St Louis’ KDHX Sale Price Nearly Doubles At Bankruptcy Auction

What began as an attempt to sell St. Louis’ KDHX to a national Christian broadcast network turned into a high-stakes, court-supervised auction that more than doubled the original sale price and left the independent community station’s grassroots supporters shut out.

On May 30, Double Helix Corporation, the nonprofit licensee of KDHX, reported to the US Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Missouri that Gateway Creative Broadcasting submitted the winning bid of $8.75 million for “substantially all” of the station’s assets, including its FCC license and tower lease agreements.

The final bid came in nearly double the $4.35–$4.8 million that Educational Media Foundation, operator of the K-LOVE network, had originally offered in an earlier agreement.

The winning bid concludes a turbulent period for KDHX, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March. As part of its reorganization plan, Double Helix initially moved to sell the station to EMF in a private sale. But a competing bid from Gateway Creative Broadcasting, operator of Boost Radio and 99.1 Joy FM (KLJY) in the St. Louis market, prompted the court to open the process to an auction.

Gateway submitted its competing bid just days before a scheduled May hearing on the original K-LOVE deal.

At that hearing, US Bankruptcy Judge Kathy Surratt-States expressed concern over the sale and questioned why K-LOVE programming had already aired on KDHX without court approval. Double Helix’s attorney admitted the premature programming had aired “in error,” and the judge postponed a final ruling.

Within weeks, bidding for the station intensified. While the court-mandated auction was conducted with only two participants, it still resulted in an unexpected escalation in price -raising the valuation of KDHX by more than $4 million in under a month.

Such a valuation kept the League of Volunteer Enthusiasts of KDHX all but entirely removed from the process. LOVE, a coalition of the station’s former air talent, volunteers, and community members who had been fighting to preserve the station’s founding mission, organized a parallel campaign to block the sale, alleging that Double Helix’s board had violated Missouri nonprofit law and KDHX’s own bylaws in approving the original deal.

Though LOVE never submitted a formal bid, the group had begun raising local funds, including a reported $150,000 loan from area business leaders and $76,000 via GoFundMe, and was preparing a reorganization plan that would keep KDHX locally owned and operated. But that strategy never materialized.

Gateway and EMF, as the only qualified bidders, were the sole parties allowed to participate. Both reportedly affirmed that their bids were made in good faith, with Gateway providing proof of financing through Cass Bank and committing to deliver finalized sale documents before a final sale hearing scheduled for June 9 at noon ET.

At that hearing, the court will consider whether to approve the transaction. Any objections to the sale must be submitted in writing by June 3 at 5p to attorneys representing Double Helix, the US Trustee, and legal counsel at Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP.