At last, some Hawaiian music
I can recall my life-long friend, Barney, once commenting how few radio stations in Hawaii played good Hawaiian music. Of course, that was many years ago. Today, there are a few true to the music, Hawaiian stations in Hawaii.
But, what about here in Southern California? None that I could think of played any traditional, or even contemporary music from Hawaii. Until recently.
'The new kid on the block'
Enter Kamaka Brown and Mark Christian, and their baby, The Sandwich Islands Network. This is their internet website which streams "island" music 24/7 during the week. It has been up and running for several months now and has now incorporated several 'live' two-hour segments in radio show format on a weekly basis.
Now, anyone from Woodland Hills, California to Rye, New York can tune in and enjoy the island music at anytime. It's as simple as turning on your computer, going to their 'station' (website: www.v93fm.com) and clicking on the 'listen' link.
As a matter of fact, anyone in the world can tune in, since the internet is global in its reach. This station is not limited by distance. It really is, 'spanning the globe.'
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday night live!
They refer to each other as, 'menehune' or 'kahuna' when working the live segments during the week. And they have fun. Mark is the main menehune manning the control both, while Kamaka is the Big Kahuna behind the mike, conversing with callers, spinning island favorites, and throwing out zingers in pidgin english.
Local boy, Clinton Lee has been anointed the 'chef' for the network as he regularly brings in his samples of home cooking that he's prepared for Kamaka and Mark to sample and share with their listeners over the internet.
Here's the live broadcast schedule: Wednesdays, 10:00 a.m. to Noon, Kamaka visits the Reggae scene with, 'Plate Lunch Special'; on Thursdays, 10:00 a.m. to Noon, it's Kamaka's 'North Shore Drive' program created for all the locals and expatriate Hawaiians and Hawaiians at heart, and on Friday evenings, on 'Radio free Papaya', between 10:00 p.m and Midnight, he spins some cool jazz tunes from here to Hamburg.
There is no more room to complain that here in Los Angeles we cannot hear any good Hawaiian stations, playing 'island' music.
It's all here. At the touch of your keyboard.
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