For several hours, evangelical K-LOVE broadcast on KDHX frequency

ST. LOUIS — For several hours Saturday morning, the radio frequency owned by foundering community radio station KDHX (88.1 FM) played the programming of the evangelical Christian network K-LOVE.

The K-LOVE broadcast may be an indication of what is to come if a sale to the massive evangelical network is approved by a bankruptcy court judge.

The KDHX website still streamed the usual KDHX content. Spokespeople from KDHX did not return multiple requests for information.

The noncommercial community station filed for bankruptcy on March 10. Shortly afterward, it announced plans to sell its FCC license, broadcast tower and other assets to Franklin, Tennessee-based K-LOVE, which runs at least 589 Christian-music stations throughout the country.

That sale would have to be agreed to by the bankruptcy court judge, who has not yet heard the case. Robert Eggmann, a lawyer representing the station in the bankruptcy proceedings, said he expects objections to be made to the potential sale.

Other entities might want to buy the frequency too, he told reporters last week.

If the sale to K-LOVE does go through, the price would be at least $4.35 million, with additional inducements if it can be completed in 6 months or 1 year.

On Saturday, the national feed of K-LOVE was in hard-sell fundraising mode. The announcers pressed for donations for 8-10 minutes at a time between playing 3-minute songs.

“This is a chance to win another soul for Jesus. Bring them back from the brink,” they said.

The station also ran a promotion specifically citing the 88.1 FM frequency, using the tagline “Positive, encouraging K-LOVE.”

Online, KDHX was playing the same prerecorded content that it had been presenting for several weeks. Saturday morning it was Christmas music — Nat King Cole’s “The Christmas Song” and a jazzy version of “Greensleeves” — followed by bluegrass.

The listener-supported KDHX has been in a financial crisis since September 2023, when it fired 10 of its 80 volunteer DJs in one day for what board of directors president Gary Pierson said was being “vocal and disruptive.” At other times he said some of them exhibited “egregious behavior” toward women and minorities, and they were not interested in bringing in more voices from underserved communities.

The DJs who were released — and at least 14 others who resigned in sympathy — strenuously disputed his account. They claim instead they were fired because they had signed a letter of no confidence in executive director Kelly Wells.

A group of former volunteer DJs is suing the station’s owner, Double Helix Corp., to remove most of its board of directors. The suit claims the board acted illegally on several occasions to take power from the volunteers, which is guaranteed in the station’s bylaws, and consolidate it among themselves and Wells.

Thursday, that group filed a motion in the bankruptcy case alleging the station repeatedly violated a judge’s temporary restraining order in that case.

Judge Joan L. Moriarty issued the order temporarily forcing the station to allow 15 former DJs to vote on station business. However, the motion charges, those former DJs were not allowed to vote to sell the station, and were not even informed about the vote.

In addition, the motion alleges, the volunteer-favored Courtney Dowdall won an election to the Board of Directors on Feb. 25, but the station did not inform her of her victory until March 26. That delay kept her from knowing about or voting on the decision to sell the station and, presumably, a vote to declare bankruptcy, the filing says.

Editor’s note: This story was updated Saturday afternoon after KDHX stopped playing K-LOVE content.