Hawaii Broadcast Media Update – January 9, 2011.

Off the Map Set to Debut January 12

Cast of ABC TV's Off the Map - Photo by ABC TV

ABC TV’s newest medical show “Off the Map” is set to debut this coming Wednesday night, January 12 at 9:00 pm (Hawaii Time) on KITV Channel 4. The series stars Jonathan Castellanos as Charlie, Valerie Cruz as Zitajalehrena Alvarez (Zee), Caroline Dhavernas as Lily Brenner, Jason Winston George as Otis Cole, Zach Gilford as Tommy Fuller, Mamie Gummer as Mina Minard, Martin Henderson as Dr. Ben Keeton, and Rachelle Lefevre as Dr. Ryan Clark. The series is set in a South American jungle but filmed in Hawaii.

The network and producers took over the Diamond Head studios in Kahala as their base of operations after ABC’s “LOST” wrapped Hawaii production last year. “Off the Map” looks like it will be a “Grey’s Anatomy” set in the jungle. The series is produced by the same people who do “Grey’s” for ABC.

  • Link: Off the Map at ABC TV

  • Hawaii Five-0

    While it’s kind of old news, CBS TV’s Hawaii Five-0 which airs locally Monday nights on KGMB TV Channel 9 at 9pm is the most successful new show of the 2010 – 2011 TV season. The show has been a constant Top 10 hit winning its time slot many times since its debut in September, beating its ABC TV rival “Castle” in recent weeks. On January 5 the program won the Peoples’ Choice Award for “Favorite New TV Drama”. Cast member Scott Caan who plays Danny Willaims was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film.

    Hawaii Five-0 is a hot discussion topic on our affiliated message boards at HawaiiThreads.com. Join in the conversation today.

  • Link: Hawaii Five-0 on CBS

  • Michael Medved to Broadcast from Hawaii

    Michael Medved

    Talk show host Michael Medved will be doing a live radio broadcast of his nationally syndicated show from Honolulu this coming week at the upcoming Smart Business Hawaii conference which will be held on January 12 starting at 7:00 am at the Ala Moana Hotel. Medved’s program is syndicated through the Salem Radio Network and airs locally on KHNR 690 AM Monday through Friday from 12:Noon to 3:00 pm. Medved will be the keynote speaker at the SBH conference. For more details on the conference go to this link:

  • Smart Business Hawaii Conference
  • Michael Medved Show
  • KHNR Hawaii’s Intelligent Talk

  • Old KGMB TV Tower Going Down

    The 432 foot high KGMB TV tower on Kapiolani Blvd. and Makaloa Street is going down. Work crews are slowly dismantling the landmark red and white tower that was once the transmitter for KGMB TV’s analog signal. The property on which the former TV studios of KGMB sits will be converted into a shopping complex. KGMB merged their operations with KHNL and KFVE in late 2009. KGMB broadcasts its digital signal from a new tower located in the Palehua mountains in West Oahu.

  • KGMB’s Iconic Tower Coming Down

  • Around the Radio Dial

    For those people who still listen to the radio, some quick notes and updates here:

    1. Salem Hawaii’s format change of KHUI 99.5 FM from adult standards to Christian Talk was the subject of some discussion board buzz at our Hawaii Threads affiliate site. Most people there were disappointed to see the adult standards format go. A spokesperson from Salem informed me that this was done to migrate listeners of the AM talk format to the FM side. Erika Engle‘s report also noted that Salem “decided to use KHUI’s 100,000-watt FM signal to expand the reach of its core format, Christian teaching and talk…”

    KGU AM may be changing their call sign and format sometime next month.

    After updating the Hawaii Radio & Television Guide Oahu Radio Dial listings I noted that in addition to the changes at KGU, additional changes were recently made to KHCM 97.5 which altered their country music format to play more contemporary hits instead of classic country. They now use the slogan “Hawaii’s Hot Country”.

    KUMU AM 1500 changed its call sign and format late last year to KHKA and dumped music in favor of more ESPN sports / talk programming. This occurred after the station was sold to the same firm thta runs KKEA 1420 AM. Both stations are programmed for ESPN sports talk with KKEA still carrying University of Hawaii sports broadcasts.

    While on the Big Island late last year, I noted that KHBC 92.7 FM and its affiliate KIPA 1060 AM had left the airwaves.  A news report stated that the stations went into bankrupcty last year and are presently for sale. KHBC / KIPA was the home for longtime Hilo radio personality Melvin “Mynah Bird” Medeiros. The stations closure led to his retirement after more than 40 years on the air in Hilo.


    Recently About the Hawaii Radio & Television Guide

    As publisher and editor of this blog and the main Hawaii Radio & Television Guide website, I plan to do more posting and updates to the dial lists in the coming weeks. Starting this week the dial lists are also being duplicated to this blog site. I am looking into getting the blog its own domain name and expanding it a little more.

    If you are a Hawaii or ex-Hawaii radio or TV person and would like some place to blog, contact me. I can set this blog up so that more than one person (you) can contribute as a volunteer columnist for this blog.

    In the meantime subscribe to this blog and bookmark our main site. You can also join our Twitter stream too.

    — Melvin Ah Ching, Editor & Publisher

    admin

    Melvin Ah Ching is a photographer, consultant, blogger, desktop publisher, and computer enthusiast living and working in Hawaii. The Hawaii Files have been online since 2006.