TheBuzz Erika Engle

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Radio wheeling and dealing on the Big Island, Oahu

BIG Island broadcaster Buddy Gordon has sold KHBC-AM 1060 in Hilo for $450,000, but he's not retiring from radio.

Gordon's Hilo Broadcasting LLC has sold the station to Idaho-based Parrott Broadcasting LP, which also owns KHWI-FM 92.7 in Hilo and which will own KHWA-FM 92.1 in Kona, once it is built.

The deal requires Federal Communications Commission approval.

KHBC programming has been simulcasting on KHWI since August in what was first announced as a local marketing agreement between Gordon and Parrott General Partner Scott Parker. Gordon told TheBuzz in August that he expected the arrangement to be permanent and now we know why.

Gordon will stay on as general manager, and "I'm going to help him build" KHWA in Kona, he said.

Parker could not be reached.

The simulcast has put legendary Hilo radio personality Mel "Mynah Bird" Medeiros on the FM dial for the first time in his storied career, which began in 1955.

Gordon has been a broadcaster for 40 years, since his late father joined KIPA-AM 620 as part owner and general manager in 1967. The younger Gordon did a Saturday night show back then.

He owned the station when his father died in 1979, but after ownership restructuring, his departure and subsequent purchase of KHBC, he says he's "getting out of the ownership business."

Parker will allow Gordon's nonprofit Malama Na Mele, on a mission to create a digital archive of recorded Hawaiian music, to continue to use station facilities.

Disclosure: Your columnist once worked for Gordon at KIPA, then worked with Medeiros at the old KPUA-AM 970 where, doing the overnight shift, you bet I had his coffee ready every morning!

Second FM for Hochman

Kauai-based broadcaster George Hochman has picked up another FM signal on Oahu, purchasing an FM translator at 101.5 for $60,000.

His Hochman Hawaii-Three Inc. bought the translator from Colorado-based Kona Coast Radio LLC, one of spectrum speculator Victor Michael's broadcast companies. It has been an active buyer in recent FCC auctions.

Hochman, who is "always looking to expand on the island," will use the translator to "enhance building penetration" by multiethnic KORL-FM 101.1 in its service area, he said.