It's been more than 20 years since Hal Lewis (more popularly known as "J. Akuhead Pupule" or simply "Aku") passed away after reigning supreme on KGMB radio's morning show for many, many years. This guy as far as I remembered was king of morning drive in Honolulu radio and was paid big bucks by Cec Heftel who owned both KGMB radio (AM & FM) as well as KGMB TV in those days to remain at the station.
In the 1960s and 70s, I was mostly a kid and later teenager and even later college kid and did not listen to Aku as I did to other announcers on the "rock n roll" stations. Still when I did listen to Aku, he always had something interesting to say about some issue of the day. Fact is, the morning show he hosted on KGMB was more talk radio then music radio, though music played a big part of it. And Aku never played rock music and would not even touch The Beatles.
Ivan, you would have loved the music Aku played on KGMB. Mostly big band and popular standards.
Everyone also remembers KGMB's "Coconut Wireless" news and the long jingle that went along with it. His news was so popular that it also aired on KMVI radio in Maui for a while and on Cec Heftel's station in Hilo, KPUA which at that time was on 970 AM.
One of the fun things that I liked about his show were the daily visits with "The Story Lady" and "Chicken Man," (he's everywhere, he's everywhere) the latter of which Mike Buck brought back on his radio show while he was at KGU a few years ago.
So, does anyone here remember Aku and have memories to share with our readers? Post them here.
In the 1960s and 70s, I was mostly a kid and later teenager and even later college kid and did not listen to Aku as I did to other announcers on the "rock n roll" stations. Still when I did listen to Aku, he always had something interesting to say about some issue of the day. Fact is, the morning show he hosted on KGMB was more talk radio then music radio, though music played a big part of it. And Aku never played rock music and would not even touch The Beatles.
Ivan, you would have loved the music Aku played on KGMB. Mostly big band and popular standards.
Everyone also remembers KGMB's "Coconut Wireless" news and the long jingle that went along with it. His news was so popular that it also aired on KMVI radio in Maui for a while and on Cec Heftel's station in Hilo, KPUA which at that time was on 970 AM.
One of the fun things that I liked about his show were the daily visits with "The Story Lady" and "Chicken Man," (he's everywhere, he's everywhere) the latter of which Mike Buck brought back on his radio show while he was at KGU a few years ago.
So, does anyone here remember Aku and have memories to share with our readers? Post them here.
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