Ted McDonough of the City Weekly brought troubling news on one-of-a-kind community radio station KRCL's troubles. Last month, volunteers at venerable "Radio Free Utah" were told they are going to be replaced on weekdays by professional DJs.

The station started 28 years ago by anti-war protesters, hippies and counterculture activists was now replacing all of its weekday volunteer DJs with three paid radio professionals. The change, to take place in two months, appears to be part of a plan hatched by managers and directors to turn KRCL into the best music station in Utah. But then, many think it already is the state’s best music station. And the planned changes raise a larger question: If DJs are paid professionals; if they are told what to play; if programming is the result of consultants, market surveys and focus groups of listeners watched from behind one-way glass—is it still community radio?

KRCL's listernship has been dropping over the last five years and it failed to meet fund-raising goals in the past two on-air drives. As a result, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is threatening to pull the station’s grant if it can’t increase its listenership. Station managers think the only way to gain ground is to go pro.

“The station as we know it is going away,” volunteer Alison Einerson told McDonough. “I don’t want to say it was inevitable, but it’s a fact there are very few stations left in the country that exist in the way KRCL exists. It’s become sort of outmoded. I think it’s very sad.”