Broadcast signals could soon return to Pahala and surrounding areas of the Kau District on Hawaii island if the Federal Communications Commission approves the $20,000 sale of KAHU-FM 97.1 to Hawaii Public Radio.
Communities in much of Kau have been without radio since the station was knocked off the air in the spring when electricity was shut off. Nonprofit operator Ka‘u Community Radio Inc. could not afford to keep the station on the air.
"We had known they were in difficulty," said HPR President and General Manager Michael Titterton, "but we didn’t know how bad" until the utility pulled the plug.
"This particular arrangement, among other things, will restore radio service to a region that is otherwise completely terrain-shielded," said Titterton.
Without broadcast signals, there is no guarantee residents can get emergency information in the event of a disaster, natural or otherwise.
"We don’t think any part of this planet is right unless it has some sort of radio, and we’re delighted to be restoring service from a public-safety standpoint," he said.
The amount KAHU owed to Hawaii Electric Light Co. at the time of its disconnection is unknown.
However, when the former parent company of KHON-TV filed for bankruptcy reorganization in 2009, the station owed Hawaiian Electric Co. more than $12,000.
Putting KAHU on the air was long a vision for politically active Hawaii island resident Wendell Kaehuaea, who was involved from the beginning, and of Vicki Fiege, then-executive director of Ka‘u Public Radio.
Fiege applied for and got a $25,000 grant from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs circa 2004-2005 to help get the station on the air.
In 2008 an FCC construction permit for the station was granted to the nonprofit Haola Inc., of which Kaehuaea was vice president.
It took even more years to build the station and to erect and electrify broadcast towers to send out its signal.
In early 2011 Kaehuaea asked his daughter Christine, who grew up on the mainland, to lend the station her sales and marketing expertise.
As his role diminished, hers grew, and now she is general manager and owner of KAHU.
His mission to provide residents of remote and isolated communities in the southernmost portion of the United States became her mission.
With insufficient resources to carry it out, Christine Kaehuaea said via email, "I thank HPR and Michael for their offer to continue the journey to protect and serve this community."
FCC approval is expected in early August.
Perennial President Portnoy
Some rather serious charges have been leveled against Honolulu attorney Jeff Portnoy, and they will get a completely frivolous and potentially hilarious airing a week from today.
Portnoy will face his accusers during a mock parole hearing and roast as a benefit for Manoa Valley Theatre, upon his second retirement as president of the board of directors.
Upon his first retirement in 1996, he was accused of, to quote a statement from the theater, "deceitfully imitating a competent attorney; impersonating a sportscaster; manipulating the media to suit his own wicked purposes; and milking Manoa Valley Theatre as president for 16 ‘ve‐e‐e‐e-ry’ long years," among other such heinous offenses.
This time ‘round, as similar or perhaps completely identical charges are delineated, several witnesses will offer testimony, including KKEA-AM 1420 morning show host Bobby Curran, former Honolulu Mayor and former prosecuting attorney Peter Carlisle, longtime broadcaster Don Robbs and Hawaii News Now News Director Mark Platte.
The fundraising mock parole hearing and roast will be from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. July 15 at the theater. Tickets cost $75, of which $55 is tax-deductible.
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Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com or on Twitter as @erikaengle.
