The following has been archived from my News Over The Air webpage.
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November 4, 1997 KAIM Radio Share A Thon KAIM Radio (AM 870 and FM 95.5) is having a fall share-a-thon where their listeners and whoever wants to can call up and make a pledge or give a gift to the radio station. It runs from November 5 to the 7th. KAIM radio is really looking for lots of support to keep their station going strong.
More Hawaii Radio Stations Pick Up on Real Audio Several Hawaii based radio stations have picked up on the Real Audio technology that enables internet surfers from all over the world to listen in to their broadcasts. Among the stations that now feature a Real Audio feed are: KIKI FM & AM in Honolulu, Maui's KPOA FM and KONI FM, and the state's only shortwave broadcaster, KWHR radio on the Big Island. In addition to these radio stations, a couple of people have set up internet bitcasts using Real Audio technology. They include L.D. Reynolds' Hawaiian Jamz and Hawaii's first Real Audio broadcaster, I.R.H. operated by Robert "Rabbett" Abbett. In order to listen to any of these broadcasts, special Real Audio software must be downloaded from the Real Audio website. The players come in flavors for both Windows and Macintosh.
Radio Free Hawaii Supporters Picnic Not to let a good thing die very quickly, supporters and fans of defunct Radio Free Hawaii will be holding a picnic on November 16 at Ala Moana Beach Park. The event will be held from 12 noon to 4pm and will feature food, fun and free music. More details about this can be found at the Radio Free Hawaii chat junkies board and the RFH webpage.
Robert Kekaula Out From KHNL TV News 8 sportscaster Robert Kekaula was given his walking papers this week from KHNL TV after it was reported by various news media that he was involved in a scuffle with an executive producer. Kekaula has apologized and accepted responsibility for his actions. The October 22 issue of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin has an article in the Sports section where Kekaula stated that he "blew it". According to the article, Kekaula has already sent some inquiries to other TV stations. Kekaula was hired from KITV in 1995 when KHNL started their news operations. He most recently was substituting as play by play announcer for University of Hawaii sports programming on KHNL's sister station, KFVE TV, after Jim Leahey fell ill. The last U of H football game was announced by Brooks Baer who has taken over the play by play duties.
KXME is "Extreme" Radio Radio station KXME 104.3 FM officially went on the air at 4 yesterday (October 22) afternoon, after a month of testing. The new station's format is a mix of current hits, dance tracks, rap music and alternative rock. They're billing themselves as "Extreme Radio". KXME started out as KBLZ radio and was in a month long testing period during which the call letters were changed. To reach KXME's studios call 296-1043.
SHORT TAKES: KRTR radio is reviving the "Homegrown" album concept. Details about this is at KRTR's website: http://www.krater96.com. A newspaper article about the new "Homegrown" album and its history appeared in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Go to their website and look for the features section of the October 21st issue. Maui's KUAU radio station website has recently changed to a new URL. It is: http://www.maui.net/~johnd/kuaumaui/. KLHI radio, popularly known on Maui as "The Point" FM 101.1 has a website. The URL is http://www.whatsthepoint.com. Sorry for lack of timely news here, but I recently came down with a bad cold and did not have much motivation to mess with HTML until I got better. -- MEL
October 9, 1997. KTUH Annual Radiothon Raises Funds For New Tower The University of Hawaii's college radio station, KTUH 90.3 FM is having their 13th Annual Radiothon. DJs are taking pledges to shore up more money for the station's goal of boosting their transmitter power. Phone 956-7261 to call in your pledge. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin ran an extensive story about KTUH in Tuesday's paper (Oct. 7, 1997). The article can be accessed at this URL: http://starbulletin.com/97/10/07/features/story1.html. The KTUH webpage can be accessed at http://ktuh.hawaii.edu/
SHORT TAKES It was recently brought to my attention that I-94 radio (KIKI FM & AM) has a website up. It's now linked to the Hawaii Radio & Television Guide. You can access it at this URL: http://www.i-94.net. Don't forget to vote in the 2nd annual Hawaii Radio & Television Guide poll
October 6, 1997. More Format Changes At Big Island Radio Buddy Gordon, GM of Big Island Radio, has switched formats on three of his stations. KWHI 100.3 (K-Hawaii) in Hilo is now running the KAOI relay of the Pirate stuff and "Radio Kilauea" having dropped the "Kool Oldies" format. KAOE 92.7 in Hilo now with "Kool Oldies" in parallel with KKON 790 in Kona (Kealakekua). KPVS 95.9 in Hilo still with the "Kailua FM" blend of EZ AC in parallel with KLUA 93.9 in Kona, and KIPA's format remains unchanged. "Kool Oldies" has been well received in East Hawaii and in the South Point area and will no longer have the giant reach afforded by KWHI and it's South Point on channel booster. KAOI 92.7 does not cover the South Point area and it is primarily heard in the general Hilo area only. KKON 790 (AM) is not heard in South Point and this a large number of the format's fans will be disappointed with this change. Of course it will bring the format to the Kona area which must have been a consideration in the juggling process.
Editor's Note: K-Hawaii's Hilo signal will be simulcast on Kona's FM 101.5 starting January 1, 1998 according to an ad Big Island Radio took out in October's Island Business magazine.
KAIM Christian Radio Website Up Jenai Fierro has informed me that KAIM radio has a website up. The new site features a program guide for KAIM's FM and AM operations and a brief history, format information and photos. The AM schedule was under construction when I visited the site, but the FM schedule is up. Christian music listeners will know when their favorite features and music shows are on. KAIM AM is Hawaii's strongest station broadcasting at 50,000 watts and has been reportedly heard as far as Guam and the Philippines. The FM station is the first commercial FM in Hawaii. The stations are celebrating their 40th year of operation. The website URL is http://www.inix.com/kaim/
SHORT TAKES KGMB TV started their with their new newsroom lineup today. Russell Shimooka will anchor 6 and 10 news along with Jade Moon. Hawaii Five-0 is back on Channel 9 showing weekdays at 9:AM. It's also on the Family Channel at 7:PM Oceanic. KGMB TV will be running the new and highly anticipated Gene Roddenberry inspired science fiction show, "Earth Final Conflict". It premieres on Saturday at 6:PM. Titus Chan's "Cooking the Chanese Way" is on the air Sunday afternoons. The show runs at 4:30 PM on KITV 4. Chan is well known for having a long running show on KHET several years ago. KFVE's and UH Sport announcer Jim Leahey is reportedly doing well in his recovery from cancer treatment. Fans of Radio Free Hawaii will want to know that the chatboard is back up. KBLZ Radio is still testing their signal.
October 1, 1997. KGMB TV News Undergoes Major Facelift KGMB TV announced Monday morning (Sept. 29) that changes will be taking place in the KGMB newsroom starting October 6. The major change will occur on the weeknight news shows when recently hired reporter Russell Shimooka takes over co-anchoring duties with Jade Moon on the 6 and 10pm newscasts. Tim Tindall will be moving to the weekday morning news with Sandra Sagisi, while Stacey Loe moves to reporting and the weekend anchor desk. KGMB is also revving up for coverage of the 1998 Winter Olympics which take place in Japan next year. The changes were announced on the KGMB morning news.
LeSea Shortwave Radio Station in Hawaii Did you know Hawaii has a shortwave radio station? It's located near the South Point area of the Big Island. KWHR radio operated by the LeSea group has been broadcasting from the Big Island to all points in Asia and the Pacific since 1993. They now have a website for all World Harvest Radio operations with a Real Audio feed. World Harvest Radio is a Christian ministry which operates three shortwave stations. All three stations are accessed through the website. Check it out at http://www.whri.com/.
Second Annual Radio and T.V. Poll Underway The Hawaii Radio & Television Guide is conducting the 2nd Annual Reader's Poll for determining Hawaii's Favorite Radio Station as well as Hawaii's favorite local TV newscast. Voting takes place at the Hawaii Radio & Television Guide Polling page which is located here: http://www.lava.net/~macpro/radioform.html. Voting for Hawaii's favorite local TV newscast and anchorpersons/reporters is a new feature added to the poll. The polling period will last for 45 days and close on November 15. The votes and comments will be tabulated, compiled and posted to the Hawaii Radio & Television Guide website sometime in December. The poll is open to everyone on the internet. Each person can vote in the poll only once. Your name and e-mail address is required in order for your vote to count. No email address data will be published or resold to spammers (I hate spam). Results from last year's poll are posted at the Hawaii Radio & Television Guide Archive pages.
September 17, 1997. Voice of the Rainbows Diagnosed With Cancer Jim Leahey, longtime play by play announcer and voice for most University of Hawaii sports programs was recently diagnosed with lukemia, according to a recent announcement. His cancer was diagnosed early enough to give Leahey a 60 to 70% chance of the disease going into remission. He is undergoing chemotherapy treatments. In his absence, KHNL Sports anchor, Robert Kekaula has assumed the play by play duties at KFVE-TV.
KWXX-FM Website Up Chris Leonard GM at Big Island radio station KWXX-FM has informed me about the new KWXX FM website. The KWXX web has information about the popular Hilo radio station's format, wattage, and contact information along with DJ profiles, weather conditions, and coming events. Parts of the site are under construction. The URL is http://www.kwxx.com KWXX broadcasts at 94.7 on the FM dial and its programming consists of a mix of adult contemporary and island music. Honolulu radio listeners who surf into the website will notice a couple of familiar names there including Honolulu Skylark who does the mid-morning shift and newsman Ken Hupp. KWXX is part of New West Broadcasting group of stations. They also operate KPUA 670 AM and KNWB 97.1 FM, also in the Hilo area.
Short Takes (updated again @ 3:PM) The popular Sunday night Karaoke TV show, Hawaii Stars will be moving back to its old channel, KHON Fox 2 starting September 21st. Promos about the show's move are already airing on Channel 2. KHNL TV reporter Audrey Port moves to KXLY-TV, in Spokane, Washington. She'll do reporting and anchoring there. KBLZ 104.3FM, a new station broadcasting from Oahu has started sending a test signal. 5:00 PM UPDATE: Late email and a quick web check got me the following: KPOI 97.5's website has a new URL: http://hawaiiradio.com/kpoi. While the old one at Planet Hawaii still works, it is more than likely that you will get the dreadful 404 if your bookmarks are set to that one soon. KHNR newsradio website is 404! The thing is down. It is no longer linked here.... KHET/Hawaii Public Television's new web address is http://www.khet.org. Their old link no longer works. Thanks for the correspondence from the respective station reps for bringing me up to date with your links and addresses.
September 9, 1997. Cable TV Giants Swap Franchises Time Warner and TCI Cable recently struck a deal that would see them transfer some cable franchises in various markets throughout the United States. Affected by the deal will be the transfer of all Hawaii based TCI cable systems to Time Warner. Time Warner is the parent company of Oahu's Oceanic Cablevision. The new deal will give Oceanic access to more than 90% of the Oahu cable TV market. In return for Hawaii TCI operations, Time Warner will turn over a Portland Oregon company to TCI.
August 30, 1997. Hawaii's Smooth Jazz Changes To Star 101.9 KUCD suddenly switched their "smooth jazz" progrmming to an adult alternative/top hits rock format known as "The New Star 101.9". The change came about due to low ratings of the previous format. Their market research indicated that there was a "potential audience much larger for a format that played 'Today's Music'". Details about the change are at KUCD's website. Listeners are also encouraged to comment about the change from an email link at the site. KUCD is a relatively new station in the Honolulu market and went on the air in February of 1995. The station is owned by Patterson Broadcasting which also owns top rated KSSK FM and AM, KIKI FM & AM, KKLV FM and KHVH AM.
Short Notes KHVH radio announcer Rick Hamada and his sidekick Barry Villamil are featured in the September issue of Island Business Magazine. The feature length article focuses on Hamada's popular morning talk show and the issues he brings up which have struck a chord with the local business community ad well as Hawaii at large. Former KGMB sports anchor, and pro football player Russ Francis has landed on the weekday morning drive slot at KGU radio doing a sports talk show from 6 to 9 a.m. KGU recently switched their talk radio programming to one featuring mostly all sports. They're now known as "The Ball." Radio station KDEO 102.7 FM recently changed their call letters to KHUL. They're now known as "KUHL (pronounced "cool") 102" and specialize in classic soul r&b hits.
August 22, 1997. Kauai's KKCR and KKCU Radio On Air Kauai's Community Radio stations, long under construction for the past two years have finally hit the airwaves this month. The two FM stations are undergoing test broadcasts with regular programming to start in September. The radio station is broadcasting on two frequencies and blankets the entire island of Kauai and Niihau. KKCR FM is located at 90.9 on the dial while KKCU is at 91.9 FM. According to details posted at their website, KKCU's signal is strong enough to be heard in parts of West Oahu. The progrmaming mix is slated to be a combination of Hawaiian, reggae and worldbeat music. The station facilities are built to withstand a powerful hurricane, should one hit Kauai again. For more details on KKCR/KKCU visit their website located at http://www.cruzio.com/~kusp/kekahu/index.html.
KITV 4 To Go Digital
KITV 4 recently announced that it will be the first Hawaii television station to start broadcasting in the new digital television format. This will commence sometime after KITV moves their studios to the new One Archer Lane condominium complex now under construction on South King Street in Honolulu. The federal government has mandated that all TV broadcasts go digital by the year 2006. More information on this may be available at KITV's website
Honolulu Weekly Readers Pick Best Broadcast Entities
In its annual survey of the "Best of Honolulu," readers of Honolulu Weekly chose the following broadcast entities as their best:
Best local newscast:
For more information on Honolulu Weekly's best of poll, visit their website at http://www.honoluluweekly.com. |