Monday, July 22, 2013

New KDHX-FM Facility Relies on Harris Broadcast

After 20 years of operating from a renovated bakery in a residential section of St. Louis, MO, KDHX-FM is preparing to move to a more spacious, upgraded facility in the heart of the city’s Grand Center Arts & Entertainment District.

Owned by Double Helix Corporation, a 501(c)3, KDHX 88.1 MHz FM is an increasingly rare, precious form of radio—known as independent/community radio—where DJ’s still spin records and play CDs of music they really know and love.

The new four-story KDHX facility—called the Larry J. Weir Center for Independent Media—will house several on-air studios, live performance spaces, recording facilities, and administrative offices. The first floor will feature The Stage at KDHX, an intimate, 125-seat live performance venue along with a coffee shop.

The live KDHX-FM radio operation will be situated on the second floor, including three on-air studios for HD radio broadcast of the main signal, HD radio broadcast of the secondary channel, and an additional production and training suite.

KDHX-FM is working closely with Harris Broadcast, the primary vendor for digital audio consoles, studio furniture, and even custom solutions geared to the station’s unique, classic workflow. Not only will the workflow now be seamlessly networked and integrated from production through broadcast, the studios will be able to produce over 200 live in-studio performances each year. The station will also be able to shoot and edit video clips of studio activities that will stream on its YouTube channel. The sale of the Harris Broadcast studio products was handled by their partner SCMS.

“The Harris Broadcast team, including Nick Van Haaster, Paul Barzizza, and Mark Goins, is doing a great job helping us select just the right equipment for the way we work,” said Beverly Hacker, Executive Director for KDHX 88.1 FM. “They really understand and appreciate the fact that we do radio differently from most other radio stations in the country.”

While KDHX has been a long-time Harris Broadcast customer, Hacker said, “With this facility upgrade, we’ll be able to adopt a more advanced workflow and expand our HD radio capabilities while preserving the historical character of our radio station.”