J. Aku Head Pupule

Many people in media take on stages names. It may be to appear more ethnically neutral, but more often it is to make their name simpler, shorter and easier to remember. He was born Herschel Hohenstein, and was using the name Hal Lewis. But on the radio he used the on air name J. Aku Head Pupule.  The word "Aku" is a type of fish, also called a bonito, it's used often in sushi. The word "pupule" is Hawaiian for crazy. Thus Aku Head Puple means Crazy Fish Head.. In 1975 he actually sued Mr. Earle E. Aku for misappropriating his stage-name. At one point in the 1950s it was said that Pupule was the highest paid DJ in the world. Estimates ran as high as half a million dollars a year. This will take some explaining.

A native New Yorker, all accounts have him relocating to Hawaii from San Francisco in 1947. He was playing fiddle as an entertainer on a cruise-liner and jumped ship in Honolulu where he waltzed into KGMB-AM and became an announcer. He was young, and broke and slept on the beach. He was fired for insubordination about 2 months later. He scraped by writing for the Hilo Hattie program and writing for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU). Then he stumbled into a morning slot at KPOA-AM.

While treating that lucky break a bit too seriously he began identifying the time a little too often. Then he gave it incorrectly. A caller called him an aku-head. He kept the name and his style evolved. He mixed cranky political commentary with pranks, stunts and all the zany bells, buzzers and whistles of a Spike Jones routine.

In 1957 in a publicity stunt, Mr. Akuhead then at KHVH-AM and  Don Sherwood at KSFO-AM switched places. It was said that consternation and hilarity ensued. When Hawaii became a state in 1959 he covered the event with all due seriousness on air. This was only 8 years after he had announced it...in yet another prank.

He moved on to 650 KORL-AM around 1960 then 760 KGU-AM before returning to KGMB in 1965. He remained there for 17 years. He was also on KMVI in that window. Hal died in 1983. He knew he was dying. He read a heartfelt farewell message. But shortly before his death he pranked Honolulu one last time with coverage of a parade which included a fictitious appearance by Tom Selleck. Yes Magnum P.I. jokes to the bitter end.

Mahalo Lucky Luck

Radio History is biased toward the mainland.  The residents of the contiguous 48-states do think of Alaska, Puerto Rico, Guam, Hawaii and the other territories and states as the back 40. We don't take a lot of notice of what's going on back there. But Honolulu is market #64, Puerto Rico is market #14! With their rapidly expanding population centers it is no longer acceptable to disregard these markets. A failure as a programmer to understand the radio history of these markets does them a disservice. An attempt by a radio group to serve San Juan like they serve Boston would result in utter failure.

This is no more obvious than in the story of Robert Melvin "Lucky" Luck. In 1967 Lucky Luck became the PD of brand new KCCN-AM.  It was one of the very first "ethnic" Hawaiian radio stations. Previous to this time, there was not enough commercial Hawaiian music with which to forge a playlist. Lucky used data from juke box operators Mid-Pacific Island and Aloha State to program his station. He was interested in building a library to support an entirely new and local format. Billboard wrote a blurb on it in 1968:

"KCCN works with a 60 tune playlist. principally LPs and the material encompasses songs of a Hawaiian nature by Percy Faith, Elvis Presley, Henry Mancini, George Greeley, Sammy Kaye, Frankie Carle.  these songs are called haole (Caucasian) hits. Luck admits there isn't enough strong authentic Hawaiian material to fill the stations program day."

He didn't start his career at KCCK-AM. Actually he didn't even start it in Hawaii.  He was born a few thousand miles away in Waco, Texas. His interest in what was then called Polynesia started while he was a Marine stationed in Samoa. While he was there he became fluent enough to serve as an interpreter during World War II. He went native as they say. He relocated permanently to Honolulu and went into radio. More here.

Before KCCK-AM he was on KPOA-AM, he started there in 1954. Paradise of the Pacific Magazine called him "the Jackie Gleason of Hawaii." He was well known for his "buffoonery", he did impersonations: Louis Armstrong, Clark Gable, Andy Devine and various regional Hawaiian accents. He was already Hawaii's highest paid entertainer. He later worked at  KGU-AM. He had a program from 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM called "Lucky's Luau."  The trade rag Media-scope described him as an "easy going conversationalist."

He also had a program on KHVH-TV, a Kaiser television station. By the 1970s his fame was great enough to warrant his own TV program “The Lucky Luck Show” on KONA-TV an NBC affiliate. By the late 1960s he was getting cameos in movies like Kona Coast. He developed a fixation on all things Hawaiian.He owned a tiki bar The Okole Maluna Lounge. He became a recording artist and recorded Hawaiian music.  He even published a Hawaiian cook book. I wish I knew more, but I can't even find an obituary.

Hawaii Calls!

The program traces its origin to July 3, 1935 when the first Hawaii Calls radio program was broadcast on mediumwave at 7370 kHz under the callsign KEQ. The program was performed live at the Moana Hotel on the beach at Waikiki. The program was created and hosted by Island radio pioneer Webley Edwards. It focused almost entirely on local artists, playing Hawaiian music. At it's peak the program was carried on 600 radio stations across North America and the Pacific rim.Edwards learned his radio chops at KOAC, the campus station of Oregon Agricultural College. On the American mainland the program was probably hear d at 11-m or later. But in Hawaii that was 5pm, a prime-time program. This was via KIO on 25.6 metres. In 1938, station station 760 KGU-AM in Honolulu started carrying it locally. In 1943 KGMB picked up the production from Webley Edwards. But that didn't' last. They handed it off to KHON who in turn passed it to KPOA in the 1950s as it's popularity faded. More here.


The program ceased in 1975 with only 10 stations still running the program. For most of it's run the government of Hawaii had been subsidizing the production costs. Without that funding the ratings book mattered all the more. More here.
For a shortwave program this enjoyed great popularity. Capitol Records released a slew of "Webley Edwards present Hawaii Calls albums." They contained a mix of wave noises, schlock, and authentic Hawaiian music. Many of the featured local artists on these albums went on to release solo albums and even short careers. I own a number of these. The releases dates all seem to fall between 1956 and 1966. Only a fraction of these are still in print.

Webley Edwards went on to be the first broadcaster to announce news of the attack on Pearl harbor and was also present for the surrender of japan aboard the USS Missouri. He went on to the state legislature of Hawaii. The Internet Radio Station Aloha Joe vintage Hawaii calls Programs every Sunday.

Pearl Harbor and Radio

"We interrupt this program" They never interrupt programs with news anymore. This is not to say that we lack news of significance. It's more of a structural and cultural change. Radio has all but abandoned Morning news for the morning zoo.

On TV our morning news programs contain more fashion, gossip and feel-good human interest bits than anything else. Our radio stations run automation, voice-tracking and satellite feeds. Programming decisions are made from afar with a minimum of decisions made in the community served.

You might point out that radio disseminated emergency information during Hurricane Katrina and the California Wildfires. But those were prolonged events. the floods lasted months, and the fires as well. In the past radio reacted more quickly to news events. I cite for example, Pearl Harbor and Radio. More here.

The NBC Red network even managed to get live reports from the roof of KGU in Honolulu. Though their reporter was cut off by a telephone operator seizing the line for emergency use.