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"The Golden Voice" of Bill Baist is still going strong after nearly 60 years of broadcasting. This month we look back at Baist and a career that has taken him from radio and television to acting.
Baist started his broadcasting career as a teenager while attending University High in Manoa. Baist said he began at KAIM radio as a staff announcer in January 1955. "I learned how to operate the radio board, introduced many of the programs on KAIM AM and learned how to be a classical music announcer on KAIM FM."
After graduating from high school in 1957, Baist pursued broadcasting at the University of Oregon. He juggled schoolwork with co-managing a radio station, KUGN, served as a deejay for the station, handled sales and was also in charge of programming.
In 1959 Baist was hired at KIEM, the CBS affiliate in Eureka, Calif., where he worked as an account executive and staff announcer and later as a weatherman.
In 1961 the Honolulu-born Baist returned to the islands, working for Matson and Aloha Airlines.
Baist appeared as an extra in the 1963 movie "Diamond Head," which starred Charlton Heston.
In 1965 he was hired by KGMB, working for the radio and TV stations as a booth announcer, traffic reporter, staff announcer and music director. His colleagues at KGMB included George "Granny Goose" Groves and John Henry Russell.
During the 1960s Baist worked in radio with both Hal "Aku" Lewis and Lucky Luck. "They were great personalities. Aku was more of a business professional, whereas Lucky was more for the local people," said Baist.
KGU radio hired Baist in 1966 as a program director. While at KGU, Baist also filled in at KHON television as a staff announcer, hosting the game shows that aired during the afternoon movie. "I thoroughly enjoyed hosting ‘Who’s on 2′ and ‘Dialing for Dollars,’" Baist said.
In 1968 Baist became a news anchor at KHON, working with Don Picken, Bob Basso and Marsha Fried. Baist left TV news in 1970 but worked at the station as a sales and marketing director until 1992.
During the second season of "Hawaii Five-0" in 1970, Baist was cast as Detective Nakamura in the "Most Likely to Murder" episode with James MacArthur and Tom Skerritt. "I’ve always had some interest in acting," said Baist. During the 1970s Baist began to appear frequently in local TV commercials and radio voice-overs.
Baist estimates he has appeared in more than 150 local radio and TV spots over the years for American Savings Bank, GEM, Shiseido of Hawaii, Petland, Royal Hawaiian Heritage Jewelry, Sears, UH Federal Credit Union and many others.
Most recently Baist has appeared in ads for Bank of Hawaii, Tony Hyundai and Oceanic Time Warner Cable. He played a U.S. senator in two episodes of ABC’s "Last Resort." And, earlier this year, he appeared onstage in a TAG (The Actors’ Group) production of Eric Nemoto’s play "Juniper Lane." He said he would love to come full circle and appear in the current "Hawaii Five-0."
Since October 1987 Baist has been a deejay at KUMU 94.7 FM, where he can be heard on Sundays between 8 p.m. and midnight.
——— A.J. McWhorter, a collector of film and videotape cataloging Hawaii’s TV history, has worked as a producer, writer and researcher for both local and national media. Email him at flashback@hawaii.rr.com.
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