St. Louis on the Air

The community radio station 88.1 KDHX was a lifeline for eclectic, locally curated music in the St. Louis area — until it was torn apart by battles over diversity, accountability and the essence of the station’s identity. It went off the air and its broadcast license was sold to the highest bidder in 2025. In Part 1 of our special report “KDHX: How a radio station unraveled,” we examine charges of racism and sexual harassment in 2019 and the start of a DJ revolt four years later, after station leaders fired one of their own for bullying and harassment.

Last year, Donna Baringer became St. Louis’ first new comptroller in roughly 30 years. And during the Politically Speaking Hour on St. Louis on the Air, the citywide official talks about how she’s eased into the powerful office that oversees the city’s finances – and provides her take on tornado relief efforts and regional consolidation.

Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway says the state could benefit if the federal government doesn’t count certain immigrants in the Census. During an appearance on the Politically Speaking Hour on St. Louis on the Air, Hanaway talks why she’s bringing this case forward – and whether the federal judiciary will be more favorable to excluding certain immigrants than they were earlier in the decade.

For the past year, expanded federal immigration enforcement – and two fatal shootings of protesters by federal agents in Minnesota – have sent ripples of anxiety throughout the country. While the St. Louis area hasn’t seen the kind of large-scale enforcement actions that have occurred elsewhere, local community leaders, educators and small-business owners say fear and misinformation are shaping daily life. STLPR journalists Brian Munoz and Hiba Ahmad discuss their reporting on this topic.

Even in tiny amounts, lead can be dangerous. In St. Louis, centuries of plumbing run for miles beneath our feet, delivering water to homes through 113,000 service lines. But even after testing tens of thousands of those lines for lead, city officials say 50,000 remain unidentified. In this episode, we go behind those numbers with Spencer Gould, special assistant to St. Louis City’s water commissioner. Gould explains why lead runs through some parts of the city's water infrastructure and how a new rule issued by the EPA 2024 started a 10-year race to identify and replace those pipes.

Nestled inside the whimsy of City Museum, Circus Harmony feels right at home as a space for young people to explore. The acclaimed circus school’s dedication to using the arts to teach essential life skills has been at its core since the start. Guests have marveled at the circus world standout for 25 years, and it’s not slowing down. This year’s full-length production, “Misterioso,” lets the students’ creativity and minds truly shine.

The American dream is often presented as the product of someone "pulling up their bootstraps" to a better life. But that’s just one way of explaining an idea that economists call "economic mobility.” A new project by St. Louis Magazine, the Economic Mobility Lab, is diving into that idea and the research into what it takes for low-income kids to out-earn their parents. To understand economic mobility in St. Louis, we sit down with St. Louis Magazine senior editor Nick Phillips to talk about his latest story, "How one St. Louisan found something rare: upward economic mobility." We also meet Nehemiah Colyer, whose experience after changing schools to Parkway West High School is an example of what economists call "social capital" and “economic connectedness.”

The new year has provided foodies in the St. Louis region with a lot to celebrate. Hamishe Bahrami is back with her signature Persian dishes at Cafe Natasha on South Grand. East Alton has a new, family-run bakery with from-scratch creations like “The Sloppy Irishman.” A new nonprofit bakery in the Delmar Loop empowers people experiencing homelessness through job training and housing resources. We dig into the menus of the top new spots to visit in February, mourn the local favorites that recently closed, talk date night recommendations and discuss how restaurateurs are responding to immigration enforcement actions across the country.

Awards season is in full swing — and that includes St. Louis theater productions. The St. Louis Theater Circle announced its nominations for their 13th annual awards Tuesday, recognizing productions by 20 theater companies in the St. Louis area in 2025. St. Louis Theater Circle members Rosalind Early and Gerry Kowarsky share some of this year’s nominees and an update on the state of local theater productions today.

After last May’s tornado put St. Louis’ emergency response under scrutiny, the City Emergency Management Agency saw its leadership change. In this episode, we listen to STLPR reporter Rachel Lippmann’s conversation with new commissioner Greg Favre about why he returned to city government and how he plans to improve preparedness for future crises.