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July 11, 2002

What Lava Turns to when it Gets Old

The best of the so-called "alternative" stations (not counting KTUH), 105.9 Lava Rock, switched last Friday to a classic rock format, and I say "hallelujah." We've been without classic rock ever since "Live 98.5," which had been steadily declining, made the absurd move to "island music."

If the thought of being able to hear Pink Floyd or The Who on the radio again isn't by itself enough to get one excited, another huge plus is the possibility of concert sponsorship. While you may disagree, I think it would be awesome to see Eric Clapton, Van Halen, or Yes in concert, but with no local radio station playing their music, we've had even more severe a concert drought than we used to have.

I gave the station a good half-hour listen beginning at 12:14 a.m. this past Sunday, and this is what I heard.

• Queen -- Bohemian Rhapsody
• Fleetwood Mac -- Go Your Own Way
• Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers -- Don't Do Me Like That
• Blue Oyster Cult -- Don't Fear the Reaper
• Aerosmith -- Walk this Way
• The Rolling Stones -- Miss You
• The Cars -- Let's Go
• The Doobie Brothers -- Long Train Running
• Bad Company -- Bad Company
• Steve Miller Band -- Fly Like and Eagle

So, no surprises, certainly, but BOC, Bad Company, and this particular song by the Stones could easily be overlooked by ignorant program directors in favor of more songs such as the others on this list.

Currently without deejays or commercials, the station is in the process of completing its eight-hundred song playlist, with help from listeners. Well, I'm a listener, and I have a few suggestions that go beyond song suggestions:

1. Sure, get that list of 800 songs, but don't stop there. Give your deejays the freedom to play other songs from the albums that delivered these great songs so long ago. Anyone who's ever heard the REST of Led Zep II knows, for example, that those other, less-frequently-played songs are still awesome. If you have deejays who truly love the music, they should be permitted to pass along songs the rest of us might not be as familiar with. This will keep the playlist, well, if not fresh, at least not too stale.

Some quick, specific recommendations: The other songs on REO Speedwagon's Hi Infidelity, Styx's Paradise Theater, and Journey's Escape; pre-Stevie-Nicks Fleetwood Mac; Deep Purple songs besides "Smoke on the Water;" and the entire Led Zep, Pink Floyd, Rolling Stones, Beatles, and Eagles catalogues.

2. Get Mark and Brian back for the morning show. They were the funniest and smartest guys in Hawaii's morning radio (even though we heard them hours after they were off the air every morning) lineup, and those studio musical guests and Christmas shows were just awesome. If you don't get Mark and Brian, don't have a morning program at all, and just play songs.

3. Concerts, concerts, concerts! I don't care if the musicians are old and wrinkly. Just get us some good concerts.

4. You couldn't do better than "The Big Kahuna?" That name just sucks, man.

Posted by scrivener at July 11, 2002 11:41 AM

Comments

 
Posted by lisa on July 11, 2002 1:12 PM:

eh, I've nearly had it with commercial radio- it's just too, well, commercial. I was forced to listen to Lava Rock way too long, and it sucked. All those songs sounded alike- raspy-voiced men pissed off about something.

I prefer my radio online- which reminds me, for those of you who do listen to internet radio, fax your representatives now. It's really easy to do, and hopefully it will help prevent the RIAA from screwing independents over (retroactive payments from 1998?!!).

 
Posted by Sun on July 11, 2002 4:29 PM:

Sigh. I wonder if Radio Free Hawaii will ever come back. Norm where are you?!

 
Posted by Stella on July 11, 2002 5:10 PM:

Sun, I believe that Radio Free was revived as an Internet radio station, and may still be active as we speak. (Ryan might have the link.)

Scriv, thank deity you've finally posted on the front page! :) But here's a little hint for next time - USE THE SECOND AND THIRD WINDOWS ON THE MOVABLE TYPE EDITOR. (That would be "Additional Comments" and "Excerpt.") Please? For our sake? Thank you.

Back on topic, though. I'm already anticipating the inevitable emergence of both Internet and satellite radio (XM, anyone?) because if anything, it's the only way I know of that can keep new music thriving without resorting to the great evil that is the current record industry. I, for one, can actually see how it should work to the advantage of Hawaiian music, because in a broader format we don't have to lump together the numerous subgenres already in existence (ie. slack-key, Jawaiian, contemporary pop, and just plain local artists) into one station, let alone three reggae-heavy youth-oriented stations and one catering to the traditional/ adult-pop sensibilities as they currently exist on the FM dial. (Also because I've had it up to here with Island musicians bitching about filesharing services like Audiogalaxy in public... but then again, y'all know how I feel about Hawaiian music, and I still have to deal with ClearChannel at my job, so...)

With regards to existing radio stations on this island, though, I really think we could use more classic rock on the dial. And not to betray anyone's age here, but I'm SERIOUSLY waiting for someone to challenge Tom Moffatt's hold on the "oldies radio" market by coming up with another station playing more of the good stuff from the '60s and the '70s. That way I won't have to sit through the ten billionth playing of The Everly Brothers just so I can finally hear something that, you know, rocks.

Speaking of songs, though, I think I should draw up this (abbreviated) request list of Classic Rock Songs That (IMO) Deserve More Airplay:

And there's more, so much more...

 
Posted by Ryan on July 11, 2002 5:37 PM:

I haven't seen RFH in its online incarnation for a while now. A check of it's last URL turns up nothing. A pity.

FYI, Melvin AhChing put up an online archive of Radio Free Hawaii's weekly song list. Just seeing the scanned brick layout brought back the memories.

Random trivia: I designed RFH's first web page back in 1996-1997. I also distributed its playlists as part of my online news service. Ah those heady days of revolutionary media...

Hawaii does have at least a couple of online webcasters, including of course Robert Abbet's trusty Internet Radio Hawaii (since 1995!).

P.S. Lisa, good advice. Here's another good website on the issue of Internet royalties.

 
Posted by Vivi on July 11, 2002 7:09 PM:

Tuned into 105.9 for the past couple of days and am digging the change. Stella, I just heard "Sympathy for the Devil" this morning on the way to the FotL Booksale. Woo-woo!

Anyhow, I do think Hawai'i needs a classic rock station and "The Big Kahuna" fills that need up admirably. Nice thing to have no commercials for the duration of the format change.

This beats the pants off of KPOI's "500 Best Rock n' Roll Songs" marathon this past weekend. I sincerely doubt Linkin Park and Puddle of Mud should have been on that list, but someone at that station thought it was a good idea. ::shrug::

 
Posted by Vivi on July 11, 2002 7:15 PM:

Gah, forgot to mention that Norm's been able to get Jelly's back up and running in a store behind Cutter Ford Aiea. One could always stop by and ask about Radio Free Hawai'i.

 
Posted by Stella on July 11, 2002 10:02 PM:

Apparently someone has been reading this website, because Lava Rock just played "You Can't Always Get What You Want"... wheeeee!!!!

Okay, I better get back to bed...

 
Posted by Linkmeister on July 12, 2002 4:32 PM:

I've been in Jellys in Aiea (kinda my neighborhood used bookstore). The ambiance is emphatically not B&N or Borders, or even Pearl Kai Shopping Center. Shelves and shelves. If somebody describes Norm for me, I'll stop by and ask him about RFH status.

 
Posted by scrivener on July 12, 2002 6:13 PM:

Norm is a late-fifties, Caucasian guy who nearly always wears a cap. One of those beret-looking caps (yet not a beret) with a short bill...like the ones old racecar drivers used to wear.

I just LOVE used CD stores, but Jelly's (as did its previous incarnation, Radio Free Music) ticks me off with two very inconvenient practices: classifying music by decades and not enough bargain stuff.

As for satellite radio, I'm tempted to look into it, but I'm TOO interested in paying for commercial radio. I have to decide if the non-commercial stuff is going to be worth it, not to mention the ability to get NPR and PRI shows at just about any hour (Car Talk and Wait...Wait...Don't Tell Me are on at an inconvenient times for me in Hawaii). I'd like to see subscription prices come down just a little.

 
Posted by Sun on July 12, 2002 6:22 PM:

There's a great photo of Norm with a 2001 HonStarBullet story (the most updated news of RFH I could find) here.

Ryan, I'm not surprised at all that you have RFH connections.

Bring it back! Bring it back!

 
Posted by Ryan on July 12, 2002 8:27 PM:

That was a great article, Sun. Thanks for linking it.

Even though that piece was written last June, my eyes still linger over that line — "investors are interested and are waiting for an open signal" — and hope.

As to the topic of this thread, I've been enjoying 105.9 so far. Though I wish they'd add themselves to Oceanic's digital radio feed so I can get the stuff crystal clear.

 
Posted by Linkmeister on July 12, 2002 9:46 PM:

I will certainly recognize Norm from the photo! I'll tell him to drop by this website when I get there, too.

 
Posted by Vivi on July 13, 2002 7:21 AM:

Hmmm, Linky, are you sure you're not talking about Cheapo's Music? You mentioned something about Pearl Kai Shopping Center. Cheapo's bought the Jelly's Stores a few years back (killing the one in Market City Shopping Center in the process) and changed the Jelly's name to Cheapo's last year. (Re: the article I linked in my other comment). Now that Cheapo's is finally named Cheapo's, Norm could resurrect Jelly's.

Like I said, it's behind Cutter Ford Aiea. Haven't gotten a chance to visit yet.

 
Posted by Linkmeister on July 13, 2002 8:59 AM:

Nope, Vivi, I knew that. I was referring to Pearl Kai as its former home, before the Cheapo's incarnation. Hmm..maybe I'll drop by Jelly's this morning.

 
Posted by NemesisVex on July 13, 2002 7:39 PM:

Huh. I didn't realize Cheapo was a franchise. The one here in Austin has been voted Best Used CD Store in the Austin Chronicle for a number of years, which I think is pretty dumb of Austin voters. When I sell my CDs there, I always get these ridiculously low offers. I only go there when all the other used stores in town doesn't accept my discs. My co-workers at Waterloo don't call it "the King of Lowball" for nothing.

Thing is, the store in Austin looks like same as the one in Colorado. Does it look the same in HNL?

On a more topical note, I haven't listened to the radio in 14 years. Radio is the bonafide lousiest way to find out about new music, and yet, it's the biggest means by which people discover music. It's sad.

 
Posted by Stella on July 13, 2002 8:30 PM:

Yee-up, that looks like the setup at Cheapo's in Honolulu - or at least the one at Puck's Alley. (The records section takes over from the space occupied by Jelly's, which was previously one of those dingy nightclubs, while the book section occupies the space formerly known as Fox Photo.)

And talk about lowball... compared to the peanuts they give me for buying back books and tapes (25 cents each?????) the cash I get from them for my CDs looks like lunch money by comparison.

 
Posted by Stella on July 13, 2002 8:33 PM:

And BTW, in case you were wondering - the space that used to be Jelly's at Market City is now a Ben Franklin Crafts Store. (Up until now it trips me out to go there whenever I need craft supplies and candles, knowing that I once bought my first bottle of Manic Panic hair dye in the same place.)

 
Posted by meri on July 14, 2002 8:22 AM:

Did I ever relate my Jelly's / Massachusetts story here, or was that on a mailing list? Hrm. Lemme look. Hrm. It looks like you folks haven't been subjected to it yet. :) If you're interested in how I stumbled across Jelly's in Massachusetts, I have it up as part of a journal entry from April. Hee!

 
Posted by Stella on July 16, 2002 7:56 PM:

More circumstancial evidence that somebody must be reading this site: I just heard an ad for Jelly's running on the Big Kahuna! (Something about offering a refund to anyone who buys used CDs from them and returns said discs after burning copies of 'em at home, and not offering prices over $12.99...)

This is tripping me out even more than the fact that they've just started playing Van Halen (ah, those piggish David Lee Roth years!) lately.

 
Posted by macpro on August 26, 2002 5:09 AM:

I've read all the comments in this thread, and here is some information regarding Norm and Jellys....

1. Norm hosts a weekly radio show on KUMU AM 1500 called "The Long Lost Oldies Show". It's a 4 hour broadcast on Monday afternoons/eve. from 4PM to8PM. The music mix consists of a lot of obscure oldies from the 50s and 60s and sometimes 70s. The show is "lugged" to you by Jelly's it's sponsor. Norm and his accountant man the show and pay KUMU AM $300 a week to air it.

2. Back in the 90s when Norm sold Jellys to then Tempo Music (in order to continue financing Radio Free Hawaii), part of the deal was that he retain the name of Jellys. Unfortunately, the owners of the then new Jellys kept the name until Norm took it to court and eventually won the name back last year.

3. The reason why you may hear Jellys ads on "The Big Kahuna" is the fact that 105.9 FM is owned and operated by the same firm that owns KUMU FM & AM. I've also heard Jellys ads on The Oldies Station 107.9 FM.

 
Posted by scrivener on August 26, 2002 3:54 PM:

I think I remember a different story. I thought I'd read that Norm sold the store, but that he reserved the right to the Jelly's name, if he should ever want it back. His Radio Free Music Store on Kapiolani was his own idea, I think, and it wasn't until later that he decided he wanted the Jelly's name back.

I guess it amounts to the same thing.

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