It’s been over 30 years since the riot at Six Flags Magic Mountain.

At the time, as owners of Santa Clarita’s only radio station, we were intimately involved in covering it.

In 1993, there was no social media. Cell phones were rare, very large and cumbersome.

Back then, our radio station was the only source of instant news for our valley.

It was the day of the verdict for the second trial of the LAPD police officers who beat up Rodney King while placing him under arrest in 1991.

The following year, in 1992, a jury found the police officers not guilty, a major riot broke out throughout Los Angeles.

Fast forward to April 17, 1993. The police officers were retried by Federal prosecutors.

Southern California was on the precipice of a second riot.

This time, the officers were found guilty, and the Southland remained calm.

Except for Magic Mountain.

We knew a riot had broken out at Magic Mountain, but because Los Angeles was a potential tinder box, the Santa Clarita sheriffs asked us not to broadcast details about the riot. We simply told our listeners there was an incident on The Old Road and Magic Mountain Parkway and to stay away from the area.

The next day our local newspaper also avoided the details.

Los Angeles and national media remained unaware of the incident.

Over the years we personally retold the story many times but never published it. Until last year. We wrote the details on the 29th anniversary back in April 2022.

When the story was published the floodgates opened. We heard from dozens of Santa Clarita residents. Our story was a catharsis for them. Like so many Santa Clarita teenagers, their first job was at Magic Mountain.

They were trapped in the riot. When they were rescued and sent home their parents didn’t believe them because the media didn’t cover it.

When we interviewed them for this story, some cried on the phone as they relived their nightmare. Those who had parents still alive forwarded our story so they could feel vindicated three decades later.

Here are just a few responses.

Denise M. Klein Ballard shared, “I was working at the cash register in the gift shop by the entrance to the park. I was so traumatized I won’t listen to another TLC song to this day. Our supervisors had locked the doors, but someone broke the glass window. We ran upstairs. I was pregnant with my first born at the time. When it settled down, we walked around the park. There was lots of damage. Stores had been cleaned out. Driving to work earlier that day was a challenge. The entrance at Magic Mountain Parkway was closed. They had blocked off the main entrance. We had to drive all the way to Castaic and come in on a side road.”

Santa Clarita elementary school teacher, Tiffany Storch recollected, “I was around 19 years old. I’d been working at the park for four years. I’m claustrophobic to this day. Reading your story finally made me feel validated after all these years. It was a cathartic moment. It feels good to be validated 29 years later. I forwarded your article to my parents who had thought I was exaggerating at the time.

That morning I saw so many more buses than usual when I arrived. I worked as a waitress in the Timber Mill Restaurant. That day the park had a different vibe. There were no families, just tough-looking kids. We heard glass breaking, sounds like gunshots that were garbage cans being thrown. The restaurant went silent. The phone rang, a supervisor locked the front door. We all ran into a large walk-in refrigerator and barricaded the door. My girlfriend and I hid under something inside the refrigerator for hours, hoping if anyone broke through the door we wouldn’t be seen. After many hours, somewhere around midnight we were rescued by law enforcement.”

Kelly Abbott works now as a counselor at the Learning Post. “I was 16 at the time, working in the game area. I finished my shift but hung around because my girlfriend had the evening shift, and I was her ride. We didn’t know anything was going on outside the park. By the front of the park, near the theater where the concert was, kids came pouring out of the concert, rioting.

My girlfriend and I were terrorized. We hid for about an hour behind an icemaker behind a lemonade stand.  It was total mayhem. When things calmed down, we walked to the back of the park. There were rows and rows of the National Guard in riot gear. I was shaking, along with my best friend, thinking we were going to die. Your article was like a catharsis because the media never reported it until now. You see all the rioting on TV these past few years. We lived it.”

One KHTS critic took issue with us. He stated we admitted lying since we didn’t report there was a riot. We didn’t lie, we simply didn’t cover it. We told our listeners to stay away from the area. It was the responsible thing to do.

Don Rodriguez, who later became the Captain at the Santa Clarita Sheriff’s Station, was division chief back then (he was a lieutenant, working at Los Angeles Sheriff’s headquarters, but he lived up in Santa Clarita at the time).

“When the riot broke out, I immediately ordered three platoons to rush to Santa Clarita. The third platoon was from Pitchess (Pitchess Honor Ranch is the County jail in Castaic). The Sheriffs cleared the park. After the rioters ran up against the National Guard in the combined Marie Callenders/Valencia Hilton parking lot, it was the sheriffs who pushed the rioting crowd up the long Magic Mountain entrance and into their cars. The CHP cleared the 5 Freeway.”

Thirty years have passed since the incident. For many Santa Clarita residents who were around in 1993, our article last year was the first time they were aware of the riot. Imagine what might have happened throughout the Southland on that day if social media was around.

KHTS FM 98.1 and AM 1220 is Santa Clarita’s only local radio station. KHTS mixes in a combination of news, traffic, sports, and features along with your favorite adult contemporary hits. Santa Clarita news and features are delivered throughout the day over our airwaves, on our website and through a variety of social media platforms. Our KHTS national award-winning daily news briefs are now read daily by 34,000+ residents. A vibrant member of the Santa Clarita community, the KHTS broadcast signal reaches all of the Santa Clarita Valley and parts of the high desert communities located in the Antelope Valley. The station streams its talk shows over the web, reaching a potentially worldwide audience. Follow @KHTSRadio on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.