Reflections on KDHX: It's in my DNA

1. So today I was in St. Louis and it made me more homesick than usual because I was listening to KDHX. And although I am proud of them for what they achieved, that is to say their move to Larry Weir Building at Grand Center, it is bittersweet.
   
   I spent many, many hours at the Magnolia studio. My musical taste is a complete creature of the sub-genre of public rad...io, that is called "Community Radio." I started as a volunteer at KDHX in 1992 or 1993. I can't remember really. The first pledge drive I worked was probably Fall of 1993 and we raised what back then was an astronomical sum of 30,000. The board and the management was freaking out. Back then the Corporation for Public Broadcasting matched the money that came in dollar for dollar.
   
   After a couple of years of volunteering, rather than get on the air I opted for The Double Helix Board of Directors. I served two terms on the Board of Directors and held every office except VP of TV and President. I was Secretary, Treasurer, VP of Radio, & First Vice President. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. The way the board worked then was you turned over by 7 of the 14 members every year. So it was difficult sometimes to get things done. It was a labor of love with many, many individuals trying to implement their own agendas. Being on the board was often like being in an abusive relationship where you worshiped the abuser. A board meeting would start at 7:00 p.m. I think on the first Wednesday of every month at the Boatmen's Bank building at the corner of Euclid and Delmar. It would often run until 11:00 at night in which afterwards several of us would retire to Dressle's Pub and shut it down.
   
   Back then I was young and broke. KDHX was like a fraternity & family to me. If you didn't have any money you could always find shit to do at the station. And if you wanted to drink there were people who would take you out and help you get fucked up even if you didn't have any money. KDHX was a surrogate parent to me when I was by myself in the great City of St. Louis. She should count herself very lucky to have a Community Station of this status. It is well known and probably as prosperous WWOZ in New Orleans.
   
   KDHX Double Helix is a not-for-profit entity not tied to a university or controlled like an NPR affiliate. It is strictly volunteer run except for a handful of paid staff. It depends solely on membership donations and local business underwriters in order to function. I have not read the mission statement in a long time and it has changed, but there used to be a line in it that I am paraphrasing which said it was to be used to train and give access to those people in the community who would not normally be able to participate in the media and to give the disenfranchised access to and training in media. I think they have been very successful in that. I am pleased. The group of folks who have shepherded the station since 1998 have done something that 20 years ago would not have possibly entered my or anyone's perceptual field.
   
   Roy St. John taught me how to run the board and got me my community broadcaster FCC license. Although he only called me in on Saturday Nights to run the reel-to-reel satellite download of Mountain Stage. I did get the pleasure of being with him on many morning shows. And if he took a holiday, he would let me and Marilyn Andrew do the morning show which was great fun. I also got the pleasure of being kind of a sidekick to Mark "Sunny Boy" Mason when he had his 6:00 to 9:00 a.m. Saturday Morning time slot.
   
   The DJs that have influenced and honed my taste in music have a thankless unpaid job. So I wanted to thank a few of them.
   
   Fred Gumaer, taught me about country and western music. Mark Mason & Al Boudx taught me about New Orleans Jazz, Cajun and Creole music of Louisiana. Darren Snow& Doug Morgan have literally sold me thousands of dollars of worth of records from contemporary rock & roll. Marjie Baker Kennedy gave me an appreciation of A Capella.
   Clinton Harding, the Great Larry Weir, and Ed Becker influenced me with their mixture of Americana, Folk, Progressive Country & Singer/songwriter material that is my primary listening focus today. The Great Keith Dudding, along with Terry & Namoi and Walter & Willie Volz gave me a life long love of Bluegrass, Newgrass, and Prog Grass. I learned about ska and reggae at KDHX. I learned about sacred Indian Music, Native American Music, Eastern European Music, Folk Music from the British Isles. I mean just everything.
   
   What I learned the most though was what I was supposed to learn and that was about community and how to serve it. The Double Helix Corporation taught me about commitment, personal sacrifice, volunteerism, egalitarianism, and love of community. You have done a find job KDHX, here's to your future.
   
   Congratulations on your move!