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KVHS (90.5 FM, "90.5 The Edge") is a non-profit high school radio station playing an active rock music format. It is licensed to the Mt. Diablo Unified School District and broadcasts from the campus of Clayton Valley Charter High School, Concord, California. The signal reaches the counties of Contra Costa, Solano, Napa, San Joaquin, West Sacramento and Yolo, and KVHS primarily serves the Diablo Valley area.

History

KVHS went on the air as an AM station in 1966...on 850 (Eagles 85)....then moved to 880 AM...and later, 660 AM as a carrier current operation. The first faculty advisor was James Copeland...then Ernie Spencer and Ernie Wilson. By that time KVHS was nothing more than a PA system that was literally wired to all of the classrooms as well as carrier current to the office for PA broadcasting to the campus quad for the rock and roll "noon show." At that time, Al Taddeo was "Count Clayton." The station was closely affiliated with the old K-KIS 990 AM rocker for music, production supplies and publicity.

In 1969, KVHS was granted an FCC license to broadcast on 91.1 FM. In the years that followed, the station moved to its present frequency of 90.5, the music formats have changed from block programming and public affairs to Contemporary and Rock, to Hard Rock, to Alternative to its current format of Active Rock.

High school and adult students from all over Contra Costa County have always made up the staff of KVHS. The Faculty Advisor for 20 years was Tom Wilson, who has been involved in the radio industry since 1970. After starting out as a call-in guest on KSFO he moved on to KWUN, and also on to KQED-TV. He was also an on-air personality and the Operations Director at KWUN before becoming the Faculty Advisor at KVHS in 1978.

In 1998, Melissa Wilson (a.k.a. Melissa McConnell of San Francisco Bay Area radio and television) took over as General Manager and Faculty Advisor of KVHS. Melissa was an on-air personality and programmer for such radio stations as KYA-FM and AM, K101-FM, KEEN, KDBK/KDBQ-FM ("Double 99FM"), KKIS-FM and AM, KYCY-FM, KATM-FM, as well as KWUN with Tom Wilson. She transitioned KVHS from signing off the air at 10 pm to 24/7/365 operation with the installation of digital automation in 1998, which is responsible for the uninterrupted on-air programming (when there is no live DJ) to date.

In 2013, budget cuts were responsible for the layoff of the Faculty Advisor and the closing of the class. The decision to either move the station to another location or hire a new Faculty Advisor to restart the KVHS Radio Communications class is currently under consideration by the MDUSD School Board. Although not affiliated with the Clayton Valley Charter High School, the studios are currently still located on the campus of CVCHS, and the ownership and oversight of the radio station remains by the Mt. Diablo School District (also the owner of the CVHS campus.)

References

1. "Facility Technical Data for KVHS". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
2. Harrington, Theresa (2009-03-14). "Clayton Valley High School radio station KVHS celebrates 40th anniversary". contracostatimes.com. Contra Costa Times. Retrieved 2009-03-14.
3. Richards, Kathleen (2010-11-24). "KVHS Revives the Lost Art of Personality Radio". eastbayexpress.com. East Bay Express. Retrieved 2017-07-02.
4. Contra Costa Office of Education, Regional Occupational Program (2007-04-10). "PAGE 4 - Contra Costa County Office of Education, ROP Radio KVHS Broadcasts Live" (PDF). cccoe.k12.ca.us. Contra Costa County Office of Education, ROP. Retrieved 2017-07-02.
5. Fong-Torres, Ben (2008-05-04). "SF Gate Radio Waves". sfgate.com. San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2017-07-02.
6. Harrington, Theresa (2012-08-27). "Mt. Diablo school board to decide fate of KVHS radio station". contracostatimes.com. Contra Costa Times. Retrieved 2012-08-27.
7. Waits, Jennifer (2012-08-24). "Clayton Valley High School Radio Station KVHS Faces Uncertain Future". radiosurvivor.com. Radio Survivor. Retrieved 2017-07-02.
8. Harrington, Theresa (2012-08-28). "Mt. Diablo school board keeps alive KVHS radio at Clayton Valley charter". contracostatimes.com. Contra Costa Times. Retrieved 2012-08-28.
9. Harrington, Theresa (2013-08-11). "KVHS radio equipment overheats, knocks programming off the air". San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved 2013-08-11.

External links

• Official website
• Facility details for Facility ID 11903 (KVHS) in the FCC Licensing and Management System
• KVHS in Nielsen Audio's FM station database

38°01′48″N 122°00′07″W / 38.030°N 122.002°W / 38.030; -122.002

• High school radio stations in the United States
• Radio stations in California