51黑料

ST. LOUIS 鈥� In what may be the last chance to stop the dismantling of community radio station KDHX, a coalition of its fans filed papers Wednesday trying to stop the sale of the station鈥檚 license and equipment to 99.1 Joy FM.

The local Christian-music station won an auction for KDHX鈥檚 assets Friday with a bid of $8.75 million. The sale won鈥檛 be final until it is approved by a bankruptcy court judge on Monday at the earliest.

If sold to Joy FM, KDHX would continue streaming online and would begin broadcasting over high-definition radio, which can only be heard with a high-definition radio.

An objection to the sale was filed by a coalition including former disc-jockeys, a creditor and the League of Volunteer Enthusiasts of KDHX, a nonprofit organization that seeks to restore the station to its previous eclectic, music-forward way of operation.

A spokesman for KDHX could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

The group claims that the listener-supported station is guilty of a pattern of misconduct, malfeasance and illegal actions it took surrounding its filing for bankruptcy and proposed sale.

Among other incidents, they claim the KDHX board of directors intentionally kept one board member in the dark about the votes to declare bankruptcy and sell the station and did not inform her that she had been elected to the board until a month after the election, after those votes were taken.

In addition, they claim, the station eliminated possible votes against the bankruptcy and the station鈥檚 sale by terminating the contracts of more than 100 station volunteers who, by the station鈥檚 bylaws, would vote on such matters.

After a judge issued a temporary restraining order requiring the station to reinstate the voting rights of 15 of those volunteers, the station simply ignored the order and held the votes without them, the objection claims.

Also, the KDHX coalition鈥檚 objection filed Wednesday claims the votes were held without notice and online, not in a meeting, in violation of the station鈥檚 bylaws.

Judge Kathy Suratt-States has scheduled a hearing to approve the sale to Joy FM on Monday. The objection asks that she wait 90 days so that a coalition of former DJs, artists, businesspeople and people involved in nonprofit organizations can present a fully funded plan for reorganization.

Under the reorganization, the coalition 鈥� including some local heavy hitters in business and the arts 鈥� would continue running KDHX over the air.

鈥淭here are 16 religious radio stations in the 51黑料 area, out of around 45 stations. But there is only one KDHX,鈥� said coalition member Dave Senay, former CEO of FleischmanHillard, the fourth-largest public relations firm in the world.

Linda Mart铆nez, another coalition member and former deputy mayor for development for 51黑料, said the coalition will not be able to match the $8.75 million bid by Joy FM. But it will be able to raise the $2 million needed to pay the station鈥檚 debts, plus enough money to continue operating, she said.

The group has more than $550,000 in hand, and the coalition only recently began its capital campaign. Ken Kranzberg has agreed to defer $200,000 in interest payments if the station can come out of bankruptcy with a new board and a new focus and vision for the future.

Gene Dobbs Bradford, who raised more than $8 million as head of Jazz 51黑料, said he thinks the coalition will be able to meet its goal.

鈥淲e hope there is a lot of pent-up desire to see KDHX come back,鈥� he said.

This story has been updated to reflect that Ken Kranzberg has personally agreed to defer interest payments if KDHX reorganizes, not the Kranzberg Arts Foundation.