TheBuzz Erika Engle

Kauai company offers opportunities to ditch drudgery of corporate radio

The term equity these days can raise mental images of lofty names like Blackstone Group, Carlyle Group or Kohlberg, Kravis Roberts & Co., firms with bazillions of dollars to spend, buying out companies here and there.

That is clearly not what the ad is about, as it asks the reader, "Tired of corporate radio?"

It offers an ownership opportunity in Kauai-based H. Hawaii Media, one of the radio businesses operated by broadcaster and publisher George Hochman.

But what a minute. Didn't you just read recently that Hochman would be swapping one radio station for another and would be getting an additional $1 million in the deal?

Yes, you did. That was a deal involving Hochman's Oahu radio operation, KORL-AM 690, run by Hochman-McCann Hawaii Inc.

"I'm not looking for an investor," he said.

"I'm kind of testing the waters. I put the ad in there because I'm looking for some better qualified people," to lead and train the "fine people" he already has working in his sales department.

The equity Hochman is offering involves elbow grease.

"I'm not going to give anybody an option," he said. However, if somebody wants work toward "a couple of points, at the end of the day, after their hard work, they have more than just a job. It's a good deal," he said.

The cachet of the word Hawaii in the ad has drawn significant interest from major markets, including New York City and Chicago, Hochman said.

The "tire-kickers" who are calling and e-mailing him "are all saying, 'We just don't like this corporate radio. It's not radio. It's not fun,'" he said.

"It's the grind, the pressure. It's relentless and it burns them out," he said.

"I'm telling them, 'You're not going to make $200,000 a year on Kauai,'" indicating their annual take would be more like $50,000 -- and some are still interested.

Hochman will take his time sifting to separate the dreamers from the serious candidates and hopes he will be close to a decision by the end of the summer.