Issue date: 10/11/02 Section: Campus Life

Media Credit: Mia Lamanuzzi Sophomore Matt Rowe plays music to an audience that can´t hear it.

The recent history of Hendrix's 10-watt student-run radio station is riddled with problems. KHDX went off-air last spring due to chronic technical problems associated with its almost 40-year-old transmitter. Current estimates of needed repairs are in the $6,000 range. This amount far surpasses the station's budget of roughly $1,000 a year.

At the end of last year, word came that many of the organizations on the second floor of Hulen Hall might be moved to the Public Safety house. It was believed that this would allow for more funds to revamp the equipment. The day that the Student Senate reappointed the current station manager, Preston Trimble, Trimble got word that the move was not going to happen. The move was "too costly." Trimble is reluctant to use the Senate's emergency funds and is waiting to see what will come from his contacts with a repair company.

The repairs are to be handled by T&M Enterprises, who handles all of the repairs for central Arkansas's radio stations. Trimble is in contact with T&M Enterprises and has given them a key to the station. He is currently waiting on a follow-up from T&M. Trimble believes that there is another reason why the station has not gotten back off the ground: lack of support. "There is no [tangible] product. The Profile and the Troubadour all have a product," he said. "We just better students."

KHDX served as a public announcement service, hosted shows, and offered a wide variety of music for students to explore. Those who remember KHDX miss it. "We need our radio back," said junior Lauren Hall. "It is a very important tool for unifying the Hendrix community."

"I was really interested in coming to school a school with those kinds of facilities. I wanted to do a show! I was really disappointed when I got here and it did not work. I think it is a great way to express yourself," said freshman James Szenneher.

Trimble said, "As for the future of KHDX, I just don't know."

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