The Opposite of a Slow News Week

What with small businesses making a public declaration, and the discovery of the CAB, we don't have room to do our regular feature on an exiled DJ - it will return next week.

Small Businesses Make Large Gesture

On Thursday, an open letter was mailed out to media and posted on social media. Organized by Steve Smith of the Royale and John Parker of Parker’s Table, the letter calls on the KDHX Board of Directors and management to listen to the community and reverse course on the decisions they have made over the last year. Before publication, there were 53 small business owners who had signed the letter; in the last 36 hours, that number has grown to over 100. We are honored that so many businesses in the St. Louis area are supporting our efforts to change the current direction of KDHX, and we encourage you to support each of these businesses whenever possible. Let them know you’re shopping or eating there because of their support.

Here’s the letter and current list of signees:

Declaration of Independents

Written by Jon Parker (Parker's Table) and Steve Smith (The Royale)

For over 36 years, KDHX has given St. Louis a variety of unique and independent voices expressing the uniqueness of this city. Those voices might not have always sung in harmony, but that is life in a Democracy. It is the gritty, organic way of a living thing; surviving or thriving by making sense of its environment. Independent, small businesses and creative types do that or they do not survive or thrive on their own.

KDHX has acted as a catalyst for a broad foundation of independent energy in St. Louis, and the region is better off for it. It has been an inspirational promoter of unique, independent voices and played the background soundtrack of our small successes. As small business organizations, we believe that our voices also contribute to the character of the region.

Recently, a concentrated, top-down management direction has brought (as described by a recent expat volunteer) a particular arrogance, hostility, self righteousness, alienation, and algorithm into an organization that formerly espoused honesty, integrity, dignity, community, independence, respect, and thoughtfully arranged musical programming.

Our own organizations support and create community every day. The station’s new direction, through board of director bylaw change, fails to give the community a sense of shared direction, undermines confidence in KDHX leadership’s ability to facilitate DJ independence and democratic ideals, and threatens the special quality of independent life that makes this region of confluences “KDHXland.”

We can sympathize that it’s a tough job managing the many talents of KDHX, but the loss of nearly half of the on-air DJs represents a failure by the leadership. It’s a volunteer driven “community radio station.” The wholesale purge of DJs is a reflection of poor management by failing to harness these longtime contributions.

Bring back shared governance. Bring back the volunteers who have given so much and have so much more to give. Find ways to create community within KDHX and share that with all of us in the larger community of the St. Louis region.

Steven Smith - The Royale Food & Spirits
Jon Parker - Parker's Table at Oakland & Yale
Jeff & Randy Vines - STL-Style
David Kirkland - Turn Restaurant & David Kirkland Catering
Suzie Hanneke Westerbeck - Westwood Catering, Deli & Grocery
Jake Hafner - Civil Life Brewing Co.
Robyn Niesmann - The Mud House
Kitt Villasis-Corbin - La Patisserie by Kitt Villasis-Corbin
Eric Woods - The Firecracker Press
Joe Jackson - Jackson Pianos
Stan Chisholm - Screwed Arts Collective
Peter Cohen - Stringbean Coffee
Rob Connoley - Bulrush
Josh Stevens - Reedy Press
Eliza Coreill & Kenny Snarzyk - The Crow's Nest & Eat Crow
David Wolfe - Urban Chestnut Brewing Company
Doug Morgan - Saturn Lounge
Mike Tiefenbrun - Home Grown Trees
Brad Sarno - Sarno Music Solutions & Blue Jade Audio Mastering
John Parker - O'Connell's Pub & Jack's Joint
Matt Stuttler - The Sinkhole
Dave Drebes - Missouri Scout
Joshua Grigaitis - Pop’s Blue Moon
Tim Drescher - Kuva Coffee Company
Jessica Douglass - Flowers & Weeds
Mo Costello - MoKaBe's Coffeehouse
Mark Pannebecker - Spine Indie Bookstore & Cafe
Andrew Ploof - Music Folk
Brian Lock - Universal Financial Group
Brian Hayes - D&H Truck & Trailer Repair
Denny Hammerstone - Hammerstone's
Stuart Keating - Earthbound Beer
Dan Trueman - Truemans Place
Chris Meyer - Kitchen Kulture / Songbird
Jesse Irwin - Carondelet Machanical, LLC
Jack Ellman - Central Garage
Jeremy Miller - Dead Wax Records
William Pauley - Confluence Kombucha
Scott Swanston - The Gramophone
Ted Wilson - Union Loafers
Lisa Govro - Big Heart Tea Co.
Andy Foerstel & Melissa Pfeiffer - Intoxicology
Robert Frank - Ferdworks
Rich Mueller - R L Mueller Popcorn & Supply
Andy Karandzieff - Crown Candy Kitchen
Sarah Miller - Switchgrass Spirits
Connie Gress - Every Body Massage
Janet Sanders and John Leible - Perpetua Iron LLC
Steve Pohlman - Off Broadway
Vince Valenza - Blues City Deli
Sarah Shelton - Girl Louie
Kate Estwing - City House Country Mouse
Kris Kleindienst - Left Bank Books
Sheila Shahpari - Paritta Group
Walter Volz - Karl Volz & Sons, Inc. (steel fabricators)
Mike Urness - Great Planes Trading Co. (Antique Tool Specialist)
Thomas Pullen - Mojo’s Music
Mike Killian - Killian Designs/The Shoelace Factory
Linsey Estes - Allow Me Cleaning & Services
Jamie Choler and Sara Hale - Fair Shares
Rick Funcik - The Joinery Custom Woodworking
Chad Taylor - The Venice Cafe
Lori Fowler - Cielo
Lisa Frick - Lisa Frick Artwork
Ann Rabbitt, Aifd, Cfd - Thorn Stufio
Barbara Gremaud - Sacred Garden Midwifery & Lactation
Jason McEntire - Sawhorse Recording Studios
Todd Brutcher - Southside Alchemy
Mary Engelbreit - Mary Engelbreit Studio
Jeff Lopinot - Verve Hair Salon
Kay Rye - Sole Survivor Leather
Steve and Shelly Dachroeden - The Silver Ballroom & The Waiting Room
Paul Kafalenos - Silver Wing Studio
Brian Andrew Marek - Rubberstamp Records
Kevin Belford - Devil At The Confluence LLC
Mike and Zack Zanger - Taqueria Z
Joan Lipkin - That Uppity Theatre Company
Carrie Harris - The Crack Fox
Keith A. Buchholz - Fluxus St. Louis
Lynn Terry - Zoomies Cafe
Anna Grant - Cowpunkjewels
Alex Cupp - The Stellar Hog
Elicia Eskew and Gavin Haslett - Benton Park Cafe
Julie Sommer - Sommer Property investments
Susan Barrett - Barrett Barrera Projects & projects+gallery
John Schaefering - Power Play Hockey
Bill Streeter - Hydraulic Pictures
Cody Hayo - Pretty City Gardens and Landscapes LLC
Kate Ewing - Brick City Yoga
Tom Lane - Metro Home Care Services
Jason Mohler - Mohler Material Handling, Inc.
Alex Carlson - Red Guitar Bread
Jeremy Segel-Moss - Cherokee Street Ceramics
Julie Longyear - Blissoma Botanical Beauty
Annie Scheumbauer - Artistannie Studio
Rich Codd - Richard Codd Properties, LLC
Nate Sorenson - Airspace Aerial Media
Victor Imgarten - Clean Sweep Chimney Service
Brad Sadl - Circa Now Records
Butler Miller - Robert Miller & Associates
Billy Tomber - Rio Syrup Company
John Uhlenbrock - Back Office Consulting LLC
Patrick Holloran - John D McGurks Irish Pub & Garden
Steve Frelich - Shoe Stop
Melanie Hye Jin Meyer - Tiny Chef
Laurent Torno III - Studio TORNO
Virginia Blakemore - Blue Ribbon Grooming
Joe Schwab - Euclid Records
Nate Hershey - Nate Hershey Productions

Memorial for Michael Kuelker

Don’t forget this Sunday from 12 noon to 4 pm, a celebration of the life of Michael Kuelker, our comrade the former co-host of Positive Vibrations who passed away unexpectedly a few weeks ago, will be held at BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, 700 South Broadway. The event features music, food, and an opportunity to share memories of Michael.

Hailing (and Questioning) the KDHX CAB

This week LOVE published an open letter on the recently resurfaced Community Advisory Board (CAB) to KDHX. You can read that letter on Facebook. While we remain cautiously optimistic that the CAB will finally provide some genuine oversight to KDHX management, we have some concerns which we perhaps did not fully express in our prior letter.

To qualify as a "community station" to receive its funding, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) mandates that those stations create and regularly meet with a Community Advisory Board. According to the CPB, the purpose of the CAB is to “review the programming goals established by the station, the service provided by the station, and the significant policy decisions rendered by the station.” CABs also advise management on these important topics.

The CPB requires that all meetings of CAB be open to the public. After three years without a meeting, KDHX reconstituted the CAB but made no genuine public announcement of its first meeting. That meeting apparently took place on December 21, 2023. Management posted an announcement deep within the KDHX website with information on a Zoom “webinar” of the meeting. It is hard to call such a meeting open and public.

In restarting the CAB, KDHX leaders offered no public invitation to interested members of the community to serve. We do not know who selected the seven members, but we believe it was KDHX staff, which raises questions about the autonomy of this board. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, in requiring CABs for all broadcast stations, does not intend them to be rubber stamps for management. The intent is to obtain honest input from independent voices in the community, not just agreeable input from agreeable allies.

The past failure of KDHX management to ensure the CAB meets regularly and holds open meetings put key funding resources from the CPB at risk. These failures have mocked KDHX's qualification as a "community" radio station and remain a chief complaint of the volunteers and the community who are challenging station management.

These are the new members of the CAB:

Jesse Allen

Tom Eaton

Jan Beckert

Kalonda Cloyd

Gayle Fritz

Hank Thompson

Ben Zeno

We have concerns about some of these members. Three new members of the CAB are current volunteers at KDHX; thus, they are supervised by the current Executive Director Kelly Wells, who has a history of retaliating against volunteers who challenge her. Yet another member of the CAB is a close friend of Ms. Wells. Additionally, we observe that two new members of the CAB have made inaccurate and dismissive public statements (here and here) that are antithetical to community and contradict the values of diversity and inclusion. We hope these members will approach their roles on the CAB with a more open mind to the valid questions that have been raised regarding current management.

Finally, KDHX has stated that staff members will set the agendas and moderate all meetings of the CAB. If true, this will limit the CAB’s ability to provide independent counsel to management. We call on all members of the CAB to challenge staff if it continues to present KDHX's current difficulties with blinders and rose-colored projections.

Despite these misgivings, we preserve our hope that all members of the KDHX CAB will be independent, dedicated voices of and for the community. We are willing and ready to meet with members of the CAB to offer our perspectives and to support their important work for the community.

As we stated in the original open letter on the CAB, citizens may contact the Community Advisory Board by sending correspondence addressed to the name of any individual member in care of this address: KDHX Community Media, 3524 Washington Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63103. All comments should be respectful and addressed by name to any of the individual members of the CAB to ensure they will be properly received.