ST. LOUIS — Community radio station KDHX (88.1 FM) is near bankruptcy and is contemplating selling some of its assets, its lawyer said in court Thursday.
“This entity is one or two steps away from bankruptcy,†said John Reynolds, who represents the beleaguered public radio station.
Three of the station’s six paid staff members were laid off, and all took pay cuts last year. As of January, he said, it has just $7,000 cash on hand.
The station was in court to argue against a temporary restraining order sought by a group of on-air volunteers who were laid off on Jan. 31. The 16 volunteers listed as plaintiffs — 14 of them are anonymous, fearing retribution from the station, they say — are asking for all the volunteers laid off that day to be reinstated as voting members of the association of volunteers.
The station’s bylaws require these associate members, as they are called, to be given a say in the station’s operations. ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ would not be put back on the air. The station now only runs prerecorded material.
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At 4:30 p.m. Jan. 31, a Friday, 111 volunteers were told by email that they would no longer be producing their on-air shows. And because they were not active volunteers, they could no longer be associate members.
That action left a total of nine associate members, out of the original 120. Eight of them are members of the station’s board of directors.
Benjamin Askew, the lawyer for the volunteers, argued that the station eliminated the group as a viable organization when it laid off all but nine of its members. He said the station’s bylaws require a minimum of 17 members to be present for there to be a quorum to meet or take a vote.
Reynolds said the organization still exists with its nine members, and it therefore has not been eliminated. He said if the terminated members were brought back, they would only be let go again, one by one, after an individual hearing for each.
The annual associate member meeting is Feb. 18. The volunteers are asking to be reinstated before then, so their voice can be heard at this pivotal time in the station’s history.
The station has been hemorrhaging since September 2023, when 10 of its 80 volunteer DJs were fired at the same time. At least 14 more resigned in sympathy in the following weeks.
Listener financial support dried up almost immediately, and radio listenership was cut by 40%. In 2023, it lost more than $325,000 on revenues of $940,000.
The station has blamed its losses on “disparagement campaigns and senseless lawsuits.â€
Thursday’s action was related to a suit filed by the volunteers Jan. 29 asking for seven of the eight members of the board of directors to be removed, claiming they violated Missouri law and the station’s bylaws to consolidate power among themselves and executive director Kelly Wells.
The suit was filed two days before the station terminated all of its on-air staff and kept them from being associate members.
The case was heard in St. Louis Circuit Court. Judge Joan L. Moriarty did not make an immediate ruling.
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