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Hawaii Top 40 radio: 1950s to early 1980s

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  • #61
    Re: Hawaii Top 40 radio: 1950s to early 1980s

    I remember one night cruising at my friends house in Kahala and the Kamasami Kong Gong show was on. (1976) My friend decided to call in and sing Kalapana's Moon and Stars in a filipino accent (he's German/Pacific Islander) It brought the house down! and he didn't get gonged. and Kong played it back for the next 2 years. It was so funny.

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    • #62
      Re: Hawaii Top 40 radio: 1950s to early 1980s

      I'm Hawaii's first woman FM DJ, Leilani McCoy. I started at KKUA then went to KPOI FM to start that station. What nice memories you bring up.

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      • #63
        Re: Hawaii Top 40 radio: 1950s to early 1980s

        Aloha Mel and Manny and all the contributors to this old thread. I play the part of "The Real" Ron O'Neil, Sunday afternoons on Oldies 107.9. I had an email request for Alex Keenan's "One Day of Your Life" this past Sunday. If someone takes the time to send me a note and request, I love to do my part and play that song if I can. I do still believe requests are to be played and it is sad to say, but the request line does not go crazy like it did back in the 70's. I really enjoyed this thread, as my 1-Click Answers search found this thread with the mention of Alex Keenan. I arrived here on the islands in the summer of '79 and played on KKUA for a year, and then over to KPOI 98 Rock before I entered the world of TV and commercial audio production. Radio has always been my first love and since Oldies came on the air in 1997, it's airwave has been my playground on Sunday afternoons. I was blessed to have witnessed that tail end of the Hawaiian Music Renaissance in the 70's you so lovinly speak of. Reading these songs titles drives me to ask this question.. "Why can't we do it again?" Oh Ed! Thanks for all the great "jibber jabber"!. Happy Trails _ trro
        U Can't Go Back, But U Can Do It Again
        It's ShowTime
        tRRo'

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        • #64
          Re: Hawaii Top 40 radio: 1950s to early 1980s

          Bumping this thread up, I'd like to offer this web player where some of the songs discussed previously can now be heard.

          http://oldie45s.muxtape.com/

          And if you got your own MP3s you can create your own Top 40 memories and post em to muxtape.com.
          I'm still here. Are you?

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          • #65
            Re: Hawaii Top 40 radio: 1950s to early 1980s

            Hi Mel and Hawaii radio gang-

            My name is John and I've been following this Hawaii Top 40 thread for a while with much interest and finally decided to chime in with a few comments. I am currently the General Manager/Part-Owner of FM97 Radio here in Lihue and worked in Honolulu radio during the late 60's and early 70's at KGU, KPOI and KIKI.

            In 1969, I left KPOI and became the first Program Director at KIKI during their re-entry into the Top 40 wars against the leaders, KPOI and KKUA. Although possessing almost no promotional budget or known DJs, we attempted to gain listeners by playing the best new music and by "breaking" the hits before the other stations. This was truly the "fun" times of Top 40 radio when those of us in programming positions tried our best to break the hits before the crosstown rivals. Listeners were the beneficiaries of this "battle" because they were able to hear a wide array of great music with many becoming giant regional hits.
            Being a local programmer, I was fortunate to "know" what kinds of songs Hawaii listeners loved and during my tenure at KIKI was able to "break" many hits including: "Forevermore" by The Tokyo Happy Coats", "One Day Of Your Life" by Alex Keenan,
            "Groovin' (Out On Life)" by The Newbeats, "Can't Find The Time" by Orpheus, "My Dream" by Sunny & The Sunliners, "Soul Deep" by The Box Tops, among others. There's an interesting story behind the breaking of each of those songs but space doesn't alow the telling, unless someone is really interested in hearing the "gory details". Although my station here in Lihue normally airs an adult contemporary format, we still play many of these songs during our "Solid Gold Weekends" when we feature nothing but oldies during holidays and long weekends.

            Interestingly, I was just in touch with Alex Keenan via the internet and he was delighted to hear from the guy who broke his #1 record here in Hawaii. He is well and still singing in and round England and said he almost came to our state to promote the song but balked when he discovered that it was going to be on his "dime" and not the company's funds.

            Well, I've rambled on enough...I've met many great people in the radio business over the years and I hope to hear from them again and find out how they are doing.

            Aloha!

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            • #66
              Re: Hawaii Top 40 radio: 1950s to early 1980s

              So cool to read you, Big John.

              Were all of the years covered in this thread spent in Hawaii? were you ever in radio in California, Texas or any other of the mainland states? If so, did you ever meet a DJ nicknamed The Vanilla Gorilla, real name of Jim Wood, from California?
              Stop being lost in thought where our problems thrive.~

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              • #67
                Re: Hawaii Top 40 radio: 1950s to early 1980s

                Originally posted by Karen View Post
                So cool to read you, Big John.

                Were all of the years covered in this thread spent in Hawaii? were you ever in radio in California, Texas or any other of the mainland states? If so, did you ever meet a DJ nicknamed The Vanilla Gorilla, real name of Jim Wood, from California?
                Karen Kamasami Kong (Robert Zix) used that nickname as well.
                Life is what you make of it...so please read the instructions carefully.

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                • #68
                  Re: Hawaii Top 40 radio: 1950s to early 1980s

                  Really? Wow, where was Kong at? California, too?

                  Jim was on a black station in the sixties, I think it was in Southern CA. and man what a voice he had! He should have gotten an agent and gone far with it, but suffice it to say that many still list him as one of "the greats" along with Wolfman Jack and Jim was as talented and creative with it, but what freaked people out was when they found out he was white, hence the nickname Vanilla Gorilla.

                  I wonder which of them used the nick first. Is Kong still alive? if not, would he be in his seventies, now? Jim would be, but passed away at least ten years ago.
                  Stop being lost in thought where our problems thrive.~

                  Comment


                  • #69
                    Re: Hawaii Top 40 radio: 1950s to early 1980s

                    Kong is still very much alive having started back in 1965 on the mainland before coming to Hawaii.

                    Zix gave me my start in Hawaii radio broadcasting back in 1982 at KIKI AM 83 he was called the Vanilla Gorilla because of his name Kamasami Kong coupled with the fact that he is as white as it gets. Kong is an amazing person to work under, always in a brainstorm at any given time, it's as if his mind never shuts down. When he sits at his desk, his hands are clasped together and his fingers rubbing his chin as if in deep thought.
                    Life is what you make of it...so please read the instructions carefully.

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                    • #70
                      Re: Hawaii Top 40 radio: 1950s to early 1980s

                      Originally posted by craigwatanabe View Post
                      Kong is still very much alive having started back in 1965 on the mainland before coming to Hawaii.

                      Zix gave me my start in Hawaii radio broadcasting back in 1982 at KIKI AM 83 he was called the Vanilla Gorilla because of his name Kamasami Kong coupled with the fact that he is as white as it gets. Kong is an amazing person to work under, always in a brainstorm at any given time, it's as if his mind never shuts down. When he sits at his desk, his hands are clasped together and his fingers rubbing his chin as if in deep thought.
                      ====================

                      In case you have not seen this...

                      An amusing old clip of Kong courtesy of Kalihiboy:
                      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eA4dYEG-LkE

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                      • #71
                        Re: Hawaii Top 40 radio: 1950s to early 1980s

                        As this is a thread discussing Hawai'i Radio memories, I was wondering if anybody might have radio station surveys (top 20 or top 40 sheets that were published weekly) from any stations, dated earlier than 1960? I am looking for these from Hawai'i in particular (among a few other places I can name)...I am a very serious collector and I am generous...do any of these exist?

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