Next Tuesday, April 22, 2025 the Santa Clarita City Council will determine the fate of this radio station. What’s at stake is a developer, the Serrano Development Group, Inc is planning a 5-story structure, with underground parking. Construction will be butted up 1/8th of an inch from our building.

You can assist by sending us an email asking the city not to force our radio station into silence. Simply email us a paragraph addressed to the Santa Clarita City Council stating your feelings: [email protected]

We are asking the city to mitigate Serrano’s proposal by having them curtail blasting, drilling or coring between 6am-9am Monday through Friday and 30 minutes during lunch. They can blast away the other 150.5 hours in the week.

We plan to move our studios to the other side of our building and add additional soundproofing to buffer the noise during the 2 plus years of construction. We are asking the developer to pay the cost of our move. Sounds pretty reasonable.

Not to the developer. Apparently, Jason Tolleson of the Serrano Development Group worked out a very questionable deal with Santa Clarita City Councilwoman, Laurene Weste. According to previous articles in the Signal she bulldozed the project through city staff by creating a backdoor deal to have the city be paid $750,000.00 to demolish one of Santa Clarita’s historical buildings to make way for the project.

In March the Santa Clarita Planning Commission unanimously approved the project, passing the fate of KHTS and the historic courthouse to be decided by the Santa Clarita City Council.  Apparently, the Planning Commission wasn’t concerned with the many unanswered questions raised at the meeting such as:

1. “Why wasn’t a cost analysis done to determine if one of Santa Clarita’s only 11 historical buildings could be moved instead of bulldozed?”
2. “What will be the impact for commuters when one of the only two congested southbound lanes on Railroad Avenue will be eliminated during the two plus years of construction?”
3. “Since zero parking spaces have been allocated for the proposed 5,000 square feet of retail space, will potential customers for the already existing businesses avoid Old Town Newhall since its already challenging to find parking during restaurant peak hours?”
4. “Since due to an insane California State law, a developer isn’t required to provide any parking if their building is near a train station, has a study been done on the impact the Serrano project will have on the streets of Old Town Newhall since the proposed parking spaces for the 4 floors of apartments are way below the mandated allotment demanded for apartment buildings throughout the rest of Santa Clarita?”
5. “Since no parking designation for the construction workers was required by the city, what would the impact be if construction crew parks on the street that already lacks parking spaces during the 2 plus years of construction?”

We have many more questions. Most developments of that size require a few trips back to Planning before it is approved for City Council to review. Did Councilwoman Weste’s persuasive skills on city staff have any influence in pushing this through with so many unanswered questions?

The City Council now has the task of finding out answers that should have been tasked by the 5 members of the Planning Commission.

We received dozens and dozens of letters already. We’d like to share just one we feel best represents our plight. It comes from a long time Santa Clarita resident:

Honorable Councilmembers,

The beauty of KHTS is that it is a community partner.  It is our radio station! We only have ONE.   They step up during natural disasters to give us real time info, share local traffic updates, report on local fires, carry championship high school sporting events, promote our non-profits and produce community events.  

Over the years, Carl and Jeri, KBET and KHTS, have been a powerful force as a business and as community leaders. In the late 90’s when Clear Channel purchased the station and left the local format to simulcast LA stations KIIS and XTRA Sports, we missed our hometown station. Several years later the Goldmans had the opportunity to bring it back, so they invested, risked and rebuilt. Now before you is a situation that can involuntarily put them out of business and silence KHTS forever. 

As elected decision makers, you’ve been tasked to make sound decisions for us. 

You’ve probably heard this sage advice; Never give up an old friend for a new friend, or the grade school song- make new friends but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold. 

In the name of “progress” you risk the loss of a good business.  Please come up with a good compromise that doesn’t put one business out so another can come in. Be supportive of both of these businesses. As a business-friendly city, please accommodate both ventures fairly. 

Ed. Note: You can assist by sending us an email asking the city not to force our radio station into silence. Simply email us a paragraph addressed to the Santa Clarita City Council stating your feelings: [email protected]

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.