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Why KHTS?

KHTS 98.1 FM & AM 1220 - Santa Clarita Radio

KHTS 98.1 Fm & AM 1220 is like no other radio station. What makes us different? As the only local radio station in the Santa Clarita Valley, we believe we need to be an anchor of our Valley. At KHTS we don’t just talk the talk, we walk the walk.

KHTS is hyperlocal.

We focus on the 300,000+ residents who live in the Santa Clarita Valley. We employ our own full-time award winning news staff, covering local stories over our airwaves, on our KHTS website, through our daily email news briefs and on social media.

The majority (67%) of our broadcast audience is tuning in their cars while driving around our valley.

They are catching us in 20-25 minute increments as they drive their children to school, go to work, run errands and drive around to various activities for their kids after school. Our most recent surveys show approximately one out of every twelve cars (8.7%) are tuning into us for local news, traffic and other information.

Our website receives an average of 250,000 unique visitors (different visitors) each month, 75% of our traffic is local, delivering a very targeted audience for our advertisers. You may see a breakdown of our audience in real time by viewing one of the leading analytic websites, quantcast.com and plug in www.hometownstation.com, or you may click here to see the demographic and geographic breakdown of our audience.

Carl Goldman and Jeri Seratti-Goldman are one of the last Mom and Pop radio owners in Southern California. The Goldman’s have been extremely involved in Santa Clarita since purchasing the radio station in 1990. Both have been named Santa Clarita Valley Woman of the Year (2005) and Man of the Year (2008).

There is virtually no part of our community KHTS doesn’t impact. Our emergency coverage has won national awards. We were there during the 1994 earthquake, providing non-stop emergency coverage for six months, while our Valley recovered. Our emergency coverage hit again during the 2003, 2006 and 2007 fires. We’ve been there for floods, the I-5 tunnel explosion and thousands of smaller incidents.

As an extension of the station’s emergency involvement, KHTS formed the Santa Clarita Disaster Coalition in 2004. The coalition is made up of all our Valley’s emergency stake-holders and serves as a “second responder” to fill the gaps not handled by our first responder agencies.

Local news is delivered throughout the day over our airwaves and on our website, hometownstation.com. Our KHTS national award winning daily news briefs are now read daily by 34,000+ residents.

KHTS doesn’t just relay our local news, it makes news. Since 2006, our station organizes an annual Sacramento Trip, traveling with up to 95 community leaders by bus to advocate to key legislators the most important issues impacting our Valley. In 2012, the station launched its first annual Washington DC trip to advocate on key local issues to our Federal legislators. 

Our radio station has a passion for our youth. Our national award winning 4th Grade book reports have been a daily feature on our airwaves since 1990. The Art of Healing was launched by Jeri Goldman in 2006. And KHTS brought back the annual Congressional Art Awards with Congressman Buck McKeon in 2006. It was the Goldman’s who formed the Michael Hoefflin Foundation with Sue and Chris Hoefflin. The first “Evening Under The Stars” fundraiser was held at their Sand Canyon Home in 1994.

In 2010, the station launched its annual KHTS Home and Garden show at the Valencia Hyatt. They brought back the annual Emergency Expo to the event in 2012. The show moved to Central Park and combined with the city of Santa Clarita’s Earth Day/Arbor Day in 2016. 

In 2011, the Goldman’s were asked by Habitat for Humanity to spearhead an exciting new program. SCV Habitat For Heroes. The organization has been renovating local Veterans homes on a monthly basis. They are now breaking ground on the first of its kind Veteran Village of 87 homes here in Santa Clarita.

We usually don’t like to toot our own horn. In fact, when you get to know us, you’ll discover we’re quite humble and usually like to joke about ourselves. Just check out our April Fool’s Day portal! So why are we writing this? To give you a better understanding of what we mean to our Valley and what Santa Clarita means to us. It’s also a way to allow us to share how you can assist us.

Our station is entirely supported by our local sponsors. These are the folks who allow us do our jobs and to serve you. You can assist by letting our advertisers and our show hosts know you support them because they support us. You can share with your family friends and neighbors what you just read. Tune in to 98.1 FM & AM 1220, set our website, hometownstation.com to open automatically when you log on. Sign up for our daily news briefs and weekly emails. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Purchase a restaurant row certificate or attend our annual free KHTS Home & Garden Show and Emergency Expo.

Each of these steps may seem trivial, but they make a difference. You are important to us. Keeping an independent, local community radio station vibrant means our kids will continue to grow up in the most wonderful community in our nation. The betterment of our Valley is our number one priority. We appreciate your support.