CONCORD — A beloved, half-century-old community radio station no longer broadcasts from the unassuming tower near Suisun Bay that carried its signal for two decades.
But thanks to a new purchasing deal and special authority from federal regulators, KVHS soon will be back on the air.
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While the station’s four-letter call sign has been licensed to Mt. Diablo Unified School District since the 1960s, the school board unanimously approved a purchase agreement last month to sell the radio station, including its broadcasting equipment and license for 90.5 on the FM dial, to the Contra Costa County Office of Education — all for $1.
‘“There’s a lot of energy around the radio station,” spokesperson Marcus Walton said, referencing support that’s bubbled up from volunteers and community leaders amid fear that KVHS would go dark. “We’re looking to see how we can utilize that to help continue the station’s legacy in the community.”
Meanwhile, KVHS continues to stream online until its antenna is rehomed atop the county Office of Education’s rooftop in Pleasant Hill in the coming days — a temporary arrangement to resume broadcasting until a permanent, better-reception solution is finalized.
The cost of operating the station — which school district officials estimated at nearly half a million dollars over the past two decades just to host the antenna in Concord — was the biggest reason MDUSD voted to sell KVHS and let its tower lease expire last month. In announcing the new deal on July 3, Superintendent Adam Clark said he was thrilled by the agreement, because now “the station is in good hands.”
Pending approval from the Federal Communications Commission, which could take up to three months, operation of KVHS will be transferred to the same office that originally helped fund youth-led radio at Clayton Valley High School, which quickly evolved into a licensed station during the 1960s.
But subsequent broadcasting classes and regional training programs ended in 2012, following the high school’s legally messy charter transition, and a majority of the district’s school board agreed in May that the entirely volunteer-driven operation was no longer cost-effective as a benefit to students in Mt. Diablo and neighboring East Bay schools.
Currently, KVHS is a small, DIY broadcast powered by a four-member volunteer crew that remotely blasts Jamaican ska tracks, new releases from local artists and PBS-style deep-dive reports. The station has also provided crucial public service announcements to Contra Costa County residents over the years; 90.5 FM is federally banned from airing advertisements, promotions or anything other than informative content through its single, small antenna.
The symbolic $1 deal opens the door for the Contra Costa’s Office of Education to simultaneously preserve KVHS and revive its original mission, Walton said.
“We are still figuring out the best way to turn (the radio station) into a vehicle and a tool for students,” Walton said in an interview Monday. The county’s education office is already in talks with educators from the Diablo Valley College and the Contra Costa Youth Journalism Project. Superintendent of Schools Lynn Mackey “understands the value of journalism and knows that the skills that it teaches students are important for the community and for society,” he said.
Listeners can still help fund operations by donating directly to Contra Costa’s Office of Education, but Walton said the superintendent’s office has taken on full responsibility for the station, including “trying to make sure that we’re doing it in as physically sound a manner as possible.”
While long-term plans about future opportunities are still under consideration, Walton said the county doesn’t foresee any immediate overhauls to the current, community-focused programming on KVHS.
Dave Hughes, the on-air personality behind The Beat of Diablo, KVHS 90.5 FM’s hyperlocal evening radio show, said the station’s future is the brightest he’s seen since he started volunteering in 2021.
“We’ve always been on the ropes,” Hughes said over the phone Monday, “but now there’s finally some sense of stability.”
Hughes conceded that the new site at 77 Santa Barbara Road will have a reduced signal compared to the former Concord tower. He’s optimistic, however, that education officials will find another rooftop, radio tower or other county property that could host the station’s antenna — potentially broadcasting to more people, for less.
Since the station dodged the threat of forfeiting its beloved frequency to the FCC, Hughes said county education officials have more time and flexibility to plan for the future — a future that, he hopes, preserves the KVHS as a beacon for community access, free expression and moments of unadulterated joy.
“Now they have the FCC license and the equipment’s moved over there (to Pleasant Hill), there’s less of a rush,” Hughes said during a call Monday. “This is promising.”