ST. LOUIS — The KDHX DJs who were fired all at once in September 2023 are suing the community radio station for improper termination of their positions.
The suit filed Friday in ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ court claims the noncommercial radio station breached its contracts with the DJs it fired and violated Missouri law in the way it removed them from an association of the station’s disc jockeys.
The suit was filed by nine of the fired volunteer DJs. A 10th, Michael Kuelker, died last November.
The disc jockeys claim their contracts list several specific reasons why they could be dismissed and that the nearly identical emails that fired them did not cite any of those reasons.
Instead, they claim, the emails said only that the station is moving forward with a “new vision†and that the station believes their conduct is “not consistent with the vision.â€
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In addition, the suit claims the terminations were actually designed as a ploy to stop them from being part of the organization of Associate Members. The Associate Members are the officially recognized group of the volunteer disc jockeys who are afforded certain rights, including the ability to name three members of the board of directors.
The suit says they were removed from the association in bad faith and without following the procedures laid out in Missouri law.
KDHX spokesman Colin Dale said, “This is yet another harmful and baseless action in a years-long campaign to tear down a treasured ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ institution. We will continue to provide unique, independent programming to all of ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½.â€
The former DJs filing the suit are D. Ridgely “Hound Dog†Brown, Caron House, Roy Kasten, Christopher Lawyer, Richard Reese, Christopher Schwarz, Paul Stark, Robert “bobEE†Sweet and John Wendland.
View life in ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ through the Post-Dispatch photographers' lenses. Edited by Jenna Jones.
