Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include Double Helix Corp.’s response to SLM’s request for comment.
Five months after longtime St. Louis community radio station KDHX (88.1 FM) fell silent following its sale to Christian radio broadcaster Gateway Creative Broadcasting, and one year after management cut all of its volunteers loose as it consolidated power to facilitate that sale, a group of those former contributors have announced a new community radio effort that’s set to launch next month.
Community Radio St. Louis, or CRSTL, will be an all-volunteer internet station whose mission is to “revive local music and arts services online,” according to a press release, with a specific focus on serving the St. Louis area. Registered as a 501(c)(3) and staffed by more than 60 former KDHX volunteers in addition to new broadcasters, the station is set to kick off on February 1, its founders announced Wednesday morning.
“We’ve been working on this streaming station for the better part of a year, and we have physical studios at the Lindenwood Park Place social club,” explains Roy Kasten, a former KDHX DJ and one of the principal players in CRSTL. “We’ve rented space there. We’ve built out two studios that have really great gear on a very slim budget, and we’ve done it as volunteers. And we couldn’t be more excited to be sharing music and information and stories with the people of St. Louis and beyond.”
According to Kasten, the new station will air free-form, independent music across a wide variety of genres—everything from rock to hip-hop, country, bluegrass, experimental music, and beyond. Much of the programming will broadcast live—at least 80 percent, he says. Dozens of former KDHX DJs, some whose experience goes back decades, will host their shows in a structure that is similar to their former station’s heyday, and even with the international reach afforded by the internet, special care will be taken to ensure that St. Louis’ music and arts scene remains a key focus.
Kasten points to a weekly program dubbed NoMo FOMO that will be hosted by DJ Courtney Dowdall on Saturday nights as just one example.
“It specifically spotlights shows that are happening in town that weekend and the following week, playing the music of both local bands and shows that are happening in town. So we’re excited about that,” he says. “And we’re going to be reprising the Local Harvest show with Jon Valley, which was all local music. Most of our DJs, myself included, have been dedicated to playing St. Louis bands and musicians and the diversity of genres and performers that we have here. We’ve been dedicated to that for decades, and we’re going to continue to do that.”
The new station comes after a protracted period of upheaval for the city’s former community radio stalwart, KDHX, which for more than 35 years served as a beacon of music and the arts for St. Louis listeners before going silent late last year. Dysfunction began to spill into the public’s view following the station’s 2013 move from its home in a humble former bakery on Magnolia Avenue to a considerably larger building in Grand Center, bringing with it financial strain and the August 2015 ousting of executive director Beverly Hacker following revelations that the station had fallen behind on its payroll taxes.
Then-chief engagement officer Kelly Wells filled the vacancy following Hacker’s departure, taking on the role of executive director in September 2015. But by the summer of 2019 she and other members of the station’s leadership were the subject of widespread complaints among staff members and volunteers who alleged racial insensitivity, poor management, and mishandling of funds in an open letter delivered to the station’s board and members of the media. (Wells has consistently denied these allegations.)
The turmoil reached a boiling point in March 2023 with the firing of longtime volunteer DJ Tom “Papa” Ray, an outspoken critic of Wells. Backlash from many of the DJs who remained was swift, resulting in 10 more DJs being cut loose and an additional 12 being told they had to go through a mediation process if they wanted to keep their shows. Many quit in solidarity with their fired colleagues. In response, members of the St. Louis business community, music scene, and public at large circulated and signed a series of petitions calling for new leadership and withheld contributions to the station, resulting in further financial woes as the station’s leadership and board dug in. KDHX ultimately filed for bankruptcy in March 2025, and a judge approved the sale of its broadcast license to Gateway Creative Broadcasting in June.
Kasten, who as the host of Feel Like Going Home was one of the fired DJs and an outspoken critic of station leaders, doesn’t mince words when giving his assessment of what went wrong at his former station and its parent company Double Helix Corp.
“The board of directors of Double Helix, led by Gary Pierson, Paul Dever, and Joan Bray, and executive director Kelly Wells, in my view, made the decision to dissolve the democratic membership of the organization and sell the license and frequency in violation of the spirit and the letter of the founding of Double Helix and KDHX,” he says. “They tried to kill community radio, and they failed, because the community wants a station that reflects the wonderful music and voices and perspectives of the Greater St. Louis region, and that’s what we’re hoping to accomplish.”
When asked for comment, Double Helix responded that leadership would not be responding to interview requests. They instead referenced their existing public statement, which “reflects the organization’s position” and reads, in part: “The [court’s] decision validates the integrity of our actions and affirms what we as an organization have known all along: that our efforts have been in good faith, in full compliance with our bylaws, and in service to our mission.”
While getting the internet radio station off the ground is CRSTL’s immediate and most pressing priority, the efforts from the group behind the station don’t end there. Kasten says they’ll be making a concerted effort to produce events in the community, including concerts, DJ spins and trivia nights. The group hosted a record and CD sale at their Lindenwood Park Place home in December, and they’ll be bringing in bands for in-studio performances as well, with the first planned for the station’s February 1 kickoff. Eventually, Kasten says, they plan to find their way back to the terrestrial radio dial.
“We are committed to getting back on the FM airwaves,” he says. “That’s going to take time, and, frankly, a fair amount of money. But we are going to get there.”
In all, CRSTL represents a dedicated effort to get back to the roots that made KDHX a beloved asset for the city—one that was launched by St. Louisans, for St. Louisans.
“KDHX was started as a volunteer-based grassroots community radio station, with a board of directors made up of deep music fans, people who are deeply connected to the musical community and the radio community, and with great knowledge and experience with music and community radio and broadcasting,” Kasten says. “That was the origins of Double Helix and KDHX in 1987 and we, I think, are trying to do our best to return to that.”
CRSTL will officially launch at noon on February 1. For more information and to listen live, visit CRSTL.fm and radiostlouis.org.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this story quoted someone as saying Lindenwood Park Place is in St. Louis Hills. It’s actually in Lindenwood Park. We regret the error.
