KRASH KEALOHA (Victor Opiopio)
It was just a few weeks ago when I learned, belatedly, that on of my oldest friends, Curtis Iaukea had died. (His story is told in my previous blog.) I mentioned briefly Honolulu’s one-and-only monopolistic daily newspaper. I had long thought often about how deprived a community must be when their town was eventually reduced to one newspaper.
No more traditional competition, once the prime motivation of journalists. How advertisers would have to submit to non-negotiable ad rates. How many fine reporters and back room employees had been instantly left jobless? How slack procedures would become? And how quickly a soggy and diminished newspaper would be reduced to just another online collection of wire stories, amateurish blogs, party photos and rewrites of the police, city hall and other local sources?
Well, it finally came to pass in Honolulu. Earlier this year both remaining newspapers quite suddenly morphed into a thing called the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. It might indeed be the latter, but it is no star in any known constellation. Islanders mainly rely on the few remaining local TV stations for their news.
And thus this comprises another “legal” morphing of news departments. The result: Many of the same lame deficiencies now available exclusively on our sole surviving excuse for what was once considered a couple of well-produced mid-market publications.
There is much more to this entire shrinking media, for which Honolulu is merely a microcosm of what has been happening around the U.S. for years. I’ve been making notes, while trying to suppress vomiting over the situation and will deal with its causes and effects later, in a longer, documented piece.
I bring up this situation now, because I was hit by it again earlier this month. I received emails from two friends and veterans of Hawaii media before it slipped into the lua (toilet). The notes were from two folks known on the air as "The Honolulu Skylark" and "Billy V." The subject was a celebration to honor another friend, whose air name was "Krash Kealoha."
The event was to be held last Saturday, December 11, 2010, at Gabby Pahinui Park in wonderful Waimanalo. The place is still laid back Hawaiian country, both literally and figuratively on the opposite side of Oahu, about as far as one can get from Waikiki and downtown.
I dug out a story I’d written about the history of KCCN, the world’s first all-Hawaiian station. The piece was from 20 years ago when I was an associate editor of both HONOLULU and HAWAII magazines; this required more brains and paid less than radio. But the results did not evaporate in “thin air,” as radio is thought to do. Much of my work is on file at the Library of Hawaii. I hope that might benefit those interested in the various subjects after I am gone. For sure there’s more to the work than all the airchecks extant.
Anyway, I advised Skylark and Billy that I would be there. I thought, “It will be so nice to see Krash again.” Years before he had been the victim of a major accident while on the tarmac at an airfield. The eventual result was that he was confined to his bed, virtually unable to do any of the things at which he excelled, and loved doing. I made it a point to call him every month or so, to say Howzit, share some gossip and, most of all, cheer him up.
Procrastinating, which I justify as producing the best work—“On deadline”—I began to edit my story about KCCN, highlighting Krash’s contribution to this one of a kind station. Typed it in all caps, underlined the emphasis lines and marked it up to be read aloud.
Then I decided to Google Krash, just to see what I had possibly omitted. After his home page this headline hit me in the face: Hawaiian radio legend Krash Kealoha dies. It had been posted by one of the combined TV news departments. On November 25.
“WAIMANALO (HawaiiNewsNow) - The Hawaiian music world is in mourning this Thanksgiving. The father of modern Hawaiian radio Krash Kealoha passed away Thursday morning in his Waimanalo home. Kealoha was suffering from a tumor and decided to forgo radiation treatment. According to Kealoha's wife, Chris, he was in poor condition.”
Since I only scan the flimsy online version of the faux newspaper and not linked to the obituaries, nor had I watched local TV news, this was news, horribly shocking news, to me. I got the word more than two weeks after the fact.
Another surreal delay, longer than the time passed between the passing of Brother Iaukea. And since people assume things, the “celebration” notice failed to mention that Brother Kealoha was dead--although that was the reason for the gathering.
I tried to gather my emotions and recalibrate what I had just written.
Several hours later I read the following words to all those gathered at the beach, under the tall ironwood trees, waves rolling in under an Aloha Sun, so appropriate for Krash. But first an Air Force honor guard presented his mom with the American flag, replete with the proper rituals. A longtime friend of Krash, who’d flown over from Kauai, shared some stories, prayed in Hawaiian, and then sang. He ended with the Lord’s Prayer, the Hawaiian version. A lady read a resolution from the Hawaii Senate honoring Krash. I kept telling myself, “I am a professional.” It was only at the last paragraph when I lost it. Somehow I managed to read it through the tears.
Mixed in with them were a few shed over the demise of timely, accurate journalism.
KCCN RADIO. THE ONLY ALL-HAWAIIAN RADIO STATION IN THE WORLD KEEPS THE FAITH.
HAWAII MAGAZINE, FEBRUARY 1990.
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HALF OF ITS CALL LETTERS ARE NOT EVEN IN THE HAWAIIAN ALPHABET. “KCCN” CANNOT BE PRONOUNCED AS A WORD. IT LOOKS LIKE SOMETHING IN RUSSIAN, MAYBE. DESPITE ALL THIS, KCCN HAS SURVIVED 43 YEARS, AS THE ONLY ALL-HAWAIIAN RADIO OUTLET ON THE PLANET. SOMEHOW, IT KEEPS HANA-HOU’ING ALONG. IT TOOK 44 YEARS AND 19 STATIONS BEFORE AN ISLAND STATION FEATURED ALL-HAWAIIAN MUSIC. UNTIL KCCN CAME ALONG, NO ONE BELIEVED THAT THERE WAS ENOUGH INTEREST FOR HAWAIIAN MUSIC—IN HAWAII.
AUTHOR JERRY HOPKINS WROTE: “KCCN MAY NOT BE FIRST IN AUDIENCE RATINGS, BUT IT’S NUMBER ONE WHEN IT COMES TO IMAGINATION, ALOHA—AND GUTS. I’VE BEEN LISTENING TO THE RADIO FOR 40-SOME YEARS—AND NOWHERE HAVE I HEARD ANYTHING LIKE IT.”
IT WAS NOON ON NOVEMBER FIRST, 1966 WHEN KCCN OFFICIALLY BEGAN FULL TIME BROADCASTING. IT PLAYED AUTOMATED HAWAIIAN MUSIC—FROM A WAREHOUSE ON PUAHALE ROAD IN KALIHI. KRASH KEALOHA SAID: “IT WAS ACROSS THE STREET FROM THE GRANNY GOOSE POTATO CHIP FACTORY. IT HAD TO BE THE SMELLIEST PLACE IN THE WORLD. HAVE YOU EVER SMELLED POTATOES BEFORE THEY MAKE ‘EM INTO CHIPS? YUCH !!!”
AS THE LOCAL STATIONS BLASTED SONGS LIKE “GOOD LOVIN’” AND “WILD THING”—KCCN’S MANAGER PERRY CARLE PLEDGED: “WE WILL BROADCAST HAWAIIAN MUSIC, SPECIAL FEATURES AND EMPHASIZE NEWS OF INTEREST TO THE PEOPLE OF HAWAII.”
TO A LARGE EXTENT, KCCN HAS DONE JUST THAT FOR MORE THAN FOUR DECADES—BUT IT HAS BEEN A BUMPY ROAD RIDE TO SAY THE LEAST.
AFTER ONE YEAR, THE ORIGINAL OWNERS WANTED OUT. NOW, HONOLULU HAS HISTORICALLY BEEN “THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE” OF AMERICAN BROADCASTING. REGARDLESS, A YOUNG CALIFORNIA ENTREPRENEUR NAMED AL LAPIN, JR., BOUGHT KCCN. HE MADE SOME BOLD MOVES. FIRST, LAPIN HIRED LUCKY LUCK, ONE OF THE ISLANDS’ MOST BELOVED RADIO AND T.V. PERFORMERS. MARINE LIEUTENANT ROBERT MELVIN LUCK WAS DISCHARGED IN HAWAII IN 1945. BORN IN WACO, TEXAS—SON OF A WRESTLING PROMOTER—THIS GENTLE GIANT WAS OAHU’S FIRST POPULAR WAKE-UP DEEJAY.
LUCKY LUCK COULD SPEAK PIDGIN AS WELL AS ANY HA’OLE EVER HAS. HIS FAMOUS SIGN-OFF WAS, “IF YOU NO CAN SAY SOMETHING GOOD ABOUT SOMEBODY, NO SAY NOTHING.” AND THAT WAS JUST NOT A SLOGAN FOR HIM. LUCKY PRACTICED WHAT HE PREACHED ALL HIS LIFE.
SOON, KCCN HAD A FULL “PERSONALITY” LINEUP. JOINING LUCKY WERE—“BIG JOE,” WHOSE REAL NAME WAS CECIL SEAVEY—DOUG MOSSMAN, WHO PLAYED “MOKI” ON THE “HAWAIIAN EYE” T.V. SHOW--AND KENT BOWMAN, WHOSE COMIC NAME WAS “SENATOR K. K. KA’U—MANUA.” KRASH KEALOHA SAID, “WITH PERSONALITIES WE GOT DOWN WITH THE MUSIC. BEFORE THEN, IT WAS TOURIST SOUNDS, LIKE “LOVELY HULA HANDS.” NOW, KCCN HAD THE TALENT TO STIR THINGS UP. IT WAS TIME FOR AN ODDBALL PLACE TO DO IT!
THE INTERNATIONAL MARKET PLACE HAD OPENED IN WAIKIKI IN MAY OF 1957. IT WAS THE HOME OF “DONN THE BEACHCOMBER’S RESTAURANT.” AND THE MOST EXOTIC FEATURE IN THE PLACE WAS A TREE HOUSE—BUILT FOR ROMANTIC DINING IN THE BIG BANYAN TREE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MARKET PLACE. THE WOODEN SHACK GOT TONS OF PUBLICITY—BY 1968 IT WAS AS WELL-KNOWN AS ANY WAIKIKI LANDMARK. SO, ON AUGUST 14, 1968, KCCN BECAME—‘THE ONLY RADIO STATION IN THE WORLD, UP A TREE.”
ENTER VICTOR HO’ONANI OPIOPIO—A FARRINGTON GRADUATE, WITH SOME EXPERIENCE AT SMALL TOWN MAINLAND STATIONS—
AND A KCCN GOPHER SINCE THE STATION SIGNED ON. HE KEPT WAITING FOR HIS BIG “BREAK,” TO GET ON THE AIR. THIS HAPPENED ONE DAY WHEN HE WAS SUDDENLY ASSIGNED TO RELIEVE LUCKY LUCK AT 10 A.M. BECAUSE THE MIDDAY ANNOUNCER WAS OUT SICK.
WITH HIS ADRENALIN PUMPING, YOUNG OPIOPIO HEADED FOR THE TREE HOUSE, FOR HIS LONG-AWAITED RADIO DEBUT.
HE RECALLED, “IT WAS RAINING. I SLIPPED. AND THEN I STARTED TUMBLING DOWN THE STAIRS. YOU COULD HEAR THE TUMBLING OVER THE AIR. AND LUCKY WAS ACTUALLY DOING A PLAY-BY-PLAY DESCRIPTION OF IT ALL. SO HE SAID—“HERE COMES KRASH KEALOHA!!!”
WELL, VICTOR OPIOPIO HAD BROKEN A LEG—AND PICKED UP A NEW NAME—ONE THAT WOULD BE HEARD ON HONOLULU RADIO FOR MORE THAN A DOZEN YEARS. AN AMBULANCE PULLED RIGHT UP TO THE TREE HOUSE AND TOOK THE VICTIM TO KAISER HOSPITAL. AND, KCCN LISTENERS CALLED IN TO SEE HOW “KRASH” WAS DOING.
THE VERY NEXT DAY—WITH HIS BROKEN LEG IN A CAST—OUR HERO, BROTHER KRASH FINALLY WENT ON THE AIR. FAST FORWARD TO APRIL 1970. KCCN’S BROADCASTING LICENSE WAS TRANSFERRED TO A COMPANY LOCATED IN DALLAS, TEXAS.
BY EARLY 1971, THE NEW OWNERS OF KCCN WERE GETTING VERY NERVOUS. THEY WERE WORRIED ABOUT THEIR INVESTMENT OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN. SOON, RUMORS OF A “FORMAT CHANGE” REACHED THE BANYAN TREE HOUSE. SO, DISC JOCKEY DOUG MOSSMAN WENT TO THE NEW BOSS. THE TEXAN SAID, “HEY, MAYBE NOBODY LISTENS TO THIS HAWAIIAN STUFF. MAYBE WE SHOULD CHANGE TO SOMETHING, LIKE TOP 40.”
MOSSMAN INVITED THE MALIHINI BOSS TO COME WATCH HIS SHOW. THEN HE RACED TO K-POI RADIO, CLOSE BY, ON THE ALA WAI. MOSSMAN REMEMBERS: “I BORROWED A BUNCH OF HIT TOP 40 RECORDS, AND BROUGHT ‘EM BACK TO THE TREEHOUSE. THEN I SIGNED ON—PLAYING ROCK’N’ROLL—AND ASKED OUR LISTENERS IF THEY WOULD PREFER THIS KIND OF MUSIC. THE TEXAN WATCHED THE PHONES GOING CRAZY FOR 15 MINUTES. AND THEN HE SAID, ‘O.K., I GIVE UP.’”
MEANWHILE, THE KCCN LISTENER RESPONSE WENT ON FOR WEEKS.
PEOPLE WERE EVEN SHOWING UP WITH MONEY. DOUG MOSSMAN SAID: “I JUST WANTED TO MAKE SURE WE WOULDN’T HAVE TO GO THROUGH THIS ALL OVER AGAIN IN THREE MONTHS.”
SAMMY AMALU WROTE IN THE HONOLULU ADVERTISER: “THE STAFF OF KCCN BELEIEVED THAT THERE WAS SUFFICIENT INTEREST, AND LOVE IN THESE ISLANDS, TO WARRANT AN ALL-HAWAIIAN PROGRAM FORMAT. THE LETTERS AND PETITIONS POURED IN. THE TEXAS OWNERS WERE CONVINCED.”
TO THANK THE COMMUNITY FOR THE OVERWHELMING RESPONSE, STATION MANAGER BILL BIGELOW SUGGESTED A CONCERT AT THE WAIKIKI SHELL. “THE FIRST ANNUAL KA PONO NA MELE”—THE NIGHT OF SONGS—WAS SET FOR FEBRUARY 28, 1973. AMALU WROTE: “THERE WERE DOUBTERS WHO SAID NO ONE CARED ABOUT HAWAIIAN MUSIC. THEY WERE WRONG. PEOPLE CAME BY THE THOUSANDS. THEY FILLED THE PLACE TO OVERFLOWING. THEY SAT BACK, OPENED THEIR EARS—AND THEIR HEARTS—AND THEY LOVED IT.”
BUT … IT WOULD NOT BE THE LAST TIME THAT KCCN WOULD CALL ON ITS AUDIENCE TO KEEP HAWAIIAN MUSIC ON THE AIRWAVES.
AFTER FIVE YEARS IN THE TREEHOUSE, KCCN’S STUDIOS CAME DOWN TO EARTH. NOT ONLY HAD THE NOVELTY WORN OFF, BUT ALSO THE EQUIPMENT WAS DYING FROM BEING IN THE OCEAN AIR.
KCCN MOVED TO THE WAIKIKI BUSINESS PLAZA. AND BY 1973, YET ANOTHER GROUP OF NEW OWNERS TOOK OVER. BY THEN KRASH KEALOHA WAS THE MORNING DEEJAY AND PROGRAM DIRECTOR.
KRASH WAS CALLED INTO THE MANAGER’S OFFICE—AND WAS TOLD THAT THE STATION WAS CHANGING TO COUNTRY AND WESTERN MUSIC. KRASH SAID TO HIMSELF, “WHAT THE HELL, I’M OUT OF A JOB.” SO, THE NEXT MORNING, HE ANNOUNCED THE COMING MUSIC CHANGE, ON THE AIR. THE MINUTE KRASH SIGNED OFF, HE WAS FIRED.
OKAY. NOW THE REACTION WAS GREATER THAN IT HAD BEEN TWO YEARS BEFORE! THERE WERE IRATE AND THREATENING PHONE CALLS TO KCCN. LISTENERS SHOWED UP AT THE STATION. THE MAIL POURED IN. A PETITION OPPOSING THE CHANGE CONTAINED 75,000 SIGNATURES.
GUESS WHAT? KRASH WAS CALLED BACK, LATER THE SAME DAY OF HIS UNAUTHORIZED ANNOUNCEMENT. HE HESITATED, BUT THE STATION OFFERED HIM A LARGE RAISE. AND, HE WAS BACK ON THE VERY NEXT MORNING. KRASH SAID, “THEY THOUGHT IT WAS A GREAT PROMOTION, AND TOLD US TO MILK IT.” GOODBYE, “SONS OF THE PRAIRIE,” WELCOME BACK, “SONS OF HAWAII.”
BUT, IN ALL OF THIS, KRASH SENSED THE BEGINNINGS—THE START OF WHAT WOULD BECOME KNOWN AS “THE HAWAIIAN RENNAISANCE OF THE SEVENTIES”—A GREAT MUSICAL, AND CULTURAL, AWAKENING. IT WOULD CHANGE THINGS FOREVER.
THE SECOND PHASE OF THE KCCN STORY WAS BETWEEN 1975 AND 1977. WITH KRASH KEALOHA AS THE LINK, A TRIO WAS FORMED. THEY NEARLY TOOK KCCN TO THE VERY TOP OF THE RATINGS. KIMO KAHOANO, MASTER OF THE SAMOAN FIRE AND KNIFE DANCE, WAS HIRED. HE LEARNED RADIO BY TRIAL AND ERROR. KAHOANO SAID: ‘I PLAYED THE MUSIC I FELT COMFORTBLE WITH. I KNEW ALL THE WAIKIKI ENTERTAINERS AND PLAYED THEIR SONGS. AND I COULD ALWAYS PLAY THE KAMEHAMEHA GLEE CLUB.”
THEN, JACQUELINE LEILANI LINDSEY JOINED KRASH AND KIMO. HER DREAM, WHILE SHE WAS WORKING AT A FEW, SMALL STATIONS IN THE SAN FRANCISCO AREA, HAS BEEN TO RETURN HOME, TO THE ISLANDS—WHERE SHE COULD PLAY SONGS ON HONOLULU’S ALL-HAWAIIAN MUSIC STATION. THERE HAD BEEN A FEW WAHINE ANNOUNCERS IN THE PAST. BUT, AS KRASH KEALOHA SAID: ‘JACKIE WAS DIFFERENT. SHE HAD RADIO EXPERIENCE, SHE KNEW HOW TO PUT THE PIECES TOGETHER.” MS. LINDSEY TOOK THE NAME, “THE HONOLULU SKYLARK”—BORROWED FROM A KELI’I TAU’A SONG ABOUT HAWAII’D FIRST AIRPLANE FLIGHT, IN 1910.
FINALLY—KCCN WAS POSTIONED FOR THE BIGTIME. THE STATION BEGAN TO PLAY THE MUSIC THAT WAS HAPPENING. KIMO KAHOANO SAID: “THAT WAS BLOOD AND GUTS. WE LIVED AND DIED FOR THE STATION—AND HAWAIIAN CAUSES. WE WERE OHANA [FAMILY.]”
KCCN'S BIGGEST SPLASH HAPPENED IN 1978. THE STATION CONCEIVED AND PROMOTED THE HAWAIIAN VERSION OF THE GRAMMY AWARDS—“STARS OF DISTINCTION”—OR AS IT IS KNOWN IN HAWAIIAN, ‘NA HOKU NA HANOHANO AWARDS,” QUCKLY KNOWN AS THE “HOKUS.”
ON THE NIGHT OF AUGUST 18, 1978, THE FIRST ANNUAL HOKU AWARD SHOW, BROADCAST ONLY ON KCCN RADIO, TOOK PLACE AT THE ALA MOANA HOTEL. THE EVENT BROUGHT NEW PRESTIGE TO KCCN.
BY THE SUMMER OF 1982 ALL THE HARD WORK PAID OFF. KCCN WAS RANKED #3 AMONGST OAHU’S 20-PLUS STATIONS. IRONICALLY, KRASH KEALOHA AND KIMO KAHOANU WERE NOT THERE TO CELEBRATE. KRASH DEPARTED OVER WHAT HE CALLED, “A MATTER OF PRINCIPLE.” THIS SHOCKED THE BROADCAST COMMUNITY. KIMO LEFT THE SAME YEAR, IN A DISPUTE OVER HIS PLAYING THE HAWAIIAN LANGUAGE VERSION OF “LORD’S PRAYER.” AND, FINALLY, IN 1986, SKYLARK LEFT KCCN TO JOIN ANOTHER STATION.
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IT HAS BEEN 20 YEARS SINCE I WROTE THIS STORY. KCCN, AND ITS IMITATORS, CONTINUE TO PLAY HAWAIIAN MUSIC, AND ALL ITS NEW VARIATIONS. FOR MANY OF US KAMA’AINA, THERE WILL NEVER BE ANYTHING LIKE THE GOOD OLD DAYS, WHEN KCCN WAS FIGHTING TO BREAK NEW GROUND, TO KEEP HAWAII’S MUSIC ALIVE AND ON THE AIR. AND, LIKE HAWAII ITSELF, COME HAOLE, OR HIGH WATER, THE MUSIC OF THE ‘AINA WILL LIVE ON FOREVER. SO MAHALO, ALOHA AND GOD BLESS, BROTHER KRASH. YOUR MEMORY LIVES ON IN THE MUSIC WE LOVE--THE MUSIC YOU BROUGHT US.
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This is Honolulu TV coverage of the Waimanalo tribute to Krash Kealoha:
http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/Global/category.asp?C=6743&clipId=5376446&autostart=true
