Sacramento State promised a forensic audit of Capital Public Radio’s finances. Where is it?
Reality Check is a Bee series holding officials and organizations accountable and shining a light on their decisions. Have a tip? Email realitycheck@sacbee.com.
Last fall — in the wake of a scathing audit of Capital Public Radio — Sacramento State President Luke Wood said the school was working on a deeper review of the station’s finances.
Yet more than nine months later, the findings from that examination have not been released.
“It’s still going through review and revision and we hope to have it out soon,” said Brian Blomster, a spokesman for the university.
Blomster declined to disclose the initial findings from the latest review, or who was conducting it. But he said it was “a top accounting firm.”
“They want to be thorough and want to make sure that we’re finding what needs to be found,” Blomster said. “This is all about getting it right.”
The results of the new review are highly anticipated because they could affect the future of the beleaguered — but well-loved — National Public Radio member station. It is currently under financial control of the university, which holds the broadcast licenses for its main stations KXJZ-FM (90.9) and KXPR-FM (88.9).
The forensic audit came after the Chancellor’s Office of the California State University system in September released their audit, which identified widespread financial problems and concerns.
They included poor record-keeping and a lack of oversight and documentation. CapRadio was more than $1.8 million behind on payments it said it would make to the university and that it did not have proper board approval for more than $1.1 million in lease agreements for studio equipment and furniture.
The revelations came as the station was pushing forward on a plan to leave the Sac State campus and move to two downtown Sacramento buildings. It also came shortly after layoffs and programming cuts.
In October, Wood said Sac State had spent $12 million to prop up CapRadio and blamed “total financial mismanagement” for its issues. In one example, Wood said the station reported it had $3 million in reserves when it actually had $85,000.
At the time, Wood said the university was already working on the second audit — the one that has yet to be released — that he had expected to be released early this year.
There have been other challenges since the fall. Station boosters pushed for the university to sell its broadcast license to, and merge with, KVIE, Sacramento’s public TV station. A stated goal of the move, they said, was to free the university from having to deal with the station’s problems and expenses.
Instead, the proposal led to a rift between Sac State and the station’s endowment board over who owns a broadcasting tower and the land it sits on in Elverta.
But there have also been positive developments.
Chris Bruno, the station’s chief marketing and revenue officer, said the broadcaster’s finances have improved, listenership and engagement has gone up while membership revenue has increased.
“We’re in a much better position financially and we’re now a stable organization,” Bruno said. That included paying off debts and catching up on over 1,000 invoices.
“We’re currently projected to have no issues throughout the remainder of the year.”
In addition to KXJZ and KXPR, CapRadio operates North State Public Radio, which is owned by Chico State, and a handful of repeater stations and translators, including one held by the University of the Pacific and another owned by Cal Poly Humboldt.
Station officials said they are in the process of finalizing its budget for the fiscal year which began July 1, Bruno said.
