ST. LOUIS — Community radio station KDHX, roiled in controversy since 10 DJs were fired in September 2023, will stop broadcasting live content as of 7 p.m. Friday.
The station will continue to play previously recorded programming. But all programming presented by live disc jockeys will cease, said Gary Pierson, president of the station’s board of directors.
“This was a difficult decision for our board as our audience has grown and expanded in recent years, most notably online,†he said in a statement.
“Several factors have contributed to this decision, including longstanding financial pressures, industry-wide challenges for public media and a decline in financial support.â€
The statement also said “recent disparagement campaigns and senseless lawsuits have severely impacted fundraising.â€
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Problems for the station began Sept. 22, 2023, when it fired 10 of its 80 volunteer disc jockeys and informed 12 others that they would have to undergo “mediated discussions†to stay on the job.
In the following weeks, at least 14 other disc jockeys resigned or went “on strike†in sympathy.
At the time, Pierson said the DJs were let go because they were “vocal and disruptive†in their support of Tom “Papa†Ray, who had been fired in February, and Drea Stein and Andy Coco, who had been let go in August of that year.
Listeners began withholding donations and income plummeted. A two-month fundraising campaign that ended in October 2024 yielded only $62,000. In 2023, the last year for which financial records are available, the station lost $325,000 on revenues of $940,000 — and the listener rebellion had only begun in late September.
Nielsen ratings showed a 40% drop in over-the-air listeners from before September 2023 to June 2024, when the station stopped its subscription to Nielsen. A few months later, Wells said they had not lost listeners when all platforms were taken into account.
A lawsuit filed by former disc jockeys Wednesday in ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Circuit Court asked for seven of the eight board of directors to be removed, claiming they violated Missouri law and the station’s bylaws to consolidate power among themselves and executive director Kelly Wells.
The suit alleges that a new rule was passed last year forbidding directors from interacting with volunteers without the involvement of Wells. The rule was used to suspend two new members of the board who had been elected to represent the volunteers in their first meeting in November 2024.
The suit claims the rule effectively dictated whom the directors could speak to and prevented volunteers from speaking to their representatives.
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