Tale of two alternative airwave legends in Missouri tells story of community radio

By Don Corrigan >>

In an age of digital media, podcasts and streaming, the good-old-days of community radio seem to be at an end – not with a bang or even a whimper. It’s more about lawyers conversing in bankruptcy court.  

In St. Louis, KDHX is deep in the red and close to pulling the plug. That’s not the story 100 miles to the west in Columbia. That’s where KOPN fans  insist community radio is alive, and well, and making noise for the future.

For months, headlines in the daily St. Louis Post-Dispatch have been full of doom and gloom for the Gateway City’s alternative radio station at 88.1 FM. As KDHX flounders, its supporters retell its 38 years of broadcasting history.

Some radio historians would date the genesis of KDHX to KDNA, a radio ancestor operating from 1968 to 1973. KDNA was seat-of-the pants, psychedelic and alternative. KDHX picked up the same vibe.

That was then, this is now. Community radio in St. Louis seems near the end of days. Stories are bannered with boldface words like “chaos” and “bankruptcy.” A front-page, two-deck headline at the end of March in the Post-Dispatch declared: “KDHX will go off air if sale is approved.”

The March 27 story reported the station was agreeing to sell its license and its broadcast equipment to a national network of evangelical radio stations. Under the arrangement, KDHX would continue to keep its studio and might continue to produce content on-line.

For a station with a radio tradition that has been earthy, irreverent and sometimes downright sacrilegious, it’s the ultimate insult to now be gobbled up by a religious behemoth like K-LOVE with 589 stations across the country.

K-LOVE describes itself as an outlet for Christian music artists, faith and devotional programing – all dedicated to keeping wholesome worship flowing. K-LOVE creates media to inspire and encourage meaningful relationships with Jesus Christ.

In contrast, community radio has been a refuge from commercial broadcast conglomerates. It has catered to esoteric musical interests. Community radio has often provided content for religious minorities, immigrants, LGBTQ and others poorly served by major media outlets.

KOPN: 50 Years & Counting

KOPN Radio, 89.5 FM, is appropriately situated in Missouri’s ultimate college town of Columbia. Many of its veteran supporters and broadcasters got acquainted with KOPN as students. It’s not an exaggeration to say some grads stayed in Columbia because of KOPN.

Self-described as the “Voice of the Community,” KOPN’s commemorative 50th anniversary book tells tales of offbeat broadcasting from the time it hit the airwaves on March 3, 1973, with a mere 10 watts of power.

The station has had programs in Malaysian, Mandarin and Spanish. KOPN has hosted content on feminism, gay liberation, Black power, Hatha yoga, the occult, Zen Buddhism, Ken Kesey and beat poetry. Music literally runs the gamut.

“We even had a program where we went to give the inmates in prison in Jefferson City a voice,” recalled Lisa Day, treasurer of the community radio’s board. “We’ve always been about diversity and giving voice to people who aren’t usually heard.

“It helps for us to be in a college town,” added Day. “We’ve had students wander in who just want to know about radio. Unless you are a broadcast student at Mizzou, you are not going to be doing radio at the university.”

Day and other longtime KOPN volunteers like Kevin Walsh and Ed Herrmann, president of the radio’s board of directors, can tell community radio tales from both behind the studio microphone and in remote locations.

They all have stories about on-air oddities like Steve Donofrio, otherwise known as “Radio Ranger,” who started his KOPN adventure in 1983. Donofrio savors his infotainment segments: Tree Time, Wildflower of the Week, Critter du Jour, sometimes behind a mike along the Missouri River.

For Day, a bittersweet and daunting time involved moving the station from 915 East Broadway in downtown Columbia to a new space at 401 Bernadette, not too far from bustling Stadium Boulevard on the west side of town.

“We left the crumbling, old, duct-taped carpet on the creaky, cutting room floor,” recalled Day. “We left some emotional dust and a few unsolved mysteries, and more than a few wires all strung about.”

On a tour of KOPN, Herrmann points to rows and rows of recordings moved to its new headquarters – 35,000 LPs and 34,000 CDs to be exact. A few LPs are stamped as property of KDHX, indicating that some trading and cross-pollination has taken place between KOPN and its counterpart in St. Louis

Look east in horror

Staffers and supporters at KOPN look at what’s happening at “sister station” KDHX in St. Louis with horror. Board president Herrmann notes that KOPN is in good shape, in the black money-wise, and likely to pay off the mortgage on its new headquarters within five years.

Herrmann, Day and Walsh express regret and sympathy over what’s happening with community radio in St. Louis. They have lots of questions about how things could go so wrong. Among them:

• Did KDHX bite off more than it could chew when it moved to a flashy new headquarters in the Grand Center Arts District? Was it wise to move from the old, funky location on Magnolia in South St. Louis?

• How could management start firing so many popular, volunteer, on-air DJs in 2023? Conversely, did the volunteers doom KDHX and engage in “internal cannibalism” when they implored contributors to boycott KDHX and stop sending in their money?

• A bankruptcy lawyer was recently quoted as saying the station could be more than $2 million in debt. Where was the board of directors when KDHX leadership began running up obligations to creditors? Weren’t red flags raised over red ink?

• Is community radio in St. Louis at a disadvantage because there are so many competing non-profits in the area? Could contributor support be a mile wide, but only inches deep because the region is so fractured?

“We all know that the first thing you get asked in St. Louis is where did you go to high school,” said Day. “The people there sometimes seem to be on 100 different planets – not a lot of cohesion. Is that an issue for KDHX?

“Here, people have a loyalty to Columbia and want to see the community and its institutions succeed,” said Day. “We have very loyal followers and contributors. And if they give $60, they get a vote on what we do.”

KDHX league responds

A League of Volunteer Enthusiasts of KDHX formed amidst its turmoil and has met regularly in search of solutions to save the station. On the eve of April Fool’s Day, LOVE-KDHX spokesperson Roy Kasten was preparing for a candle light vigil on Washington Avenue in front of KDHX.

“First of all, our vigil is not a wake,” said Kasten. “It’s all about hope and love by the St. Louis community. The story of KDHX is far from over.”

Kasten addressed some of the questions posed by community radio fans in Columbia. He said the wisdom of moving to the Grand Center headquarters was not in question until a KDHX capital campaign floundered in 2012-2014.

KDHX was damaged severely by the summary firings of volunteer DJs with loyal followers and popular shows. Some of those DJs signed a “no confidence” letter aimed at executive director Kelly Wells.  

Kasten said the crisis at KDHX is a failure of its past leadership and its board of directors, who’ve failed to be open with radio volunteers and supporters.

“Kelly Wells and the board won’t speak to us or the press about how we got here and where KDHX is going,” said Kasten. “They won’t entertain our proposals to save the station and to reorganize its administration.”

Kasten may feel the story of KDHX is far from over, but the proverbial “fat lady could be singing” when the station’s current leadership and board president, Gary Pierson, go to court with their bankruptcy request later in April.

Part of that proposal includes KDHX surviving as a streaming presence on the internet, while the new Christian radio ownership would bring its religious-oriented content to the St. Louis airwaves.

Streaming isn’t radio

Veterans of both KDHX and KOPN in Columbia are adamant that streaming is not community radio. And what veteran DJs would be willing to bring their on-air talents to a streaming service?

KOPN Board Treasurer Lisa Day said she’s overjoyed that KOPN is not facing the predicament of KDHX. There’s money in the bank. However, she said community radio is always a bumpy road with potholes up ahead.

“One thing we’re facing is cuts in government subsidies at all levels,” said Day. “But we’re pretty confident that our contributors are more than ready to pick up the slack when cuts come down on us.”

Of more serious concern to Day, Herrmann and Walsh is the new FCC Chief Brendan Carr and his intention to bring President Donald Trump’s war on diversity, equity and inclusion to bear on all forms of media.

The FCC has the power to renew licenses and to examine whether licenses are living up to the public interest, said Day. She said the FCC under Carr could have a very different definition of public service that doesn’t include DEI.

“Community radio is all about DEI,” said Day. “We’re not going to give up that mission. Our commitment to diversity and diverse programing is what has made KOPN work so well over the years.”

Don Corrigan is former editor of the Webster-Kirkwood Times and emeritus professor at Webster College.

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