This Is Not About Diversity, At Least Not in the Way They Want to Spin It
A bonus newsletter because there is so much more to say
Saturday Feb. 24, 2024
On Thursday members of KDHX’s management, Executive-Director Kelly Wells and Underwriting Account Representative Jesse Hebisen, were interviewed by Hank Thompson on his KDHX program Tangazo. A partial transcript and analysis of Thompson’s interview are reported in the RFT. Additionally, an interview with Wells and Director of Volunteer Connections Andrea Dunn was published on Friday in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Throughout both interviews the bogus narrative that KDHX’s current controversy is due to a marginal group of volunteers along with a small segment of listeners who are in staunch opposition to diversifying the voices on KDHX. This is false and an after-the-fact attempt at weaponizing Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) to justify management’s actions.
Thirteen volunteer DJs were fired in 2023: The first over alleged bullying, the second two over alleged campaigning to de-fund KDHX, and the final 10 were not initially given any cause but were later smeared with accusations of racism and opposition to DEI. None of the additional volunteers who have gone on strike or quit cite an opposition to DEI as the reason they walked off.
The firing of the first DJ, a year ago, was one of many sparks that catapulted the group, now known as the League Of Volunteer Enthusiasts Of KDHX (LOVE OF KDHX), to organize. However, it was not the only reason and in fact came after multiple attempts to get our voices heard. Here are the issues that brought us together:
A dysfunctional board of directors, operating at half size, improperly changing the station’s bylaws, lacking transparency, and unable to act independently of the Executive Director.
Abandoning the Community Advisory Board for years [they have finally reinstated it, with plans to only meet 2-3 times/year].
Dismantling the program-committee, made up of staff, volunteers and listeners.
Hijacking the 2023 annual Associate Members meeting into a focus group and later refusing to accept a legitimately called emergency meeting in September.
Cutting out the community by limiting volunteer opportunities, stopping public engagement, not sponsoring events, and generally making listeners feel unwelcome.
Nepotism and an all-white management team.
And most notably, the firing of staff members in 2019, mostly African-Americans. This is where the diversity, or lack thereof, comes in and it centers around Kelly Wells.
Improving diversity at KDHX should be a top priority, and being deliberate about it should have happened long ago, but to pretend that the crisis KDHX is in now has to do with diversity is management’s attempt to throw blame on someone else. No one has stated they are withholding funds because the station is diversifying. Management did nothing to increase on-air diversity prior to firing 13 volunteers, even with several open time-slots. Wells and Dunn's claims about diversification ring hollow for two simple reasons:
KDHX staff is currently 100% caucasian. And it has been that way for over four years, with the exception of office manager, Kati Giblin, who recently quit. Why? Because Wells fired all black staff in 2019. She has made zero efforts to diversify staff in over four years.
If KDHX management truly saw an urgent need to diversify DJ ranks, it could have easily begun by eliminating the shows held by the following: Andrea Dunn, Ronnie Wisdom, Jon Valley, Jesse Hebisen (who recently saw his time on air expand from two hours to five hours!), and Kelly Wells herself. The executive staff members: Wells, Dunn, and Wisdom, all occupy prime midday time slots. These five white DJs over the age of 40 are precisely the demographic Kelly Wells and Andrea Dunn claim they want to reduce. But all of these DJs are staff, so their shows appear to be untouchable.
One thing is clear: Wells and Dunn have shown no interest in diversity until they could use it as a weapon to eliminate their critics -- and that is precisely what they have done, to the profound harm of KDHX and the community.
Emails go unanswered, responses are non-existent on their Facebook page, there is no open comment period during board meetings, yet Hebisen claims there are many ways for listeners to “register dissent” besides withholding donations. He fails to list a single one, resulting in KDHX losing one third of their donors. Wells says they make decisions based on values rather than finances, sounds great but what values were they upholding? Not diversity. More likely the value of silencing critics. The board and management have a fiscal responsibility to protect the station from malfeasance and incompetence. So do the Associates and that’s why we speak out. This gaslighting and willful misrepresentation of the facts reiterates the basis for our calls for:
New leadership.
Reinstatement of fired and striking volunteers.
Volunteer representation across the governing bodies of KDHX.
Rally Caps On For Thursday
The Save KDHX Facebook group is holding another Rally outside KDHX, 3524 Washington Avenue in Midtown, this Thursday at 5:30. It is in conjunction with the Annual Associate Members meeting beginning at 6 pm. As with last time, the goal is to let the new DJs and the public know that there is no support from the community for the current management team and the Board of Directors at KDHX. We support the idea of peaceful protest, and encourage everybody to show up and let their voices be heard.