Sigh...It happened. KDHX has ceased operating. Reports say that the station may be back online within the next two years. I've praised the station's wide-ranging programs many times on this blog. Here are three random memories of how the station offered something no other local station could match:
- During the Christmas Eve 2011 edition of "Backroads," substitute host Keith explained his reasoning for not stepping on the outro of Bruce Cockburn's "Early On One Christmas Morn." "We never speak while the mandolin is still trilling," he told the audience.
- During an August 2004 edition of "Radio Rio," host Andrea explained why she rarely played '80s Brazilian music on her show. She explained, "It's simply because most of what I've come across by some of my favorite people...They just got swept up in that electronica kind of keyboard synthesized sound that became too overly orchestrated and just ruined a lot of songs." The example she played proved her point; when the synthesizer came in, I thought, "Blech...That's musically inedible processed cheese." It's understandable that she'd gravitate toward more natural, authentic arrangements instead.
- The sentiments that "Family Reunion" host Judy expressed in her show promo from 2001 encapsulated KDHX's idealistic ambitions. "You know, I think there's more similarity than difference in us, most of us," she said. "Yeah, there's race, creed, accent, politics, but aren't those secondary to the fact that we all have to work, we all have loves and disappointments, and music, and good and bad times? We all like a good joke. At any rate, I like to explore the possibility that we are all connected in some way." She said that during her show on Sundays, "I'm here playing old-time music from lots of different times and places that serves to make those connections." In the political environment of 2025, such objectives sound lofty and nearly impossible to achieve. It's comforting to remember, though, that KDHX was an 88.1 FM mainstay for almost 38 years--and might still reappear online.
