|
TheBuzz
Erika Engle
|
Sports radio in Hawaii getting some competition
HONOLULU'S sports radio station, KKEA-AM 1420, soon will get evening and Saturday competition on the AM dial.
Oahu-based Starcomm Sports Radio, which for years has provided sports broadcasts to radio stations, is taking its action to KORL-AM 690 beginning at 6 p.m. Friday.
"We're going to broadcast over 50 high school games ... over the school year," Starcomm President Ladden Panis said.
Starcomm's programming will air on the station from 6 to 11 p.m. weekdays and from 4:30 to 11 p.m. Saturdays, the hours the company has paid for, in a time-brokerage agreement.
As there aren't high school or other sporting events of note each night of the week, the bulk of that programming will be beamed in from the Chicago-based Sporting News Radio Network.
Much of KKEA's programming comes from ESPN, hence that station's recent rebranding to ESPN Radio. Heck, ESPN even won the battle to rename ABC's Wide World of Sports, for cryin' out loud.
KORL's Starcomm programming will be football-heavy at first, but it also will carry boys' and girls' basketball and volleyball as well as softball, Panis said.
BYU Hawaii basketball and other NCAA Division II games also will be carried on KORL, he said.
"Our goal during the week is ... to market to the local sports community," Panis said.
St. Louis School's athletic department has purchased time to air a show Tuesday evenings at 7, and "we hope to have other schools," Panis said.
To add variety to the programming, former Miss Hawaii Traci Toguchi will host a variety show, and there will be a real estate program. But the focus primarily will be on the local sports community, he said.
KORL's programming is carried on Oceanic Time Warner Cable's digital Channel 882, and there are plans to stream via the Internet, which also made the deal interesting to Panis.
Eventually, KORL's signal will swap with that of KHCM-AM 1180, which belongs to California-based Salem Communications Corp. The signal swap is part of a deal originally reported in this space in May.
Katrina kokua endures
Only 10 Hawaii restaurants are signed up so far for this year's Restaurants for Relief 2 fundraiser for Hurricane Katrina Relief -- and the event is Tuesday.
The nonprofit organization Share Our Strength, in partnership with the Food Network and the National Restaurant Association, is encouraging restaurants to participate in various ways, such as donating a percentage of the day's sales and encouraging employees to donate.
The number or participating restaurants changes daily, according to the Web site, but as of Friday afternoon, eight restaurants on Oahu and two on Maui were the only ones participating.
On Oahu, eateries include the four locations of Big City Diner; Buca di Beppo; Kincaid's Fish, Chop & Steak House; Palomino and Ryan's Grill. On Maui, Haliimaile General Store and The Fairmont Kea Lani are signed up.
Big City Diner will donate a dollar from each dessert sold while Buca and Haliimaile General Store will donate 5 percent of food sales.
Kincaid's, Palomino and Ryan's will donate $1 for each guest served.
The Fairmont will donate proceeds from all mai tais sold in its restaurants.
Searches by zip code turned up no participating restaurants on the Big Island or Kauai -- but given that 2006 has not been easy for the Garden Isle, perhaps the Big Easy will understand its nonparticipation.
Funds raised will help rebuild school cafeterias, support meal programs and help restaurant workers still struggling in Katrina's lingering aftermath, according to the Share Our Strength Web site.
CLARIFICATION
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
» The Web site for KORL-AM 690 is now www.hhawaiimedia.net/KORLradio.htm. A column on Page D1 Sunday gave another URL, which was discontinued after the column was prepared.
|
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