Hawaii Radio & Television Guide

Some of the items listed here may be dated, but then again, this is the first post since I updated the site today. The last official news post occurred in mid November 2007. Consider this post the official re-start of the News Over The Air section of this site.

HawaiiMagazine.com has a profile on KIPO’s weekly Hawaiian music show called “Kanikapila Sunday”. The program airs Sunday afternoons 1 to 4 pm and is hosted by Derrick Malama. The program also streams over the internet.

Pacific Business News founder and publisher George Mason died on Monday, March 31. He was 84. Mason was the publisher of PBN since its founding in 1963 until he sold it in the mid 1990s. He also worked in government and on radio. Funeral services will be held on Saturday, April 12.

Ivan Dixon who is best known as the character “Kinchloe” on the old Hogan’s Heroes TV series died last month on the mainland. Dixon was not very well known as a Hawaii broadcaster. He built and founded KONI 104.7 FM radio which has studios on Maui but broadcasts from Lanai. The station started with a top 40 music format but eventually changed to an oldies format that it employs today. Dixon sold KONI a few years ago.

The Federal Government is distributing coupons for people who need a digital to analog converter box in order to receive free over the air reception with analog equipment after the February 2009 deadline. On February 17 analog over the air TV broadcasts will cease as the industry is mandated to convert to digital by then. People without digital equipment or cable will not be able to get the digital signal without the converter boxes. The price for a converter box range from $40 to $70. The coupons are good for a $40 taxpayer subsidized discount. Details at this link: http://www.dtv2009.gov

Speaking of digital, the hot topic on our message board this past week was KITV’s non-HDTV broadcast of the annual Merrie Monarch Festival from Hilo. Cost has been attributed to the non-high-def broadcast.

Finally a short video aired this week on a number of local TV stations after the closure of Aloha Airlines. The 30 second video pays homage to the people and history of the historic airline that was forced out of business due to bankruptcy, a fare war, a changing marketplace, high fuel costs and management decisions.