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Sometime ago there was a thread here on a radio personality named J. Akuhead Pupule (Hal Lewis).
It was almost 50 years ago when I used to listen to Aku. It was 1956 and I was a Coast Guard radioman stationed at a Naval radio station just outside Wahiawa, in the middle of a huge pineapple field. Looking out from our barracks one could see Schofield Barracks and Kolekole Pass. (To give you an idea of how long ago that was, actual dinosaurs grazed not far away.)
The hit songs of the day were "Love Letters in the Sand" by Pat Boone, "The Wayward Wind" by Gogi Grant, "I'll Walk the Line" by Johnny Cash. And Johnny Mathis was a big new star with "It's Not For Me To Say." Aku played them all. I ended up in broadcasting, but never met or heard anyone more entertaining that Aku. I remember his signature sound was some kind of chime he would strike to mark the time, or his show name, or whatever.
While I'm here, let me tell about television in Hawaii in those days. There were no satellites then, of course, and not even an undersea cable from the mainland to allow the transmission of TV signals to the islands, so the so-called network affiliates would have kinescopes of all the network shows flown in for broadcast A WEEK LATER.
For the most part, though, the stations were "independent" for much of the broadcast day, airing movies and live programs. On KHDH (?), which Henry J. Kaiser owned in those days, I think I saw every movie that MGM ever made. They literally leased the entire MGM library, even all of the Andy Hardy series I had been too young to see in the theaters.
Here's how loosey-goosey things were in those days. There was a guy on one station (let's say it was KGMB) who had an hour-long afternoon show. He was something of a comedian. I remember he had a large collection of hats on the set, which he would use in his "act." I would swear this guy was Adam West, who would later turn up on ABC's Batman, but I'm not entirely sure.
Anyway, "Adam" decided to leave KGMB and jump to another Honolulu station (KHDH?). On his last day, he finished his show on KGMB (during which he packed up all his props and hats), left the studio, got in his convertible, and drove off down the street. All the while KGMB's cameras, mounted on the station's roof, were following him until he drove out of sight. Meanwhile, over at KHDH, their cameras picked him up driving into their station and followed him into their studio, where he did his first show for them.
Those were wonderful days; I'd like to relive them.
Aloha.
Reno Bailey
Charlotte, North Carolina
It was almost 50 years ago when I used to listen to Aku. It was 1956 and I was a Coast Guard radioman stationed at a Naval radio station just outside Wahiawa, in the middle of a huge pineapple field. Looking out from our barracks one could see Schofield Barracks and Kolekole Pass. (To give you an idea of how long ago that was, actual dinosaurs grazed not far away.)
The hit songs of the day were "Love Letters in the Sand" by Pat Boone, "The Wayward Wind" by Gogi Grant, "I'll Walk the Line" by Johnny Cash. And Johnny Mathis was a big new star with "It's Not For Me To Say." Aku played them all. I ended up in broadcasting, but never met or heard anyone more entertaining that Aku. I remember his signature sound was some kind of chime he would strike to mark the time, or his show name, or whatever.
While I'm here, let me tell about television in Hawaii in those days. There were no satellites then, of course, and not even an undersea cable from the mainland to allow the transmission of TV signals to the islands, so the so-called network affiliates would have kinescopes of all the network shows flown in for broadcast A WEEK LATER.
For the most part, though, the stations were "independent" for much of the broadcast day, airing movies and live programs. On KHDH (?), which Henry J. Kaiser owned in those days, I think I saw every movie that MGM ever made. They literally leased the entire MGM library, even all of the Andy Hardy series I had been too young to see in the theaters.
Here's how loosey-goosey things were in those days. There was a guy on one station (let's say it was KGMB) who had an hour-long afternoon show. He was something of a comedian. I remember he had a large collection of hats on the set, which he would use in his "act." I would swear this guy was Adam West, who would later turn up on ABC's Batman, but I'm not entirely sure.
Anyway, "Adam" decided to leave KGMB and jump to another Honolulu station (KHDH?). On his last day, he finished his show on KGMB (during which he packed up all his props and hats), left the studio, got in his convertible, and drove off down the street. All the while KGMB's cameras, mounted on the station's roof, were following him until he drove out of sight. Meanwhile, over at KHDH, their cameras picked him up driving into their station and followed him into their studio, where he did his first show for them.
Those were wonderful days; I'd like to relive them.
Aloha.
Reno Bailey
Charlotte, North Carolina
THANKS FOA DA MEMORIES! CHICKEN SKIN! Yacky yack!
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