July 16, 2025As CapRadio continues our practice of openness and transparency with the community, we’re providing another important update on the tower dispute. On Tuesday, July 15, 2025, a Sacramento County Superior Court judge denied KVIE’s motion to dismiss CapRadio’s claim of an “irrevocable license” to use the Elverta property for news broadcasting purposes. The television broadcaster’s filing was an attempt to bar CapRadio from freely operating and maintaining our 90.9 radio tower.
There are few important things to note about this ruling:
- The Court rejected all of KVIE’s arguments that CapRadio cannot assert an “irrevocable license” claim to access our news radio broadcasting tower.
- CapRadio maintains that we have an irrevocable license that allows us permanent and unfettered access to the Elverta property to maintain and operate our tower, no matter who owns the land.
- The Elverta land was donated to KVIE, not CapRadio’s tower. KVIE is also making a claim that they own the tower.
- The judge did not rule explicitly on the tower’s ownership, as KVIE’s motion was specifically related to CapRadio’s irrevocable license to access the land to use and maintain our radio broadcasting tower.
The determination is yet another welcomed affirmation of the facts surrounding CapRadio’s long-time ownership, operation and maintenance of our primary public service news broadcasting tower. It also further discredits KVIE’s ongoing false claims of the tower’s ownership.
First and foremost, CapRadio remains committed to our public service mission and the delivery of our trusted, respectful and informative news coverage when our community needs it most. With mounting attacks on the future and sustainability of public media, now is the time for our region’s two cherished broadcasters to find a resolution without lawyers and put this needless legal dispute behind us so we can work together in service of our community.
We remain steadfast in our pursuit of a prompt and amicable resolution that is fair and reasonable. We will not, however, abandon our public service duty and willingly cede control of our news broadcasting tower, especially at a time when our community needs reliable access to essential public service journalism.
We remain unwavering in our commitment to being open and transparent with our members, listeners and community at large. As community-funded organizations, we have a responsibility to make sure that details of this unnecessary legal dispute are not hidden behind closed doors.
