The radio station whose broadcasts in 11 languages emanate from a converted home in McCully has been sold for $500,000.
Fittingly, the parent company of KNDI-AM 1270 has been Broadcast House of the Pacific Inc.
In addition to rooms long ago converted into studios and offices, "we have two bathrooms," President and General Manager Leona Jona said with a smile during a tour.
The conference room/lunchroom contains an oval table and matching chairs that suit the homey digs, which also include a quaint kitchen.
The setting is contrasted by the sleek, modern technology used by Venus Florido Viloria, Zee Rabago-Iwabuchi and others on the air, and by station manager Ellen Kaiuwailani (whose husband, longtime broadcaster Kimo Akane, also pens "Kimo’s Vegas" in MidWeek, our sister pub).
It’ll never top the Arbitron radio ratings, but KNDI is well known to government agencies that serve minority populations and those that need to get crucial information or disaster warnings to every member of the population — not just English-speakers. Jona would encourage the agencies to use the station even more, given that up to 20 percent of Hawaii’s population is not fluent in English.
Buyer Geronimo Broadcasting LLC was formed by longtime listeners Geronimo and Nellie Malabed for the acquisition, which, because a license for the public airwaves is involved, requires approval from the Federal Communications Commission.
"He told me he’s been listening for 40 years," Jona said.
That means he listened to the station before she got hired there 36 years ago by the late station founder, Jim Ownby.
"We’re 56 years old this year," she said.
Jona, 83, wanted to retire at age 80, but "I couldn’t find the right buyer," she said.
She had three non-negotiable terms, which likely added to the duration of the deal-searching.
One, the new owner would have to keep the programming focused on serving Hawaii’s multi-ethnic population; two, none of her 21 employees would lose their jobs; and three, the buyer had to meet her price.
The station is, after all, "my baby."
With no previous broadcast industry experience, but backgrounds in various service-oriented businesses, the Malabeds fit the bill, said Jona, noting that Geronimo Malabed also is a veteran. "He has a really good heart, and I really, really trust he will do well."
Geronimo Malabed once ran a transport service for disabled people, according to online state business registration records. He also has a yard maintenance business, he told TheBuzz.
"I just like to be a public servant," he said. "I love people, and maybe we could help people by being on the radio. It’s in my heart to help others."
Jona’s passion for "LEP people," or people with limited English proficiency, came from her own life, as English was not her first language.
She twice escaped turmoil in her native Hungary, once as a 14-year-old girl and later during the 1956 revolution, with her husband and 5-year-old daughter.
They came to America as refugees. She had completed a two-year college program for economics, but since she couldn’t speak English, she first took a job as a maid. A woman later befriended her, and she got her first office job.
"I think this is where my passion started," she said.
KNDI aired programming in four languages when she joined the staff, and now, depending on the day of the week and time of day, you could hear programs in Chinese (Cantonese and Mandarin), Chuukese, Filipino, Laotian, Marshallese, Okinawan, Pohnpeian, Samoan, Spanish, Tongan or Vietnamese. The bulk of the programming is in Filipino, partly because so many staffers migrated to KNDI from the old, long-silent Filipino-language KISA-AM 1540.
Saturday morning host Bonnie Pascua (6 to 7 a.m.) goes back as far as Jona at KNDI, having started there in 1972, while Maggie Domingo, on the air from 4:30 to 6 a.m. Monday through Saturday and 5 to 7 a.m. Sundays, started two years later, Jona said. However, "everybody’s an old-timer," she added.
Despite her age, which she offers proudly (she’s earned it, she says), she still has a passion for the LEP population.
A co-founder of the nonprofit Ethnic Education Foundation of Hawaii, she plans to work toward the betterment of lives through community activism once FCC approval comes through and she can actually retire.
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