St. Louis Radio: Listeners Rally to Support Embattled Ex-DJs At KDHX

More than 80 protesters rallied outside KDHX 88.1 FM Wednesday evening in an effort to let the station's newly added disc jockeys know about their grievances.

Inside the station, management and the station's all-volunteer DJs were having their first-quarter meeting, said spokesman Colin Dale.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports the listener-supported community radio station has been roiled since it fired 10 DJs one day in September. That followed the dismissal of two others in August and one more last February. More than 20 other volunteers resigned or said they went on strike in protest of the firings.

The station has slots for 80 two- or three-hour shows. Some of the people who resigned were multiple hosts on the same show; a few others were involved in production and were not heard on the air.

The station has brought in 26 new DJs to fill the empty slots, though a number of shows are still being filled with music programmed by staff volunteers but played without an announcer.

The DJ known as Ital K said the group is asking for three things: The dismissal of Executive Director Kelly Wells and Board of Directors president Gary Pierson, the reinstatement of all the DJs who were fired or left and the seating of the three members of the board who were voted in by the volunteers' association in September.

The board has refused to seat the three, claiming that the meeting at which they were elected was invalid because it had not been called by the Board of Directors.

In a statement, Dale said, "In recent months, we have welcomed 26 diverse new DJs to our airwaves. In turn, we have grown our listenership, and are grateful to welcome hundreds of new donors who support our vision to use music to connect our region.

"It’s unfortunate that some former volunteers continue to create confusion and turmoil. KDHX relies on community support. We hope this passion for our station will be directed in more positive ways moving forward."