Hawaii has been a leader in radio broadcasting since its early days. In the 1920s, the Electric Shop in downtown Honolulu transmitted the state's first radio signals with voice and music. Then, in 1962, ownership changed and the format became religious broadcasting, which was a revolutionary move at the time as it enabled Hawaiians to communicate with each other in their own language. Kimura, a radio producer, had to persuade the broadcaster that the project was worth it. But once people heard their interviews on the air, they were eager to understand what their elders were saying in Hawaiian.
This sparked a desire to be part of it. The radio service bulletin of June 30, 1930 lists frequency allocations to MTC for use as a limited public radio service. This was limited to public correspondence between fixed stations. Eventually, the transceiver was declared surplus and transferred to the original Hawaii Five-O series to be used as an accessory for radio communications. The Kahuku radio station of the communications company RCA de Marconi was one of the first radio sites in Hawaii. The radio unit went from being a military radio operating in the 400 MHz military band, with the deviation and discriminator modified to accept a 19.2 kBaud modulation scheme. In the late 1960s, the University of Hawaii at Manoa began a radio project to test the viability of an ALOHA channel.
Sometimes, the Army asked the radio station to broadcast during usual rest periods so bombers flying from the West Coast could use the signal for navigation. In May 1989, Hawaii Broadcasting Company reached an agreement to transfer KPUA's broadcasting license to Hawaii Radio, Inc. Hawaii talk radio has come a long way since its inception. From its humble beginnings as a limited public service to its current status as an essential part of Hawaiian culture, it has been an integral part of life in Hawaii for decades.
