https://cpboig.oversight.gov/report-fraud-contact-us
A request to the Corporation of Public Broadcasting to audit KDHX and Kelly Wells, in particular the applications, use of funds, vacant board seats, and elimination of membership has been submitted to the Office Of Inspector General at the address above.
I forgot to copy the complaint before I submitted it, but the above is the gist, and supporters are encouraged to send their own.
The people that host the facebook group and protests on Mondays have an official website.
https://savekdhx.com/
If you scroll the main page, in addition to the articles about KDHX and Tom Ray, etc, and letter from the station, you will find some individual stories about dealing with Kelly Wells posted.
Also, lots of photographs.
The petition is posted on another page, and there is contact us form.
It's new so hopefully more strategy and actions will be posted soon.
If you would like to share your email to KDHX please email it to bookemonsterslpl@gmail.com and let me know if you want your name attached. Also the date you sent it.
Sent April 4, 2023
As some of you may or may not be aware, the
backlash in the wake of the debacles of 2019 and the eventual termination of
Tom "Papa'Ray is growing exponentially. I am quite sure that you will find
this reflected in the pathetically low number of pledges during the recent fund
drive, and subsequent loss of revenue. We the community are angry.
1. We are angry about the termination of a
beloved volunteer member and on air personality.
2. We are angry that community is no longer
a factor at the station.
3. We are angry at the lack of
representation by KDHX throughout the community, particularly during the Music
at the Intersection event recently. Not only was KDHX not present at an event
happening literally nextdoor, but the KDHX sign was extinguished for the
duration of the event.
4 . We are angry that there are only eight
members sitting on a Board of Directors when a board of fifteen is called for
in the bylaws, and that the eight existing members are a thoroughly homogenous
group that is hardly representative of the demographics of the community.
5. We are angry that we the donors from the
community are now only considered donor listeners, and not donor members,
thereby removing our voices from the station.
6. We are angry that there is a distinct
lack of accountability from station management, and from Kelly Wells in
particular
7. We are angry that none of the concerns
expressed by attending donor listeners present at the last Zoom meeting of the
Board were addressed in any manner, but rather that the meeting was immediately
adjourned following the last speaker.
8. We are angry that over a quarter of a
million dollars were spent on outside consultants, and yet there has been no
disclosure of what the consultation was about.
9. We are angry that no volunteers are
being accepted at the station in any capacity.
10. We are angry that the Folk School now
exists solely as an entity on Facebook, and we want to know where the funds are
going that are dedicated for the Folk school.
11. We are angry that KDHX had payroll
expenditures of $586,000.00 when there are only eight employees listed on the
rolls.
12. We are angry that Kelly Wells remains
as Executive DIrector for KDHX despite her obfuscation and divisiveness within
the station.
13. We are angry that it is deemed as a
conflict of interest for on air personalities to serve on the Board of
Directors, and yet Kelly Wells is allowed to act as an on air personality, and
serve as Executive Director, without there being any considerations of the same
conflict of interest.
I send you this letter to give you notice
that the Community upon which you so heavily depend has had enough of the
situation, and that we demand change in the status quo. We truly love our
Community radio station, and refuse to see it be brought down by a self serving
and inept management structure. It would behoove you to take heed of these concerns,
as your Executive Director is rapidly bringing the station down around your
ears. Please restore this station to its prior greatness, as it has been a
highly valued asset to the City of St. Louis, and the Community at large.
The current leadership of KDHX, Saint Louis's Community radio station has failed to live up to the community in community radio.
Recent conflicts have shed light on the leadership's inability to adequately hear, or address the concerns of the community.
By signing this petition, you agree that this leadership has not served the community well over the last few years. We ask that the leadership address the concerns of the community: community/volunteer involvement, organizational transparency, and creating capacity for community voices to be heard. If the leadership is unable or unwilling to hear the community's voices, then they should make room for leadership that will.
The battles versus the war, and the various scenarios on how something like this plays out:
The main focus of the organizers of this page (the KDHX facebook page) is to get Kelly fired. That’s one battle in the war. You all want to meet with the people who have the power to fire her. There are other people in this group who want that, but only as it pertains to other changes at the station. They want to fight other battles. And at the first demo, not even a week ago, the demands were to get Tom reinstated and an apology, to engage the community, etc. The battles change as the war goes on.
Unless you have something that the Board wants or needs, there is no reason for them to include you in the process. They don’t have to meet with anyone to fire Kelly. And they don’t have to meet with anyone to make changes. The Board has been complicit, and since no one has any real authority, they do a clamshell, wait out the protests, and see if legal action is incurred.
Everyone wants the leverage to meet with the board and “do battle” – i.e., get these changes made. That leverage can come in myriad ways. This is why, no matter what battle you are fighting, you want to be part of the larger war, as much as possible. The war is against the way the station is being run. Each issue is a battle.
“We want Kelly fired for all of these reasons.” The misuse of funds, the disrespect to volunteers, the lack of diversity, etc. All of these are battles, and each of these battles will be fought by different soldiers. Not everyone cares about the same things. And some of these battles will be fought further down the line. Getting a meeting with the board to get Kelly fired- or for any other reason- is just the first step.
Your best leverage is to get control of as much of their funding as possible. The “war fund.” And demand a meeting with the Board and bring up all the battles. Firing Kelly will encompass a lot. But while you are there you want to lay the groundwork for the changes that need to be in place so that this never happens again.
If everyone does a little, no one has to do a lot. But all the battles should have a central person or group of people that coordinates all of the battles and keeps them together. This allows every issue to be addressed. There is an organic democracy to this approach as well- the most important issues will have the most backing.
What happens in stuff like this a lot is, at first everyone is focused on just one thing, and all of the passion and emotion that have driven people to alter their day to day lives and get involved burns out. That is why Boards and Directors will sit on things. They can count on fatigue. And if people aren’t withholding money or labour, it doesn’t affect their bottom line.
And the other thing that happens is that without clear leadership out there on the picket line, when it does come time to meet with someone the Board can cherry pick. Who has the easiest the demands? They make that change, see it as concession, and work to get back to business as usual as soon as possible.
There is no need to focus on just
one goal to the exclusion of all others- no need to fight just one battle, or
one battle at time, in sequential order. You are stronger if you look for all
the ways the individual issues overlap.
I've been a political activist for almost 42 years and I've led a lot of things like this. I can't do that right now, and I thought that this post would be helpful. But instead, the group leaders felt that I was "sowing division" and that inclusion of any other issues would create "too many voices at once". I was told to "toe the line" or leave, and I chose to leave because I don't have the time to organize and lead this right now, and I have enough ties to other parts of the KDHX community. My other posts remain, but they deleted this one.
One of Kelly's first coup d'etats was getting Beverly Hacker fired.
Here is an letter from Ms. Hacker about that:
https://www.riverfronttimes.com/news/beverly-hacker-why-im-leaving-kdhx-2900295
I'm sorry to say that I bought the Board's official story at the time of Ms. Hacker's dismissal, that she was responsible for the cash flow crisis. I think if they had kept her on the station would be better for it today.
Certainly, she wouldn't have turned it into her private domain, put her husband's picture on the billboards, or made the focus of all off-air events she and said husband's folk school, or spent over a quarter of million dollars in consulting fees. And there would have been a memorial for John McHenry, and the station would still have members.
