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Radio station KCHU, our city’s newest broadcasting outlet, is located in a rambling, dilapidated three-story house on Maple close to Old Warsaw. KCHU is a “community” station, which means it is a nonprofit, highminded endeavor designed to open the airwaves for citizens’ use. The station’s initial funding came from Lorenzo Milam, a Californian who’s made a career of founding such stations and who recently published Sex and Broadcasting, an outrageous handbook for anyone who wants to have a good time while starting a community radio station. Additional finances came in the form of a loan from First National Bank and contributions from all sorts of people.

KCHU is the brainchild and personal obsession of 23-year-old Dennis Gross, an engaging and soft-spoken native Dallasite who has devoted three years to raising the money and making the deals to put his station on the air. It began broadcasting in early September and quickly proved itself to be a thoroughly amateur operation, which is precisely what it had promised to be. The programming jumps from an hour of baroque classical music to long-winded, but earnest discussions of Important Subjects, to poetry readings, to anything else imaginable. The mixture is confusing, to say the least, but the fact that these programs are produced by 40 or so volunteers who make up the KCHU staff gives the whole thing a certain charm.

Dallas is a fortunate city in many respects, and in radio more than most. In the beginning, of course, was WRR-FM, which has an audience so loyal that the merest hint that the city might sell it, thereby èndangering its classical format, brings howls of anguish. (Nobody has ever satisfactorily explained to me why a private owner couldn’t maintain the classical format as well as, or better than, the city – but that’s another subject.) Then along came KERA-FM, our public broadcasting station, under the experienced and capable direction of Tony Garrett. Garrett’s brilliant programming and imaginative style have made KERA a knockout radio station, one of the best anywhere. Now, with KCHU we have three stations which are publicly supported; together, they form an impregnable bulwark against the ravages of teeny-bopperism. By the way, KCHU can be found at 90.9 on your FM dial. It’s worth turning to, listening to – and supporting.



Maneuvering for the mayor’s spot has already begun, under the universal assumption that Wes Wise will resign in February to seek the 5th District congressional seat. The mayor has a way of confounding predictions of this sort, so speculation that he’ll surrender a secure position to run in a hotly contested race against strong political partisans may be wishful thinking. On the other hand, a position in Congress better suits Wise’s talents: legislative demands are far different from executive responsibilities, and Wise’s personality and abilities could be put to more effective use for Dallas in a legislative role.

Should a special election for the mayor’s post be necessary, who is most likely to be elected?

Not, we hope, another CCA war-horse, young or old. The organization has so lost touch with its sense of purpose and with its hold on political reality that its usefulness as a means of encouraging good people to seek elective office has been thoroughly discredited.

Not, we hope, any member of the present city council. The council’s lack of direction and failure to provide significant leadership reflects poorly on any individual member who might be thinking of making the race.

Dallas needs a mayor with proven managerial strengths, with a personality capable of forging a cohesive political alliance among the scattered elements of the city’s population, and with the vision to shape the city’s course in its most troubled period. If he’s out there, and if he can be recruited, we believe the city is ready to unite behind him. If there’s only one thing that binds us together, it’s our common understanding of the urgent need for a strong hand at the helm in a stormy sea.