Honolulu-based Japanese-language radio station KZOO-AM 1210 will expand its live broadcasts to Japan with the debut of a new show, "Aloha Po‘alima" (Aloha Friday) from its glass-walled studio inside Shirokiya at Ala Moana Center.
Featuring performances by Hawaiian-music artists and regular appearances by Misty Kela‘i, executive director of the Mayor’s Office of Culture and the Arts, the show will be carried to Japan via KZOO’s Aloha Hotline Network.
The program’s focus will be on Hawaiian culture, "so we’re going to work very closely" with Kela‘i, said Robyn Furuya, station vice president.
Both she and her husband, station president David Furuya, were born and raised in Hawaii, but during preliminary meetings with Kela‘i they learned aspects of Hawaiian history they had never before heard.
"We want to be able to promote the correct …culture, the true history, not the touristy things, but the real Hawaii," she said.
The show will be among the many efforts by KZOO to promote Hawaii to Japan, which we all know is a point of origin for a huge share of the isles’ visitors.
"We currently have 100-plus stations and will expand to 140-plus by October," she said.
The show will fit in perfectly in Chigasaki, which adopted the state’s Aloha Friday practices long ago and is where people commonly wear aloha shirts, at least on Fridays, David Furuya said.
The Shirokiya studio opened in 2011, KZOO marked its 50th anniversary in 2013 and the station was honored by the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii on June 21 at its annual Sharing the Spirit of Aloha gala.
It was humbling recognition of the legacy David Furuya’s father, the late Noboru Furuya, started building in 1967 when he bought the station.
Since the Shirokiya studio opened, the station has regularly hosted celebrity interviews and performances, giving listeners as well as shoppers a chance to meet Japanese or local celebrities or to watch performances, such as the koto players who performed in traditional dress in June.
The studio also gives radio stations in Japan a home base when they’re in town, David Furuya said.
For the debut show, Honolulu-based Manuhealii will provide Hawaiian wear for promotional purposes.
"It’s a great opportunity for all the local companies to have visibility in Japan," Robyn Furuya said. To buy air time on so many stations at once "would be like funding a Super Bowl commercial," she chuckled.
People may think such promotional consideration on the radio is meaningless, since listeners won’t be able to see the aloha wear. However, KZOO is active on Facebook, and as it has in the past, it will live-stream "Aloha Po‘alima" online for a couple of weeks.
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On the Net:
» www.kzooradio.com
» www.ustream.tv/channel/kzoo-radio-shirokiya-studio
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Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com or on Twitter as @erikaengle.
