Court Ignores Protests, Approves KDHX Takeover.

A federal bankruptcy judge has approved the sale of KDHX St. Louis (88.1), the longtime home to Gateway Creative Broadcasting, the parent company of contemporary Christian “Joy FM” and Christian hip-hop “Boost Radio” stations. The sale, cleared in a 32-page order by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kathy Surratt-States, authorizes Double Helix Corporation to transfer nearly all the station’s non-real estate assets, including broadcast licenses, studio equipment, programming agreements, and other key assets, to Gateway. The deal still requires approval from the Federal Communications Commission before it is finalized, however.

The ruling comes three months after Double Helix, which operates KDHX as a non-profit, filed for Chapter 11 protection. The sale does not include KDHX’s office building on Washington Avenue, however, which will be addressed in a separate court proceeding.

Gateway’s winning bid topped a competing offer from Christian broadcaster Educational Media Foundation and cleared the way for a new chapter in the station’s controversial and financially troubled history. Its bankruptcy sale has proved to be no less dramatic.

More than 170 objections were submitted by community members and former volunteers opposed to the sale, many of whom accused the station’s leadership of mismanagement, a lack of transparency, and alienating its base of air personalities and donors. But the judge overruled those objections, finding no legal violations in the station’s governance or its handling of volunteer dismissals earlier this year.

The court also denied a request from KDHX critics to delay the sale by 90 days to allow time to raise funds and potentially keep the FM frequency under community control. That proposal included a pledge campaign that had reportedly raised more than $550,000, but the judge sided with Gateway’s bid, citing the higher offer and greater certainty as being in the “best interests” of the creditors.

“Given all of the circumstances of the Chapter 11 case and the adequacy and fair value of the successful bid, the sale constitutes a reasonable and sound exercise of debtor’s business judgment and should be approved,” Surratt-States writes in the ruling. She also says that “time is of the essence” in consummating the sale to preserve the value of the assets.

As part of the deal, Gateway has agreed to make an HD-2 channel available for KDHX to continue airing its current community-focused format. The stream will also remain available online. KDHX’s bankruptcy attorneys have told the court the sale would eliminate roughly $2 million in debt and give the station six years of financial runway.

KDHX’s troubles came to a head in late 2023 and early 2024 after a series of leadership shake-ups, board disputes, and declining donations. Once a volunteer-powered community voice on the FM dial, the station laid off all its on-air hosts and halted live programming earlier this year. Facing insolvency, the board moved to sell its broadcast assets in March, initially agreeing to a $4.35 million offer from EMF before Gateway countered with a higher bid and ultimately prevailed in a court-supervised auction. Gateway’s winning bid of $8.75 million bested EMF’s final offer of $8.5 million.

Gateway, based in St. Louis, operates Christian contemporary music stations including contemporary Christian “Joy FM 99.1” KLJY and Christian CHR “Boost Radio 95.5” KXBS. The company has not yet announced how it will program the 88.1 FM signal once the sale closes.