BURBANK : City Woos KIIS Radio With $50,000 Offer

In the first time the city has made such an offer--but probably not the last--KIIS Radio has been offered $50,000 to move to Burbank instead of a less expensive Encino location, station and city officials said.

The station, which broadcasts from Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, has been looking for a new location for months because of rising crime in the neighborhood, said KIIS Radio President Marc Kaye. Burbank’s reputation as a low-crime community is appealing.

“The station in Hollywood is a 24-hour operation,” Kaye said. “The neighborhood is not a safe one for our staff.”

Employees have had their cars broken into, although no one has been seriously hurt, Kaye said. “We don’t want to wait until someone is hurt to have a reason to move.”

The Burbank City Council on Tuesday offered $50,000 to the station as a rebate on their high utility taxes on telephone usage. The money will be used to pay for their relocation costs. KIIS Radio is expected to generate $130,000 in taxes for Burbank during the course of a 10-year lease. The station is negotiating to move into Studio Plaza, at 3400 Riverside Drive.

The station had considered other locations in Century City and Encino. It asked for relocation help from Burbank when it became clear that the Encino site would be less expensive.

The station would get the money from the city after the lease is signed, which could happen within two weeks.

Chris Foss, special assistant to the Burbank community development director, said that the offer is the first to be approved by the City Council as part of a renewed effort to recruit businesses and keep others from moving out of town.

The primary motive behind the offer to KIIS Radio is the jobs, about 60, the station would bring to Burbank, Foss said. The city is still coping with the loss of 15,000 jobs after Lockheed Corp. moved out of Burbank three years ago.

Foss said that in the next several months other “economic development agreements” similar to that offered to KIIS will be presented to the City Council.

Burbank, home to movie and television studios and record companies, would be more convenient for KIIS Radio employees, many of whom live in the Valley or in Burbank, Kaye said. Having the other media companies there is also a plus, he said.

“There are a number of record companies we do business with there,” Kaye said.

KIIS Radio would become the seventh radio station to broadcast from Burbank.