Beloved community radio station KDHX will stop airing live broadcasts and switch to prerecorded material as of 7 p.m. Friday.
Board President Gary Pierson announced Friday afternoon that the station does not have the resources to sustain its current operations.
“Unfortunately, recent disparagement campaigns and senseless lawsuits have severely impacted fundraising,” Pierson wrote in his statement. He also cited “long standing financial pressures [and] industry-wide challenges for public media.”
The grim milestone for KDHX does not necessarily mean the end of the entity.
“Our board is actively exploring options for the future of KDHX to continue fulfilling our mission of building community through media,” Pierson wrote.
The KDHX board also dismissed its volunteers.
“I think that I can speak for all of the former volunteers and former associates of KDHX in saying that this action was unnecessary and is harmful and is going to be opposed,” said former DJ Roy Kasten.
In an email to on-air DJs, Executive Director Kelly Wells wrote that all volunteers who create content will immediately lose their status as associate members with KDHX, a position that includes limited voting rights regarding station policy. In addition to DJs, this includes volunteers who produce podcasts, manage the station music library, take photos, maintain the event calendar or review shows on the station’s website.
Former DJs and other station critics question why the station is dismissing its DJs and other volunteers even as it continues to broadcast.
Station supporters have speculated for months that KDHX leaders planned to sell its broadcast license and move to an online-only operation. Associate members would have had to approve the sale at a meeting scheduled for February.
But it is unclear if anyone retains voting rights after Friday’s move — other than the board of directors.
The Friday statement makes no reference to KDHX’s broadcast license. It also does not reference Wells’ status as executive director. As of 2023, her annual salary was $106,082.
“That is a win for a board and an executive director that want total control over the station,” Kasten said. “We are going to continue to fight to save this radio station because this is unnecessary and unjustifiable.”
Correction: KDHX suspends live broadcasts as of 7 p.m. Friday.
