Local Musicians On What KDHX Means To Them

With the station filing for bankruptcy, KDHX’s future has never been more in doubt. Management has rejected recent offers to exchange financial help for control of station affairs. More than almost any other media outlet, KDHX has consistently supported and promoted our local music scene. Against this backdrop, we asked local musicians to reflect on what KDHX means to them. Their thoughts show how much the station has meant to them both personally and professionally.

Jorge Valcárcel – Boxcar

We relied on KDHX to help spread our music around to people near and far.

Just an example is that one night when we were playing a show at Heavy Anchor we were loading-in out front and a Uber pulled up and this couple got out and asked “Is this where Boxcar is playing?” We said “yeah, we are playing here tonight.” They replied that “Oh wow, we heard your song on the radio today and they said you were playing here tonight so we came. We are here in town for a conference, and it seems like fun to catch some good local music”

Wow, that made us feel so good, and those people are still fans of the band today, 3 years after the show. Thanks to Caron House for playing “South City Moon” on her show Wax Lyrical and for promoting our show that night.
It is a million little things like that that make a music community strong; without KDHX we are losing a vital community hub for St. Louis and beyond.

Kevin Koehler – Obviously Offbeat

The most important thing I wanted to add to this conversation is that without a station that gives airtime to local artists, it is damn near impossible to appear on a radio chart. I want to share a bit about how I was able to score a partnership with a company called Tinderbox Music, who managed a college radio campaign that succeeded in getting Obviously Offbeat played on over sixty stations in the U.S. and Canada. By reaching out personally to several DJs at KDHX, I managed to get enough plays to get placed on the station’s chart. This, from Tinderbox Music: “I saw your name recently on a chart we follow http://collegeradiocharts.com I looked you up and came across your release from earlier this year, Infinite Will, and really dug what I heard!”

Charts have been a means for people outside of St. Louis to keep their eyes on us. Without that, St. Louis musicians will have an even harder time trying to break out regionally or nationally.

Gabe Karabell – Brainstems

Most of my bands have been more popular outside of STL than in town. After Bob EE Sweet started playing my old band Fried E/M, we started to get more local shows at larger venues, and people I never met before came out to see us. He definitely helped us make some connections here — otherwise we’d just be playing basement shows for our five friends at home, and playing to hundreds of people when we went to NYC and Mexico City. I think that a lot of folks are looking for more here, and will make it out to shows if they just know where to look. 

As a booker/promoter (where I was always really more a part of the community anyway), KDHX (and the RFT) was a link between our underground scene and the rest of St. Louis. If you’re tapped in, you can still read about gigs through the STL Show Page, but I think it’s going to be even more difficult to find shows or make connections if you’re an outsider. 

Lori Cummins –  Brick Houses

KDHX has been the soundtrack to my adult life for the last 35 years.
I do remember hearing the music of the band I was in  MaidRite on KDHX and was so excited. I also remember so many other local bands  that I never had seen but heard their music on the station. This was a great perk for local musicians.

I feel the concert calendar was an important part to the local music scene. St Louis has so much good music around town and it was a great way to keep folks informed as to where our band was playing. I am so bummed about what is happening to the station. I am currently in a new band Brick Houses and we were looking forward to sharing our gigs with the KDHX calendar.

Brian Andrew Marek – The Vertigo Swirl, Rubberstamp Records

I have been making music for as long as KDHX has been on the air. I have both performed live on the air and had my recorded works played on the station, under my own name and that of various bands and projects of mine. In fact, one of my releases ended up in the top 10 list of local spins for that particular year. This is exposure one can simply not expect from the commercial stations that service St. Louis. I built great relationships with a number of volunteers (most of whom were purged in 2023) who supported my musical efforts. KDHX made local music a priority from its inception, but that support simply doesn’t exist any more. I just hope KDHX can be brought back from the brink.

Casey Govero – Groovy Butter Cakes

I am a musician who has played in the St Louis Area for more than 20 years. I’ve played with a few bands, KharmA, Cronus, and lastly Groovy Butter Cakes. KDHX to me was the only radio station that showed local musicians support without some sort of pay per play or ticket sales, etc. They didn’t need monetary support in order to support you.

My band played live on air on KDHX during Drea Stein’s “The other one” show. We were featured playing 3 live songs on 6/29/2010. I also showed support back to her by helping design flyers in support of a few shows she did… It was an arts community rich in support for one another. We worked together as a community supporting one another.

Corey Saathoff – The Trophy Mules

As a longtime local musician, KDHX has been hugely instrumental in showcasing and promoting the St. Louis arts scene. KDHX has played several of our songs on the air over the years, exposing our creativity to thousands. The Trophy Mules even had the pleasure of playing live on the air multiple times. And this is in addition to dedicated promotion of our upcoming shows and even local artist spotlights… when they used to do those. Not having these tools, this essential creative outlet, has been devastating for all those in and around this city who have aspired to express their art in the community that has helped inspired the art.

John Higgins – Liquid Gold

I could write on this topic for a long, long time. KDHX really started to make a difference in my musical life about the time we got The Flying Mules started in the mid 90s. We played a KDHX benefit (they used to be a thing, and were always a great time and raised lots of money for the station) for one of our first gigs, and that one particular show put us in front of a bunch of people who all became instant fans that would continue to support the band for the next ten years. Keith Dudding had us on his show several times, and always talked about the band on air. Roy Kasten, long time KDHX DJ wrote the liner notes. Keith also aired live shows during his time slot that individually featured all the instruments found in bluegrass. I played on Dobro Days and also on the guitar show. Having seven Dobro players all playing on one tune-crazy great-leave it to KDHX to provide this kind of opportunity. I also played the stage in a few different bands including Cave States and The Missouri Rounders-what a great venue, sadly long gone. The feeling of community that those shows and the aforementioned benefits and special multi-act shows fostered was something that meant so much to so many people. It’s really heartbreaking to see it all squandered. Fred Gumaer was also a great proponent of The Mules as well as The Roadhouse Kings, and both he and Keith continued to promote all kinds of musical efforts and projects that I was involved in. The weekly calendar was always in play as well, and promoted those shows as well. This kind of PR is priceless, and it’s so sad to see that big sense of community go up in smoke. 

Lastly, I can still recall with great clarity the morning that I heard Larry Weir play “Lydia” from the Slaid Cleaves album “Brokedown”. I called him immediately, he told me who it was, and off I went to Boarders to buy the CD. That particular disc sort of became a touchstone of sorts for me, and almost thirty years later, it’s still in regular rotation here….

To stay engaged with the former DJs’ effort to salvage the station, follow the latest at the LOVE of KDHX substack.

All photos provided by the artists.