Throwback Thursday:
KKUA Radio’s Top 69 Hits of 1971
We resume our Throwback Thursday (#TBT) posts which will occasionally pull content from our Hawaii Radio & Television Guide Archive. First up, is the Top 69 Hits of 1971 from KKUA Radio.
KKUA was the dominant top 40 radio station in Hawaii in the mid 1970s. They had a strong AM signal at 690 on the dial and could be heard throughout most of the state. Their main rival was KPOI which broadcast at 1380 on the AM dial as well as 97.5 on FM. KPOI’s AM played top 40 and was the most popular pop music station in Hawaii through much of the 1960s and early 1970s. Their FM played album rock tracks.
Every year, KKUA counted down the year’s Top 69 songs. The chart below is from the Top 69 of 1971 which listed Three Dog Night‘s “Joy to the World” as the #1 song of the year.
| Rank and Title | Artist | Peak Pos. on Top 20 |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Joy To The World | Three Dog Night | 1 |
| 2. I’ve Found Someone of My Own | Free Movement | 1 |
| 3. Just My Imagination | Temptations | 1 |
| 4. Smiling Faces (Sometimes) | Undisputed Truth | 1 |
| 5. Timothy | The Buoys | 1 |
| 6. Go Away Little Girl | Donny Osmond | 1 |
| 7. Knock Three Times | Dawn | 1 |
| 8. Indian Reservation | The Raiders | 1 |
| 9. One Bad Apple | Osmonds | 1 |
| 10. Chatto-Matte-Kudasai | Sam Kapu | 1 |
| 11. My Sweet Lord | George Harrison | 1 |
| 12. Precious & Few * | Climax featuring Sonny Geraci | 1 |
| 13. I’m So Poud | Main Ingredient | 1 |
| 14. Sweet City Woman | The Stampeders | 1 |
| 15. Life Is That Way | Jose Feliciano | 1 |
| 16. It’s Impossible | Perry Como | 1 |
| 17. Domino | Van Morrison | 1 |
| 18. Superstar | The Carpenters | 1 |
| 19. Woodstock | Matthew’s Southern Comfort | 2 |
| 20. Never Can Say Goodbye | Jackson Five | 2 |
| 21. Gypsies, Tramps & Theives | Cher | 2 |
| 22. Maggie May | Rod Stewart | 2 |
| 23. Yo Yo | Osmonds | 2 |
| 24. Sweet & Innocent | Donny Osmond | 2 |
| 25. It’s Too Late | Carole King | 2 |
| 26. Mr. Big Stuff | Jean Knight | 1 |
| 27. Stay Awhile | The Bells | 2 |
| 28. Don’t Pull Your Love | Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds | 2 |
| 29. If | Bread | 2 |
| 30. Black Magic Woman | Santana | 2 |
| 31. For All We Know | The Carpenters | 2 |
| 32. The Pushbike Song | Mixtures | 2 |
| 33. Mandrill | Mandrill | 2 |
| 34. I Can’t Stop | Osmonds | 2 |
| 35. Tears of A Clown | Smokey Robinson & the Miracles | 2 |
| 36. Stick-Up | Honeycone | 2 |
| 37. Liar | Three Dog Night | 2 |
| 38. Watcha See, is Watcha Get | The Dramatics | 2 |
| 39. Your Song | Elton John | 3 |
| 40. Draggin’ The Line | Tommy James | 2 |
| 41. Morning Of Our Lives | The Arkade | 3 |
| 42. How Can You Mend A Broken Heart | Bee Gees | 3 |
| 43. I Hear Those Churchbells | Dusk | 2 |
| 44. Proud Mary | Ike & Tina Turner | 2 |
| 45. I Love You For All Seasons | Fuzz | 3 |
| 46. We Can Make It Girl | Society of Seven | 3 |
| 47. Ain’t No Sunshine | Bill Withers | 3 |
| 48. Albert Flasher | Guess Who | 3 |
| 49. Most of All | B.J. Thomas | 3 |
| 50. Three Cheers For Love | Dick Jensen | 3 |
| 51. Mama’s Pearl | Jackson Five | 4 |
| 52. Rainy Days And Mondays | The Carpenters | 4 |
| 53. No Matter What | Badfinger | 4 |
| 54. I Do Take You | Three Degrees | 4 |
| 55. Somebody’s Been Sleeping | 100 Proof Aged in Soul | 4 |
| 56. Just An Old Fashioned Love Song | Three Dog Night | 4 |
| 57. I Just Want To Celebrate | Rare Earth | 4 |
| 58. Put Your Hand In The Hand | Ocean | 4 |
| 59. Oye Como Va | Santana | 4 |
| 60. Love Means (You Never Have To Say You’re Sorry) | Sounds of Sunshine | 4 |
| 61. Games | Redeye | 5 |
| 62. Brown Sugar | Rolling Stones | 5 |
| 63. Lola | The Kinks | 5 |
| 64. I Dig Everything About You | The Mob | 5 |
| 65. Love Song | The Vogues | 5 |
| 66. What Are You Doing Sunday? | Dawn | 5 |
| 67. Baby I’m A Want You | Bread | 5 |
| 68. Frisco Bay | Society of Seven | 5 |
| 69. Born To Wonder | Rare Earth | 5 |
CHART NOTES:
The big hit of 1971 that was played to death on KKUA and practically all other top 40 stations was Three Dog Night‘s “Joy To The World.” The song was at the number one spot for was seven weeks, making it the most popular song on KKUA.
That year a number of local records got airplay on mainstream Top 40 radio. The most prominent local hit of 1971 was Sam Kapu‘s “Chatto Matte Kudasai” which at first sounded totally out of place on a top 40 format, but eventually got so popular that it went number one in the summer summer. Records by the Society of Seven, who at the time had a record deal with Uni Records (which later became MCA) charted with the singles “We Can Make It Girl,” and “Frisco Bay”. Dick Jensen charted with his top 40 hit single, “Three Cheers For Love.” The local hits are indicated by blue type.
* Climax‘s “Precious And Few” was a number 1 hit in Hawaii during the summer of 1971 before breaking out nationally in 1972. The group was very popular in Hawaii having charted several more times with the hits “Life And Breath,” “Walking in the Georgia Rain” and “Caroline This Time”.
Several nationally released singles were hot in Hawaii and nowhere else. These included “Morning of Our Lives” by The Arkade, “Life is That Way” by José Feliciano, “I Dig Everything About You” by The Mob, “Love Song” by The Vogues, “Mandrill” by Mandrill, “I Can’t Stop” by The Osmonds, “I Hear Those Churchbells Ringing” by Dusk, and “The Pushbike Song” by The Mixtures.
Other songs that got a lot of airplay in 1971 that did not make this chart included “Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep” by Middle of the Road, “Give Up Your Guns” by The Buoys and “Keep it in the Family” by The Road Home.
Among the popular albums of 1971 were Three Dog Night‘s “Naturally” which contained the #1 hit “Joy To The World” as well as the very radio friendly ballad “Sunlight,” a track that never was released as a single. Also popular was Carole King‘s “Tapestry”, Santana‘s “Abraxus”, Sly & the Family Stone‘s “There’s a Riot Going On,” and several albums by the Jackson Five and Osmonds.
KKUA’s 1971 Personalities included the following:
Jim Peters 6:AM
Steven B. Williams 9:AM
Gene Davis 12 noon
Ron King 3:PM
Scott Edwards 6:PM
Dick Wainwright 9:PM
Rick Shannon Midnight
