Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 25, Number 9, 1 Kepakemapa 2008 — Flying high on the airwaves [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Flying high on the airwaves

Q&A with the 'Honolulu Skylark'

lnterviewed by Liza Simen Public Affairs Specialist Before she was ehristened Honolulu Skylark, Jacqueline Leilani Rossetti was a college student in San Francisco, where her favorite touch of home was a collection of 7 : r.p.m. hula records - a present from her nioni. One day, during Saturday morning chores in her tiny apartment, the amplified sounds of Genoa Keawe attracted a knoek on her door. But the neighbor who stood before her was there to smile - not scold. He turned out to be an engineer at a trendy Bay 7Area public radio station. At his invitation, Jackie the college co-ed became the host of a popular Hawaiian music radio program. Aunid airwaves dominated by Top 40, she offered a rare oasis

of chalangalang fun. Thus, Skylark began her break-da-mold-kine ways in radio. At KCCN-AM 1420, she helped establish the Hawaiian music format that served to inspire the Kanaka Maoli cultural reawakening of the 1970s. At KCCN's bidding in 1990, she became the manager and operator of FM 100 - a hip but distinctively homegrown outlet for loeal music talent, too often overlooked by the formulaic conimercial stations elsewhere, even in Hawai'i. While she's wrought change - some might say revolution - for Hawaiian music and musicians, she's done so without confrontation, just by being hemahenahe self - so evident in hermelodious voice. Now the melodious voice is back and broadcasting at KCCN stomping grounds - part of the

Cox Radio group these days. Reunited with radio luminary and former KCCN personality Kinio Kahoano, she is the new co-host of Nā 'Ōiwi 'Ōlino, the Hawaiian talk radio show produced by OHA and aired weekday mornings from 6:30 to 9 on three islands. She is filling in for Brickwood Galuteria, who's on break to run for politieal office, and is co-hosting via live hook-up from Hilo where she now makes her home and works as a full-time coordinator for the Hawai'i īsland Eeonomie Development Board - while also (as one might expect) keeping a toehold in radio with an afternoon broadcast on KAPA FM. KWO caught up with her to get a look at Hawaiian radio, past and present. Q: First of all, how does itfeel to he haek in your old digs under very different circumstances? A: īt's made me realize that we've eome full circle. When ī began at KCCN, we were all about keeping Hawaiian music alive, but the music carried the wisdom of our ancient forefathers. And now that same sense of pride is going into the uplifting of a Hawaiian nation. It feels very fulfilling. Q: What do you say to all the skeptics predicting that new digital media will kill loeal radio? A: Radio is here to stay because it has this certain magic. Use it right, and it lets the listener create vivid imagery and flavor. It's flexible. It goes with you to the beach or the mountains. In Hawai'i it has special importance, because it's the easiest way to connect across geographieal barriers, when other electronic media fail. We saw this so clearly after the earthquake (in 2006). Q: When you returned to Honolulu from San Francisco in the 1970s, you hroke the gender harrier hy becoming one of the island's first female deejays during drive-time. How did that happen? A: First, I studied and got my

radio and telephone operators license, whieh was a requirement back then. So I got hired to do calibrations for the tower signal but not to host. But I loved radio, so it didn't matter. I landed three jobs simultaneously. At KNDI, I had the ehanee to play music on the nightshift - a time when a lot of Hawaiian musicians were getting off their showroom gigs in Waikīkl. They heard me spinning all these discs in the Hawaiian groove and they loved it. That got me an audition at KCCN, where I got asked if I could read the news and pronounce Hawaiian names correctly. No problem! I was a Kamehameha grad. But I didn't want to be another girl just reading on the radio. I wanted to share the music. I have Krash Kealoha to thank for saying, "Put her on afternoons. It will work." Q: As popular as KCCN heeame, weren't you subjected to the business whims of out-of-state ownership? A: We had a series of owners from Texas, including one who eame along and wanted to limit us to the old Jack de Mello sound. We refused and they fired the entire deejay staff. Well, the entire island just erupted! Sent in petitions until they hired us all back. That's when we started calling ourselves Station Aloha. Staff and audience were really 'ohana. Q: Are there any moments that you recall as really capturing the joy of Station Aloha? A: I got to listen to our kūpuna musicians. People like Alvin Isaacs would eome by the studio and bring us all Chinese food, just to show thanks for playing the music. At one point, I had collected hun-

dreds of hours of interviews with these living legends. With the help of Ellen Pelissero, we submitted them to the Smithsonian Fofklife Festival. That's where they became part of the national heritage series. Q: You built FM 100 and coined the format genre known as Island Music. What was the inspiration for that? A: We knew that FM would reach a wider and younger audienee, the kind that was already listening to Walter Aipolani who was experimenting with a blend of styles, not just traditional. We never thought of abandoning the traditional. We just built bridges to it by mixing it with cuts from Bruddah Walter, some Olomana, maybe a pop hit here and there. Q: FM 100 took a lot ofradio industry professionals by surprise, because it did well in the ratings even though it didn't follow any established pop chart formula. Were you also surprised? A: Oh, very mueh so. At the first FM 100 Birthday Bash, we figured we'd get maybe 50 people out at Aloha Tower. Instead, they eame by the thousands. I got scoldings from the poliee for not having enough security. But we didn't realize the impact we were having. Q: Will you be bringing any focus from your full-time job at the Hawaii Island Eeonomie Development Board to your onair chats with Kimo Kahoano and guests? A: Definitely. As Hawaiians, we need to shore up our future by building a sustainable economy and keep money and resources in the state. This is another way to honor the wisdom of our kūpuna. □

WALA'AU ■ ĪALKING STŪRY

Popular radio hosts 'Honolulu Skylark' Jacqueline Leilani Rossetti and Kimo Kahoano join forces - and personalities - on Nū 'Ōiwi 'Ōlino, the OHAproduced morning rodio show. - Photo: Courtesy of Kimo Akane