Tim Tindall was one of the most recognized faces in Honolulu television news for more than 30 years.
Tindall worked with a who’s who of local television news and informed us on some of the biggest news events. In my final column, we look back at Tindall’s career in the local news business.
Tindall grew up in Shamrock, Texas, and got his first break in broadcasting in 1955, working for KEVA radio in Shamrock. “While with the manager, I saw a man in a glass booth, drinking coffee, smoking cigarettes, playing music from vinyl records and talking with three teenage girls who had stopped in for a visit,” Tindall said. “I asked the manager, ‘What is he doing?’ The manager said, ‘He is a disc jockey and radio announcer and newscaster.’ I said, ‘I think that’s what I want to do.’”
At just 15, Tindall headed for Amarillo, Texas, and worked at KLYN radio. In 1958 he was in Denver working in radio while attending the University of Denver, where he earned degrees in psychology and public speaking. That’s also where he met future Hawaii media owner Cec Heftel in 1958.
“He heard my work on a suburban Denver radio station and thought I would make a good addition to his station, the powerhouse KIMN radio,” Tindall said.
After graduation, Tindall worked as a corporate broadcasting executive in Chicago and remembers getting an important job offer that would change both his life and career. “Heftel called to say that he had just purchased a radio and television station in Honolulu, Hawaii. It was snowing in Chicago, and I said yes.”
Arriving in Honolulu in 1965, Tindall initially managed the KGMB radio station, which had just hired disc jockeys Aku to do mornings, Granny Goose in the afternoon and Pogo Poge in the evening. “Within a few months, it was the No. 1 station in town,” said Tindall.
Tindall soon found himself moving into the television newsroom at KGMB. “We hired Bob Sevey, and the two of us did the 6 o’clock news for the next 13 years,” said Tindall. He also anchored the 10 p.m. news with Bob Jones, sometimes attracting nearly 80 percent of local viewers.
During the 1960s and 1970s we had tragic assassinations, moon landings, riots, campus demonstrations, the Vietnam War, Watergate and more, and the viewers tuned in to KGMB to be informed more often than any other local station.
It wasn’t always a serious tone. There were fun times at KGMB, and the viewers loved it because these guys were not only classy, but also cool.
“At the end of our newscast, we engaged in some outrageous humor and silliness,” Tindall said. “I’ve had people tell me they set their alarms for 10:20 p.m., so they wouldn’t miss the end of the newscast. At the time, I had a 1966 Mustang convertible. Jones had a sleek Datsun convertible and sports guy Jim Lathrop had a classic Thunderbird convertible. One night we parked all three in the studio adjacent to the news set. At the end we walked off the set, (got) into the cars and roared off for the Columbia Inn. It was beautiful.”
In 1982, Tindall moved over to KITV, where he anchored the news for five years. By the time Tindall departed the station in 1987, the local news landscape had changed. Sevey had retired the year before and his former KGMB colleague, Joe Moore, was firmly planted at KHON with the top news show in town. After KITV, Tindall went into broadcast management, becoming general manager at KHVH radio. He also did advertising and broadcasting consulting in California.
Tindall came full circle in 1995, returning to KGMB, where he feels things could have lasted longer if given the chance. He feels that he, Jade Moon, Kim Gennaula and Scott Culbertson were the best television newscast team ever assembled in Hawaii. “This team could have commanded 90 percent of the audience for 10 years,” said Tindall.
Tindall now lives in Southern California and is enjoying retirement. “For the most part, I gave up television news after I left KGMB for the final time,” Tindall said. “Now I spend my time relaxing and taking various ocean cruises.”
His time spent in the islands is something he’ll never forget.
“From my first day in Hawaii, June 2, 1965, I felt comfortable and accepted,” Tindall said. “That does not happen with everyone who comes to the Aloha State. Some just don’t fit in, and they usually don’t stay around for long. I spent
35 years in Hawaii and that period was among the
best of my life. I felt at home.”
