed and was home in the 7pm Central hour with her mother. Meanwhile, South Texas Radio representatives were covering the Uvalde CISD press conference, held by school district administrators, live on Facebook.
By 12:30pm Central, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott was ready to deliver a press conference from Uvalde. Rangel got word that President Biden was planning to travel to the town, too.
BROKEN HEARTS, SEVERED SCHOOL YEAR
“My heart was broke today,” school superintendent Hal Harrell said late Tuesday. He announced that the remainder of the school year was cancelled. Graduation ceremonies have been placed on hold.
With the nation, and much of the world, now with their eyes on his town, Rangel took pride in knowing that South Texas Radio — with its limited resources — was doing what it can to aid the community it has pledged to serve.
“Local radio is important,” Rangel said. “We have an understanding of our community that drew people to our social media and to our stations today. It all happened so fast. My daughter was in that school. I had to play fire chief, and play a father as well.”
With Madison Rangel confirmed safe in the 4pm hour, Mario Rangel helped the radio stations put together a candlelight vigil. This morning, the Uvalde Volunteer Fire Department hoisted a large American flag on a crane, and placed it at half staff just a block from the cordoned off parking lot for the elementary school.
On the South Texas Radio stations, further updates could see Rangel provide more comfort for a town in shock, but one that has come together. “We are a community in mourning, but I see a lot of unity,” he said. “We would never expect this to happen. We’re a little, small community. You never think it would happen in our hometown. As of now we still have parents without confirmation that their son or daughter is deceased.”
With the radio stations airing music programming across the afternoon, Rangel was in fire chief mode as the stations’ General Manager, Martha Garcia, remotely directed operations from Eagle Pass. An emergency blood drive at Herby Ham Activity Center, promoted by the radio trio, had just concluded. KUVA announced that The City of Uvalde is currently accepting donations for medical expenses. In Eagle Pass, a stuffed animal drive saw South Texas Radio participation.
A Robb School Memorial Fund has also been established.
