Carl Hebenstreit — better known as Kini Popo — was the first voice islanders ever heard on local TV. We met a while back and he told me about his colorful broadcasting career.
Sixty-five years ago last month, Hebenstreit applied for a disc jockey job at KGMB radio. Station manager Bob Costa interviewed him.
“He played a tape of Aku (Hal Lewis, the leading radio deejay) and said, ‘Do you think you can compete with this guy?’ I said sure, and he hired me,” Hebenstreit said.
Costa told him “Hebenstreit” was too hard to pronounce and suggested the deejay get a more “local” name. They considered several. Station secretary Maydell Taitano said, “Why can’t he be Kini Popo?”
At that time, a popular expression was “right on da kini popo,” which meant “right on the ball” or “exactly.” Visually, it looked like the hand sign for “OK.” A precursor to the “shaka,” it was a catchphrase the Waikiki beach boys used to designate something as cool.
Kini Popo started on KGMB radio in the summer of 1952.
“I was the morning show guy. I would come in half an hour before my 5:30 a.m. show and turn the radio station on,” he said. “There were big transformers that made a lot of noise when they started up. They took about half an hour to warm up.”
Kino Popo played the popular music of the time by Doris Day, Frank Sinatra, Percy Faith, Rosemary Clooney, Frankie Lane and other singers.
“People from record labels would come in every Monday and bring us the latest records. I liked jazz such as Duke Ellington a lot. We were certainly the only station in Hawaii that was playing him then. I was cautioned not to overdo it,” said Kini, as he is still known by many.
“I was young and single back then. Sometimes, I was hungover and coming in from less than three hours sleep. Duke Ellington or Stan Kenton helped to wake me up.”
Kini Popo helped a friend from his hometown of Walla Walla, Wash., get a job at the station. Bill Anderson later took the stage name Adam West and starred in the campy “Batman” TV series in the 1960s. Kini and West, who passed away last month, married sisters, Florence and Nga Frisbie, respectively.
FIRST ON THE TUBE
In December 1952, less than six months after he joined the station, television came to Hawaii. KGMB management was considering who would host the first show. Costa told Kini he was selected because he had been in theater and possessed stage presence.
KONA (now KHON) was racing against KGMB to be the first television station on the air here. KGMB had been second on the air in radio in 1922 — KGU beat it by 15 minutes — and didn’t want that to happen again.
KGMB-TV was broadcasting a still image of a test pattern and had announced its intention to begin television broadcasting on Dec. 1 to create buzz about the historic broadcast.
“I heard that people clustered around storefronts that were selling televisions to watch us for the first time,” Kini said.
“Around 5 o’clock, I was ready. They had me dressed in a business suit. It was supposed to be casual but I didn’t feel casual. It was hot as hell under the lights. And they took my glasses off because it was causing a reflection in the camera. Without them I couldn’t see anything.
“All I could see was a red light there. We were on the air and I said, ‘Hello everybody. Welcome to the first official broadcast of KGMB-TV.’
“I introduced a couple of people who spoke of the importance of this moment and how people would never forget it. It lasted about half an hour. I would introduce them and step out of the way and be careful not to trip over cables and fall down.
“We did get it launched and then I think they immediately went to canned mainland programs like ‘The Jack Benny Show,’ that were flown out here and played a week later.”
Two weeks later, KHON followed with its first TV broadcast on Dec. 15, 1952.
‘GO GET HIM, POPO!’
In the early 1950s, Kini Popo was given his own TV show. First called “Sunrise” (a name KGMB still uses today), it went from a morning broadcast to afternoons a few years later, and then to evenings as “The Kini Popo Show.”
It was broadcast live in front of a studio audience, and Kini’s guests included Elvis Presley, Mel Torme, Ella Fitzgerald, Danny Kaye, Liberace and Ed Sullivan.
One guest, comedian Stan Freberg, didn’t show up as scheduled, Kini recalled. He was staying at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, which had just opened in 1955.
“The camera came on and I had to tell the audience that Freberg was not around. They thought it might be a gag but I said, ‘I’m gonna go get him. I won’t be long. It’s just around the corner.’ This was not planned but I couldn’t think of anything else that would satisfy the audience. Frankly, I wanted to get the hell out of there.
“A couple of people yelled, ‘Go get him, Popo!’ So I got in my car and drove to the Hilton Hawaiian Village hotel, which was several blocks away from KGMB’s studio on Kapiolani Boulevard.”
The station covered for his absence with reports and news.
The hotel directed Kini to Freberg’s room.
“I knocked and I told him, ‘You gotta come down. There’s 200 people waiting for you.’
“Freberg got into my Austin-Healey and we drove back to the studio as fast as we could. We went down the center aisle of the audience, up to the set and started talking. The audience reacted with whoops and hollers.”
THIS BUD’S FOR YOU
Budweiser was a sponsor of the show. Back then, Kini did the commercials live and kept a beer on the set.
“Budweiser sent me to a class in Los Angeles for two days to teach me how to pour the beer, which is straight down the middle of the glass, not down the side. They said it would break up the gases and release the flavor.
“They said the trick was to pour down the middle, then ease off a little bit. The foam would come up to the top and they wanted a drop or two to run down the outside of the glass.
“My desk had a little hole where I would put the glass down. That was one of my secrets. There was a light underneath that lit the glass and beer.”
The audience could help themselves to cans or bottles of beer. “Times were different then. Doing those daily commercials was one of my more pleasurable moments.”
On one occasion, Kini had his very young son, Ropati, with him in the studio.
“We’d done a commercial and I had a sip of beer and then put it down, but my son apparently found the bottle and started drinking it. The director ordered the cameras to get shots of my son drinking. Visually it was very interesting. Legally there might be some question as to whether we should be doing that or not. He was clearly underage!”
PEACHES THE CHIMP
In 1953, Dave Garroway had a chimpanzee named J. Fred Muggs join him as a regular on his NBC “Today” show out of New York. Bob Costa at KGMB heard a Kaimuki pet store had a baby chimp and bought her. She was named Peaches O’Rourke — the pet store owner’s last name.
“Peaches was a sweetheart,” Kini said. “I wonder what she thought of me. I was the guy who showed up and had fun with her.
“She loved the boys but she did not like the ladies. On one occasion a woman was doing the Dance of the Seven Veils on the show and got a little close to Peaches’ highchair. Peaches grabbed one of the veils and ended up in a tug of war with the guest.
“By the way, they’re not called monkeys. They are called chimpanzees and they’re very sensitive about that,” Kini said.
To create some publicity, Kini would often drive around town with Peaches in the front seat. People would stop and stare and wave.
“Unfortunately, she was hard to handle and in less than a year we sent her to the San Diego Zoo.”
Today, Hebenstreit is 88 and retired. He lives in Kaneohe.
Do you have any favorite Kini Popo stories? Please send them to me.
Bob Sigall, author of “The Companies We Keep” series of books, looks through his collection of old photos to tell stories of Hawaii people, places and companies. Contact him via email at sigall@yahoo.com.
