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KVIE and CapRadio settle tower lawsuit

michael hagerty

michael hagerty

Yesterday (Monday 3/16), KVIE and CapRadio announced the settlment, but did not disclose the terms. CapRadio News, which operates independently of station management, filed a public records act request, which was granted and they have the details today:

www.capradio.org

Details of CapRadio, KVIE, endowment settlement released

A public records act filing has revealed details about the settlement agreement reached between Sacramento’s public media stations and a separate nonprofit to end a two-year fight over an Elverta broadcasting tower.
www.capradio.org www.capradio.org
 
This tower dispute goes back to the time CapRadio and the Sacramento State University board had to run an audit on the stations budget plus their former GM misusing their funds.

Glad parts of the civil lawsuit is resolved for KVIE and CapRadio specifically. The Jun Reina court hearings have to be updated at some point.
 
Y2kTheNewOldies said:
This tower dispute goes back to the time CapRadio and the Sacramento State University board had to run an audit on the stations budget plus their former GM misusing their funds.
Click to expand...

Let's put that in better, clearer context:

20-ish years ago, the GM at the time (a predecessor of Jun Reina) transferred ownership of the tower to the CapRadio Endowment, which, as the article I linked to says:

"...was formed in late 1986 independently of CapRadio with the goal of providing long-term financial support to the public radio station. For decades its bylaws specified CapRadio as the sole beneficiary, but this was changed in 2013 to include other similar entities."
Click to expand...

In early 2023, CapRadio was facing increasing cash flow issues related to an ambitious project for two downtown buildings, one a studio and offices, the other a performance venue.

An annual routine audit wound up being more comprehensive than usual (we later learned that a whistleblower had alerted Sac State's finance department to concerns she had), Reina was unable to provide answers and documentation, and within days of the conclusion of that audit, Reina declared a medical emergency and left the building. He resigned shortly thereafter.

A forensic audit followed quickly and was released in September 2023, showing the financial situation was far worse than Reina had been admitting, that phantom assets were being claimed to make the situation appear more stable than it was.

During this phase where the future of CapRadio was in question, several parties proposed a solution where KVIE would acquire the assets of CapRadio, but none of its debt (that would stay with Sacramento State University).

Sacramento State resisted this idea, but the Endowment wanted it to happen. Seeing an opportunity to put its thumb on the scale, it acted within the scope of the revised bylaws to "support public broadcasting in Sacramento" and gave the CapRadio tower to KVIE without CapRadio's knowledge or consent.

Y2kTheNewOldies said:
Glad parts of the civil lawsuit is resolved for KVIE and CapRadio specifically. The Jun Reina court hearings have to be updated at some point.
Click to expand...

Reina appears in court to enter a plea to fraud and embezzlement charges two weeks from today (April 1 at 8:30 a.m.).
 
Looking at this article, I think this is a warning shot across the bow to all public radio and TV endowments with independent management to make sure that they are co-ordinating their efforts with both the station's actual management and owners. Another area where we are seeing this now happening (and there is a thread on this Board about it) is in Miami where the challenge is between the school that actually owns public radio outlet and the group that manages that outlet and that group's efforts to purchase over the objections of the school WFLM in the West Palm Beach area to carry WLRN's NPR programming.
 
radiodiscussions.com

KVIE-TV to Launch the Abridged Page on September 16th

https://www.abridged.org/about/ Yes this is similar to how other Pubmedia outlets have branded their news pages like Cascade PBS by KCTS-TV Seattle and LAist by KPCC Los Angeles. In this case Abridged covers Sacramento News Stories for KVIE-TV Sacramento.
radiodiscussions.com radiodiscussions.com

Our Mission

We offer public service journalism that connects with the community, celebrates achievements, and holds leaders accountable for future-shaping decisions.
www.abridged.org www.abridged.org
KVIE-TV went on to form their news team under the Abridged name after the then proposed merger between CapRadio and KVIE was cancelled.
 


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