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TheBuzz
Erika Engle
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Along with radio, TV and other gigs, Spaz will do magazine publishing
HE'S BEEN a radio personality, a club DJ and rapper, recording artist, a DJ instructor, healthy lifestyle promoter, community volunteer, an executive producer and host of his own TV show. By way of disclosure, he also has been a co-worker of your columnist in years past.
Now, Kutmaster Spaz is adding a new title -- magazine publisher.
DIS-N-DAT Magazine will debut Tuesday, on the 4th of July, with free distribution of 10,000 copies at Hawaii's Borders locations.
The $2.95 cover price will be waived for the first issue.
The next issue of the bimonthly magazine is due out in September and will be distributed statewide at Borders, Foodland, Safeway, Longs and other stores.
"It was in my mind about a year and a half ago, when we started syndicating (DIS-N-DAT TV) in Las Vegas," Spaz said. "I was thinking, 'what's next?'"
He and business partner Erwin Baracao have put the pedal to the metal over the past six months to see the first issue come to fruition. Baracao, a graphic designer by trade, has previous magazine industry experience.
The magazine will partly be an extension of DIS-N-DAT TV, which has been carried by Oceanic Time Warner Cable on OC16 since October 2003.
The inaugural issue will feature actress Gina Hiraizumi on the cover. She was interviewed for the TV show, but only about two minutes were aired. "We talked about her background and her morals. She's an actress and she's very cautious about the parts she takes, and she talks about that in the magazine," Spaz said.
The magazine also will have more from the brief interview DIS-N-DAT TV got with the group Public Enemy when they were in town.
"But (the magazine) will have other things besides the TV show," such as promotion of entertainment, fashion and positive lifestyles, aimed at an 18-to-34-year-old audience, he said.
Spaz has been promoting a positive lifestyle since at least the 1990s. He has been known to counsel older colleagues, expressing concern for unhealthy habits and behaviors.
THE PARTNERS know they are jumping into crowded waters.
"There's a lot of good magazines out there, but we have a branded name," Spaz said. Each episode of the TV show is viewed by at least 10,000 to 30,000 households, he said, providing a solid foundation on which to build magazine sales.
Between the TV show, magazine and other endeavors, 24 people work for Spaz and Baracao, including a sales staff of five, and all "really have a strong faith in the company," he said.
He would only divulge his age as "30-something" and readily admitted he is in heady territory.
"I never thought I would be in this position. I never thought I would be a host or executive producer of a TV show. I never thought I would be a publisher. I was happy just being in radio," he said.
"I realized that the way media changes, the way business is, you have to take control of your own career. Instead of working for somebody, I decided to make my own destiny, instead of waiting for it."
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin. Call 529-4747, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210, Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached at:
eengle@starbulletin.com