Back in 1966 statehood was just 7 years old. John Burns was governor. Neal Blaisdell was mayor. There were still fewer than a million visitors a year coming to Hawaii.
The first live television broadcasts from the mainland commenced when Intelsat 2, a satellite affectionately called “Lani Bird,” was launched.
The first Aloha Friday was inaugurated in 1966 when Bank of Hawaii President Willie Cannon allowed alohawear on Fridays. Zippy’s opened its first restaurant in McCully.
The new development of Hawaii Kai was just a few years old. Homes could be bought for under $30,000.
Don Ho had just released his first album. Eight-track audio players and microwave ovens were just hitting store shelves.
And radio station KCCN went on the air at 1420 on the AM dial calling itself “All Hawaiian. All the time.” This year marks the 50th anniversary of its launch.
Most radio and TV stations in the western United States have call letters that begin with a “K.” The C, C and N are the founders’ initials.
KCCN was founded by Perry W. Carle, who was president; Dr. Ralph Bingham Cloward, vice president; and Jerry Neville, secretary-treasurer.
Carle had been a sales manager at KAIM. “Perry Carle was the main guy responsible for KCCN,” said Jim Sattler, son-in-law of Cloward. “It was his lifelong dream to have his own radio station.”
Cloward was a descendent of Hiram and Sybil Bingham, who together founded Punahou School and Kawaiaha‘o Church. He was a specialist in treating spinal cord injuries and was chief of neurosurgery at several hospitals.
“Jerry Neville was the Hawaii representative of United Press International,” says nephew Harry Soria Jr. “Neville was the hands-on engineer who actually got the station on the air.”
Carle saw Cloward as the financial backer of the station. “He sold Cloward on the idea of an inexpensive, automated station using the latest technology,” Sattler continued.
“He appealed to his ego, putting his initial in the station name. Cloward contributed $50,000 and signed a personal guarantee with Hawaii National Bank for a line of credit of another $50,000.”
Carle erected a transmission tower and a small concrete block building off Nimitz and Waiakamilo. A year later the bank called and wanted their money. “My father-in-law was not really a business person,” says lawyer Sattler. “He asked me to look into it.
“Outside the station, I found a station wagon with ‘KCCN – All Hawaiian All the Time – Mobile unit #7’ painted on the side. Did they have a fleet?” Sattler wondered. “Perry told me it was the only one and that he wanted people to think they had a fleet.”
The car was not even owned by the station. A car dealer had traded it for advertising. “In a year, KCCN had not had a single cash sale. Everything was ‘contra’ — traded for advertising. They also had no immediate prospects,” Sattler said.
He recommended finding a buyer for the station. “We found a bunch of guys who had owned the International House of Pancakes and sold the station to them. They took on the $50,000 loan, but Cloward never recouped his investment. Perry Carle was terminated, but they kept the call letters and format.”
KCCN used to broadcast from the banyan tree in the International Marketplace. “We were the only station in the world to broadcast from a tree,” former General Manager Mike Kelly said.
On his first day at work, Victor Opiopio earned a nickname that stuck. He was running up the wooden stairs excitedly at the treehouse studio, Soria says, when he slipped and crashed on the stairs.
“Lucky Luck had the mic open announcing at that moment, and since Victor’s accident thudded loud in his earphones, he ad-libbed, ‘Here comes the new guy, Krash Kealoha.’”
“KCCN drove record sales of what had been fairly unknown Hawaiian musicians,” Soria says. “That, in turn, increased the demand for live performances and lounge shows.”
“In the 1970s and 1980s, KCCN 1420 AM reached as high as No. 5 in the ratings, an amazing accomplishment for a little AM station among the larger FM stations of the day.
“But our listener base was extremely loyal, listening to us all day and night. Their home, office and car radios were tuned permanently to KCCN 1420 AM, as the station was the voice of the Hawaiian Renaissance. It was a wonderful time to be in radio,” Soria says.
Soria started with KCCN 1420 AM on June 13, 1979, and has broadcast for 37 years on KCCN 1420 AM, KINE FM and AM940.
His show, “Territorial Airwaves,” plays twice a week on AM940: Friday at noon and Sunday at 5 p.m. AM940 calls itself “All traditional Hawaiian all the time.”
KCCN FM was launched in 1990 as FM100, with a Jawaiian/reggae-centered station format.
KCCN AM morphed into ESPN 1420 AM with call letters KKEA in 2004.
Sister station KINE at 105.1 FM now calls itself the Hawaiian Music Station.
Today KCCN FM100 and KINE 105.1, along with KRTR 96.3, Power 104.3, KKNE AM 940 and KRPR 650AM, are owned by Summit Media, based in Alabama.
Bob Sigall, author of the “Companies We Keep” books, looks through his collection of old photos to tell stories each Friday of Hawaii people, places and companies. Email him at Sigall@Yahoo.com.
