Radio listeners will soon hear DJs announce the call letters KDHX over the airwaves, but the station won’t be a community effort by volunteers that features the work of local musicians.
Instead, conservative AM talk station KXEN 1010 will adopt the KDHX call sign.
The change takes effect Monday, according to a filing with the FCC. East Central Broadcasting, a Washington, Missouri-based company that owns KXEN and four other radio stations in the state, paid the FCC a $190 fee to secure the new call letters. KXEN-AM airs a simulcast of KRTK 93.3 FM, part of the Real Talk conservative talk network.
The radio frequency that was formerly home to community station KDHX, 88.1 FM, is airing pop music until a switch in January when it will become 88.1 Worship One, the third Christian-music station operated by Gateway Creative Broadcasting in the St. Louis region.
Some supporters of the old KDHX 88.1 FM say the developments are a double whammy: The community station’s old spot on the radio dial will be filled by Christian music and its call sign will be used by a conservative talk station.
“It feels like a slap in the face. It feels like you're pouring salt on an open wound. It feels like you're stomping on somebody's hand after they've fallen,” said former KDHX deejay Rob Levy, who hosted an indie rock show on the old KDHX for 29 years until the station went off the air in January.
Representatives of East Central Broadcasting listed on the FCC filing did not respond to requests for comment Monday.
The leaders of Double Helix, the nonprofit that ran the old KDHX on 88.1 FM, sold the station’s broadcast license to Gateway Creative Broadcasting for $8.75 million. A bankruptcy court judge approved the sale in June over widespread community opposition. Double Helix board president Gary Pierson said the sale was the best way to pay off $2 million in debt that KDHX had acquired.
“The fact that it was sold and will become a Christian station was bad enough, but to have the call letters appropriated by a conservative talk radio station is just like the final insult,” said Keith Dudding, who hosted a bluegrass program on KDHX 88.1 for 31 years.
Some aggrieved KDHX supporters have their ears tuned to future efforts.
“While it does seem horribly wrong and it makes me sad, I can't twiddle my thumbs and just feel angry all the time. The best action is to fight that with something new and better,” Levy said.
Levy is part of a group of former KDHX DJs and listeners who are working to launch an online station with a similar approach to the community station that for 38 years showcased music from around the world, hosted interviews with local musicians and held a valued place in the St. Louis arts ecosystem.
Leaders of Love of Community Radio STL, an advocacy group that arose from opposition to Double Helix’s management of KDHX, hope to launch their online effort by mid-January.
“It’s gross,” said former KDHX board member Courtney Dowdall of KXEN taking the old call sign, “but these days I am mostly thinking about the future of the new station being built by amazing, talented, dedicated former KDHX DJs.”
Dowdall was elected as one of the KDHX members’ two representatives on the station’s board in 2023, but was suspended after one meeting. Pierson said she violated the board’s rules.
Members of Love Community Radio STL have been setting up a studio in rented space at Lindenwood Park Place, an emerging hub for community groups. The group will hold a monthly open meeting in Richmond Heights on Dec. 2 and a vinyl record sale at Lindenwood Park Place on Dec. 6 will help raise funds for the internet station.
