Radio Free Hawaii is Back

[theradiokid]

On saturday, May 24, at 9A.M., Radio Free Hawaii returned to the airr. This time, it returned on KUCD HD2 at 101.9-2. You can find them on the web at: www.hdradiofreehawaii.com. You can listen to them online there, too. I've been listening to them online for the last few days. It's mostly automated Alternative music. However, for me, this brings up a question: Was the old terestrial Radio Free Hawaii like that -- mostly automated alternative music? From what I can gather from reading posts on another message board, it was not. One person said: "It was a little all over the map for me. At least KTUH had a schedule as to when stuff was on. So, if someone could please listen to the new encarnation of RFH, and then compare it to the old one for me, I'd appreciate it. I kinda imagined the old Radio Free Hawaii as kinda like the first Jack-FM station, playing anything. I was disappointed when I heard the mostly alternative leaning version that's now on the air.

--The Radio Kid
(AKA Oswego Jeremy, as nicknamed by George of the Radio Racket.)
My email: [email protected].

 

[theradiokid]

Okay. 17 days later, and there's no response. Hmmm. Guess Radio Free Hawaii wasn't very popular. Either that, or, noone, and I mean noone, else on this board is listening to it, has noticed it, or cares. Noone has any thoughts on this? Wow. What a sad state of afairs. When someone from all the way on the East Coast of the mainland brings Hawaii news to this board, noone from Hawaii wants to comment on it. Sad.

--The Radio Kid
(AKA Oswego Jeremy, as nicknamed by George of the Radio Racket.)
My email: [email protected].

 

[icycool7227]

I've never even heard of Radio Free Hawaii. And please note there's not much board activity here as you can see. There is a Hawaii radio board elsewhere if you wish to venture there.

Okay. 17 days later, and there's no response. Hmmm. Guess Radio Free Hawaii wasn't very popular. Either that, or, noone, and I mean noone, else on this board is listening to it, has noticed it, or cares. Noone has any thoughts on this? Wow. What a sad state of afairs. When someone from all the way on the East Coast of the mainland brings Hawaii news to this board, noone from Hawaii wants to comment on it. Sad.

--The Radio Kid
(AKA Oswego Jeremy, as nicknamed by George of the Radio Racket.)
My email: [email protected].

 

[Doctah]

OK, I'll jump in because no one else has. The original RFH relied completely on ballot box entries (this was right before the Internet went mainstream) -- so believe it or not, people used to right out their picks and submit them into ballot boxes all over the island. RFH would pick up those ballots, tally them, and count down the top 36 songs of the week. They'd also sledgehammer off the air the song voted the worst on the airwaves.
Those top 36 got the most airplay, but any song that earned a vote got some airplay. Eventually, RFH would ask for people to vote their favorite artists, which expanded the playlist even more. The mix was eclectic. Yes, alternative was well represented -- Jane's Addiction, Depeche Mode, you name it. Reggae was huge. Ska was big -- Sublime got its first big airplay on RFH, then became popular on the mainland. (Dance Hall Crashers were huge.) But Pachebel's "Canon in D" became a huge hit -- yep, a classical orchestra track. Cookie Monster's "C is for Cookie" was huge for a time. Plenty of hip-hop. Some Hawaiian and Jawaiian. A few country tracks. Heavy metal. Pop. Jazz. The original RFH played it all. And as far as I can tell, no other commercial radio station has ever come close to being that diverse. Definitely not the "Jack-FM" format, which is mostly classic rock and alternative.
Doesn't sound like the new RFH is as diverse or adventurous. I still miss the original!

 

[radiosanchez]

OK, I'll jump in because no one else has.

Didn't it run on KDEO-FM (102.7), now Da Bomb?

 

[Doctah]

Yep, the Radio Revolution is on 102.7 Radio Free Hawaii
KDEO-FM Waipahu/Honolulu

 

[theradiokid]

OK, I'll jump in because no one else has. The original RFH relied completely on ballot box entries (this was right before the Internet went mainstream) -- so believe it or not, people used to right out their picks and submit them into ballot boxes all over the island. RFH would pick up those ballots, tally them, and count down the top 36 songs of the week. They'd also sledgehammer off the air the song voted the worst on the airwaves.
Those top 36 got the most airplay, but any song that earned a vote got some airplay. Eventually, RFH would ask for people to vote their favorite artists, which expanded the playlist even more. The mix was eclectic. Yes, alternative was well represented -- Jane's Addiction, Depeche Mode, you name it. Reggae was huge. Ska was big -- Sublime got its first big airplay on RFH, then became popular on the mainland. (Dance Hall Crashers were huge.) But Pachebel's "Canon in D" became a huge hit -- yep, a classical orchestra track. Cookie Monster's "C is for Cookie" was huge for a time. Plenty of hip-hop. Some Hawaiian and Jawaiian. A few country tracks. Heavy metal. Pop. Jazz. The original RFH played it all. And as far as I can tell, no other commercial radio station has ever come close to being that diverse. Definitely not the "Jack-FM" format, which is mostly classic rock and alternative.
Doesn't sound like the new RFH is as diverse or adventurous. I still miss the original!

No, it doesn't. I've checked them out again, and, other than their top 30 countdown, their still playing mostly automated alternative music. What a shame! From your description, I deffinetly would've liked to have heard the original version of Radio Free Hawaii, since it sounded totally, um, free!

--The Radio Kid
(AKA Oswego Jeremy, as nicknamed by George of the Radio Racket.)
My email: [email protected].