KDHX (88.1 FM) is an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

non-commercial A non-commercial (also spelled noncommercial) activity is an activity that does not, in some sense, involve commerce, at least relative to similar activities that do have a commercial objective or emphasis. For example, advertising-free community ...

, listener-supported

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, ...

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radi ...

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

offering a full spectrum of music along with cultural and public affairs programming since 1987. KDHX broadcasts 24 hours a day online and with 42 kW of

effective radiated power Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would h ...

in stereo with

RBDS Radio Data System (RDS) is a communications protocol standard for embedding small amounts of digital information in conventional FM radio broadcasts. RDS standardizes several types of information transmitted, including time, station identificati ...

data.

Station background

KDHX is licensed to the Double Helix Corporation, a 501(c)3

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

arts and educational organization with a mission to create community through media. The Double Helix Corporation was formed after the demise of KDNA, a

countercultural A counterculture is a culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores.Eric Donald Hirsch. ''The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy''. Hou ...

community-radio station that operated in St. Louis's Gaslight Square district in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The corporation is independent of any governmental entity and is not affiliated with any religious or educational organization. The KDHX offices and studios are located at 3524 Washington Avenue in

Grand Center The Grand Center Arts District is located in the Midtown St. Louis Historic District (on the National Register of Historic Places) north of the Saint Louis University campus. Referred to colloquially as Grand Center, the neighborhood's formal na ...

; its tower is located in the northern part of Jefferson County. Double Helix Corporation, operating under the name KDHX Community Media, is the licensee for 88.1 KDHX, which presents a primarily roots-based AAA (

Adult Album Alternative Adult album alternative (also triple-A, AAA, or adult alternative) is a radio format. See pages 9 and 10Mills, Joshua. "A New Radio Music Format: Rock for Prosperous Adults" New York Times, Feb 28 1994, p. 2. ProQuest. Web. Accessed September 4, 2 ...

) format interspersed with long-form public affairs programming one evening a week and short-form features throughout the broadcast schedule. The on-air DJs are all volunteers chosen by an elected program committee and trained by station staff. In addition to its on-air activities, KDHX Community Media also produces a variety of music-oriented events such as Midwest Mayhem and Art Attack as well as collaborations with other community organizations. These collaborations include Harvest Sessions at the Tower Grove Farmers Market; Thursdays at the Intersection in

; the Sheldon Sessions with the

Sheldon Concert Hall The Sheldon Concert Hall in St. Louis, Missouri was designed by noted 1904 World's Fair architect Louis C. Spiering and built in 1912 as the home of the Ethical Society of St. Louis. Musicians and public speakers throughout the years have enjoye ...

and SoundWaves with the

Pulitzer Arts Foundation Pulitzer Arts Foundation is an art museum in St. Louis, Missouri, that presents special exhibitions and public programs. Known informally as the Pulitzer, the museum is located at 3716 Washington Boulevard in the Grand Center Arts District. The ...

. At the time of KDHX's founding, the frequency 88.1 MHz in the

greater St. Louis Greater St. Louis is a bi-state metropolitan area that completely surrounds and includes the independent city of St. Louis, the principal city. It includes parts of both Missouri and Illinois. The city core is on the Mississippi Riverfront on t ...

area was occupied by 10-watt, Class D station KHRU-FM, operated by Clayton High School in Clayton, Missouri only from 5-8 p.m. Mon.-Fri. during the school year. It was the only station in St. Louis operating on that frequency. Double Helix tried to work out a cooperative arrangement with the Clayton School District to share the frequency, but the school district was unwilling to accept any frequency-sharing proposal. Eventually Double Helix sued in federal court, resulting in a decision that stations had to "use it or lose it" with regard to frequencies. After that decision, the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...

(FCC) revoked KHRU’s license and awarded the frequency to Double Helix Corporation.

Double Helix Corporation

Double Helix Corporation is a

community media Community media are any form of media that function in service of or by a community. It is the rise of all kinds of alternative, oppositional, participatory and collaborative media practices that have developed in the journalistic context of ‘comm ...

organization governed by a 15-member Board of Directors. The corporation is independent of any

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

al entity, and is not affiliated with any

religious Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatur ...

or educational organization. Double Helix Corporation is the

licensee A licensee can mean the holder of a license or, in U.S. tort law, a licensee is a person who is on the property of another, despite the fact that the property is not open to the general public, because the owner of the property has allowed the li ...

of 88.1 KDHX, the

community radio station Community radio is a radio service offering a third model of radio broadcasting in addition to commercial and public broadcasting. Community stations serve geographic communities and communities of interest. They broadcast content that is popular ...

in St. Louis, Missouri. Prior to December 31, 2011, when statewide

video Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) syst ...

franchise Franchise may refer to: Business and law * Franchising, a business method that involves licensing of trademarks and methods of doing business to franchisees * Franchise, a privilege to operate a type of business such as a cable television p ...

legislation sunsetted the city's

cable franchise A local franchise authority (LFA) is a United States local government organization that, together with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), regulates cable television service within the local government's area. In some cases the LFA is the s ...

ordinance, Double Helix Corporation managed the

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...

and community access

television stations A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the ear ...

for the City of St. Louis.

References

External links

Official KDHX website

KDHX Collection Finding Aid
at th
St. Louis Public Library

KDHX
- Myspace.com page.
STLradio.com
Contains many articles on the history of St. Louis radio broadcasting including one on the history of KDNA under "Call Letter History". Originally from ''St. Louis Journalism Review''. * KDNA and KDH

an

at the Western Historical Manuscripts Collection. * KDNA and KDH

at the Saint Louis Public Library. {{coord, 38.417, N, 90.433, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title DHX DHX Community radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1976 1976 establishments in Missouri Adult album alternative radio stations in the United States

Station background

Double Helix Corporation

See also

References

External links