Airwaves: September 3, 2010
Island Radio
Being the radio geek that I am, I tend to remember radio stations more than
the typical regular person would. I remember what station I first
heard some songs (Beach Baby on KEZY, This Little
Girl on K-WEST, for example). When San Franciscos KFRC played
top-40, I spent as much time as possible listening whenever I visited my sister
Jackie in Gilroy.
It was a college graduation gift to ourselves in 1986 when my friend Jerry
and I took a trip to Hawaii and I fell in love with KSSK, at the time
Hawaiis number one music station. They had it all, including the most
popular morning show -- Perry and Price, an amazing playlist that somehow matched
the mood and tempo of the islands.
I sampled some other stations but for the most part my radio was locked on
59 AM, KSSK. None of the FMs could even compare, not even KSSKs FM sister
station, which at the time played a slightly more uptempo top-40 mix. As I
recall, the station was calling itself K-59 that year, though in future trips
to the islands they reverted to using just their call letters.
Flash forward 24 years ... visiting the island of Kauai, I find that radio-wise,
some things stay the same as they have always been. KSSK is still the number
one station in Hawaii (though now they cheat by combining the AM and FM signals),
they still have the most popular morning show -- Perry and Price, and they
still have a music mix that still matches the mood and tempo of the islands.
My main complaint is that the jingles and announcers tend to give the FM signal
more respect then they should ... it is the AM signal that can
be heard clearly throughout Oahu and on neighboring islands when the FM cant
be heard at all. KSSKs history and evolution is definitely with the AM
... the stations top ratings date back to its time as a standalone
station, FM was added later. That makes it a bit insulting to call the station 92.3
KSSK as they occasionally do.
Listening to KSSK is like listening to radio back when AM was king. Stations
larger than life yet part of your family ... and appealing to the whole family.
Perhaps not as great as it was when I first heard it in 1986, but close. About
as good as you can get considering it is owned by Clear Channel.
Michael Perry and Larry Price were paired up in 1983 after former KSSK
morning man Hal Aku Lewis passed away. Perry had been working afternoons
on the station while former University of Hawaii head football coach Price
was working in the public relations department. Their style of humor is perhaps
best described as gentle, yet topical. They use no bad language, and are in
many ways a modern version of Lohman and Barkley ... with some island adjustments.
I have no clue if a station like KSSK could work in Southern California, but
I bet it could. Ive written before that I have a dream of taking an AM
frequency here and successfully programming music. KSSK does it, albeit on
a smaller scale, and has maintained its dominance for years. The nice thing
is that you dont have to travel to Hawaii to hear it ... you can tune
in to the station online or even easier, using the I Heart Radio app available
for the iPhone or iPod Touch.
///
Copyright © 2010 Richard Wagoner and Los Angeles Newspaper Group.
To subscribe to The Daily Breeze, call (310) 540-5511