Double Helix Corporation’s Community 88.1 KDHX St. Louis has ended live programming and eliminated all of its volunteer content production roles.
The move comes just a day after former hosts Stacy Bernard and Christopher Schwarz filed a lawsuit on behalf of themselves and fourteen other former volunteers to remove seven of the eight people on the station’s board of directors. The hosts were among ten dismissed in September 2023 and twelve others were informed the must complete a mediation process to keep their shows.
The station will carry pre-recorded programming as the board explores options for the future of the station.
In a statement today, Board President Gary Pierson said:
This evening, KDHX will pause live broadcasts on 88.1 FM and kdhx.org due to financial challenges.
The station does not have the resources to sustain current operations. As a result, our small staff has made significant financial sacrifices. All volunteer content production roles, including our valued volunteer DJs, have been discontinued. This was a difficult decision for our board as our audience has grown and expanded in recent years, most notably online.
Several factors have contributed to this decision, including long standing financial pressures, industry-wide challenges for public media, and a decline in financial support. Unfortunately, recent disparagement campaigns and senseless lawsuits have severely impacted fundraising.
To continue serving our listeners locally and worldwide, previously recorded programming will air on 88.1 FM and kdhx.org beginning tonight at 7 p.m. CST. Meanwhile, our board is actively exploring options for the future of KDHX to continue fulfilling our mission of building community through media.
We understand that this news is disappointing. We deeply appreciate the support of our volunteers, listeners, and donors over the years. If you value independent, community-driven programming, we encourage you to stay engaged by visiting KDHX.org for updates.
Ben Nelson 
Thom Moon 
Jeffrey Hallazgo 
Lance Venta 
Roger McGoon 
Char Mason
In my opinion this was intentional. Kelly Wells and Gary Pierson Esq. have fired all the passionate people who kept things going and alienated the community ~fin~ Watch who sells what for profit, the corruption is just starting
Why does it always seem to be this way with all-volunteer stations? Are the egos so large they can’t come to some accommodation? All they’re doing is hurting the thing they love: their station. I’ve seen this at any number of stations in the past. KDHX is just the most-recent in a long line. Sheer stupidity on the part of the volunteers.
Thom – The volunteers were not at fault. The Executive Director and the president of the Board of Directors were. The DJ’s were hosts of extremely popular shows, only to be inexplicably taken off the air. (I was one of them.) Their suspected goals have become clear – they intend to sell the frequency and the transmitter and take the entire broadcast operation online – which might be hard to do since they got rid of all the volunteer DJ’s. They have run a once popular radio station into the ground.
Without any analytics please steer clear of claiming something was “EXTREMELY POPULAR”. You’re using personal opinion to try to state a fact.
They actually were “extremely popular,” but we understand you’re shilling for the board…
You got me, the publisher of a national radio industry news publication who has been covering the industry for over two decades is “shilling” for a board of an organization we’ve never had any communication with…
Take a look at where ANY of the local non-commercial stations in St. Louis are in the ratings. Outside of KWMU, NONE of them have any discernible audience. “Extremely Popular” inside your circle does not mean it actually is with the masses.
Literally just watched the same thing happen in Arlington, Virginia WERA 96.7. It really is something putting all of your passion and hard work in to building Something just to watch some egos tear it down. At this point, I’m happy voice tracking on some stations That have one program Director, one mission statement.
I wonder what pre-recorded content the board intends to use.
Will we hear the voices and choices of the very volunteer programmers who supplied content and consistency for more than 40 years?
As the former Volunteer Coordinator of KDHX, I have seen dedicated men and women appear, at all hours of the day and night , regardless of the weather, to provide entertainment for the station’s equally dedicated listeners.
As to measuring popularity, the annual pledge drives do that quite effectively.
Changing the beloved station to a cannned podcast doesn’t quite seem like fulfilling the “community radio” intent of public broadcasting.
What a shame!