Radio station closed in March due to violations

Since losing its land lease with the Arizona State Land Department radio stations KAZM 780 AM and 106.5 FM have been off the airwaves since March. The station had been in operation since 1974 and is located at 3400 W. State Route 89A, and its website and archives are offline.

The company failed to obtain required insurance and committed multiple lease violations, so ASLD issued a Notice to Vacate on Feb. 9, ordering a cessation of its operations giving owners until March 9 to remove their property.

The station has been owned by Charles Helstein of Cutter Grind Broadcasting LLC since December 2023, when he purchased it from Tabback Broadcasting Co. Cutter Grind Broadcasting was leasing five acres of state trust land, where its office was located and its radio towers remain. The lease was formally canceled on Dec. 9, 2025.

Cutter Grind received its assignment of commercial lease on July 26, 2024, which was set to expire on Dec. 12, 2033. Soon after they were assigned the lease, ASLD began informing them about the lease’s insurance requirement.

On March 19, 2025, ASLD notified the company they were in default for not providing the state a current Commercial General Liability Certificate of Insurance. From March to September, ASLD were in regular communication about the insurance requirement, but an order for lease cancellation for failure to cure default was issued on Sept. 5, 2025. Cutter Grind appealed on Sept. 29.

Before the Arizona Office of Administrative Hearings on Nov. 12, Administrative Law Judge Samuel Fox dismissed the appeal and upheld ASLD’s order. ASLD’s witness testified that Cutter Grind was not in compliance while Cutter Grind’s witness testified that the insurance company did not offer what ASLD required, and that he had spent a significant amount of time working with the insurance company and ASLD to come into compliance.

“He testified about the radio station’s role in society, specifically benefit underserved communities,” according to the court’s findings of fact.

“If an insurance company cannot meet the department’s requirements, it may not be the right insurance company for the lessee’s policy,” Fox wrote in his conclusion. “The lessee’s obligations under a lease are not excused under those circumstances.”

Other issues also arose: Cutter Grind was operating a vehicular campground and a vehicle storage yard, Sedona Car & Boat Storage, on land that was only permitted to have a radio station, according to a communication from the city of Sedona to the Arizona Attorney General’s Office on April 14, 2025, “verified by pictures, the HipCamp website, and the Mellow Mountain Radio business website,” according to ASLD.

Sedona city ordinance prohibits camping within the city limits, a code enforcement complaint to the city forwarded to ASLD reads. “However, RVs and tents are in fact set up and used at the site for the purpose of camping overnight there. The KAZM HipCamp has cynically posted a sign at its entrance that says it is ‘not a campsite’ even though its name ‘HipCamp’ states that it is a camp.”

The campsite was listed on the HipCamp website for rentals as “Mellow Mountain Towers Sedona,” with overnight rates around $20, “‘and offers campers the opportunity to monitor the ‘high-power transmitter infrastructure,” according to the complaint.

“On-site shelters are monitoring posts within a volunteer program for maintaining tower, generator, and ancillary equipment,” reads a KAZM sign in a photo included in the complaint.

The company was also two weeks late paying its annual $21,000 rent, due on Dec. 13, 2024. That incurred a late fee and interest, later cured June 24, 2025.

“If the lease is canceled for any other reason, the lessee shall be permitted to remove the lessee’s improvements at any time within 60 days after the date of cancellation,” according to the ASLD’s lease cancellation.

The future of the land and when the transmitters will come down is unknown. Helstein did not respond to a NEWS interview request.

The towers owner is listed as Joseph Tabback DBA Tabback Broadcasting according to the Federal Communications Commission, though Tabback died April 29, 2010.

American Towers LLC a Massachusetts-based tower infrastructure company, was listed as an interested party in the notices. “American Tower is aware of the situation,” the company wrote, though were unable to comment any further due to a protective order from the court regarding the other parties.

According to 2014 State Land Department Administrative Appraisal Review, the land’s highest and best use is “Future single-family development; notably, the subject it is currently zoned C-1, Commercial; however, the appraiser indicated that given its location, single family is the most likely eventual development scenario for the subject.” The review gave the five acres a price tag of $630,000 at the time.

City of Sedona Community Development Director Tony Allender said he is not currently aware of any plans for the site from any developers