Show Biz: Deejay airs historic interviews with Hawaii entertainers

For four decades, Harry B. Soria Jr. has been the guardian of territorial-era Hawaiian music. He’s long been the go-to guy for the melodies of pre-statehood Hawaii and he’s a radio personality who has survived the turmoil and turbulence in the ever-changing whirlpool of radio.

“I miss radio of yesteryear,” he said. “Especially my beginnings with Skylark. But now she is gone.”

Indeed, the late Jacqueline Leilani “Honolulu Skylark” Rossetti was the doyenne of island music, culture and Hawaiian-style deejaying on KCCN, the station which pioneered the all-Hawaiian format. Soria was her on-air teammate.

“And I forge on, pursuing my dream,” said Soria, who used to sit alongside Skylark at a studio mike, talking story, sharing songs and trivia and chatting with listeners calling in.

Soria’s weekly “Territorial Airwaves” program once was live. In its present form, it is staged without a live audience and people responses. “There is no one calling in on the request and dedication phone line,” he said. “I prerecord everything because of computers. But I try to create the illusion that I’m still there, with my stories and music.”

On the 20th anniversary of “Territorial Airwaves,” he moved from KCCN to KINE, transitioning from AM to FM formats. His mission is to perpetuate Hawaiian music.

Everything old is new again, with his “throwback” shows now spotlighting chats with performers on AM940 in Hawaii. It is broadcast at noon Fridays and repeats at 5 p.m. Sundays, and it also airs internationally at territorialairwaves.com.

Soria’s “Territorial Airwaves” has surpassed Webley Edwards’ “Hawaii Calls” as the longest-running radio show, evoking yesteryear artists and memory-lane songs representing a beloved time prior to statehood.

The archival interview programs were launched Feb. 7 with Raiatea Helm, followed by Kimo Alama Keaulana on Feb. 14, Don Ho on Feb. 21, and Phil Arnone on Feb. 28.

Still to come: Buddy Fo, March 6; Kaupena Wong, March 13; Mahi Beamer, March 20; Randie Fong and Timothy Ho, March 27; Ledward Kaapana, April 3; Nedward Kaapana, April 10; Karen Keawehawaii, April 17; Bernard Kalua, April 24; Palani Vaughan, May 1; Kahauanu Lake Trio and Singers, May 8; and Elaine Ako Spencer, May 15.

Soria intentionally tapped Helm — a contemporary singer with old-world values — to kick off the interview series, creating an audible stew of still-active music-makers with past-generation favorites. “I’ve been a supporter of Raiatea since she was 15 and first came to Honolulu to sing in our falsetto contest at the Hawaii Theatre,” he said. Helm also had participated in two landmark career moments, the “Territorial Airwaves” 40th anniversary gala at the Royal Hawaiian last year and an earlier Hawaii Academy of Recording Arts Lifetime Achievement event.

Clearly, he favors the past and has maintained a library of Hawaii’s greatest hits by music-makers who set up the foundation for a current generation of performers.

“For a long time, the soul of radio had been ‘drained’ by corporate marauders from the mainland,” said Soria. “Each had their ‘formula,’ but everything is cyclical. Our management now has a more hands-off approach.”

Thus, he alleges, there’s been a movement of a return of the “good old time” radio. The AM940 morning show, the Kolohe Krew, features Mele Apana and Shannon Scott, who “have fun using the modern tools of the radio studio, but they manage to keep it all about the listeners. They are very community-oriented, like how KCCN AM used to be.”

He is an archivist of the first order. With kokua from his kumu hula wife, Kilohana Silve, Soria has preserved and catalogued his vintage files which are stored with the Hawaiian Music Archives Foundation. Kilohana, who had a halau in Paris, now conducts hula workshops around the globe.

“Some of my favorites (interviews) include Buddy Fo, who told such great stories about the times I’m interested in,” he said. “Also Palani Vaughan, since we attended the same church in Aina Haina growing up. Mahi Beamer, accompanied by Gaye Beamer and Marnie Ka‘aihue, told hysterical stories.”

However, there were a few folks he wished he chatted with before their passing. “Dennis Pavao and Moe Keale,” he revealed. “Both of them said, ‘OK, see you Harry B’ the last time I saw them. I didn’t realize that they would leave so young. So I began to include younger artists, like Raiatea Helm.”

Soria comes from a family with more than 90 years of radio broadcasting creds. His father, Harry B. Soria Sr., was called the “Voice of Hawaii,” in a career spanning from the 1930s to the ’50s, and his grandfather, Harry G. Soria was known as the “Dean of Hawaiian Radio.”

With such pedigree, Soria Jr. — the “Territorial Titan,” perhaps — continues the family tradition. …

REACHING NEW ‘HEIGHTS’

There’s joy and cheer aplenty in the Farrington Performing Arts Center production of “In the Heights,” the Broadway musical that put Lin-Manuel Miranda on the radar with its lively hip-hop vibe and depiction of a minority community of Latinos in New York’s Washington Heights over a three-day blackout.

Miguel Cadoy III is the show’s director and musical director who clearly is an inspiration to his cast of 30, comprised of minorities who bring the story to life.

Keith Kryzzler Cabbab (Usnavi) tops the ensemble as the bodega owner and delivers the hip-hop tunes with vitality and ease. Cristal Ponce (Vanessa), his girlfriend, and Kalena Esteban (Nina Rosario), a beautician, possess powerful voices. The scene-stealer is Axle Gen Munoz (Piragua son), the youngest in the cast. Christopher Patrinos, a technical director from Punahou School, has designed a precise, attractive set that frames a central projection of a bridge — a perfect environment.

The show winds up a two-weekend run today at the Joseph Rider Farrington theater. …

And that’s Show Biz.

Wayne Harada is a veteran entertainment columnist. Reach him at 266-0926 or wayneharada@gmail.com.