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TheBuzz
Erika Engle
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Isle-issues radio grows, as does Sergio’s eatery
A Hawaiian-issues radio program will debut statewide, while a long-running show will get a familiar new co-host.
The new show, by the Oahu cluster of the Maui-based Visionary Related Entertainment LLC, is called "Leo Hookahi" and its hosts will be kumu hula and Hawaiian community advocates Vicky Holt Takamine and Wayne Panoke. Radio veteran Noe Tanigawa will serve as moderator.
It will be a magazine-style show including news, "primarily Hawaiian music -- and talk about what's going on throughout the state in terms of Hawaiian issues, Hawaiian music, Hawaiian events and Hawaiian thoughts," said John Aeto, Oahu general manager for VRE.
The show will be produced by Chanel Moke Puha weekly for airing from 8 to 10 a.m. Saturdays on KUMU-FM 94.7 on Oahu; KSRF-FM 95.9 on Kauai; KAOI-FM 95.1 on Maui; KMKK-FM 102.3 on Molokai and KTBH-FM 102.1 in Hilo.
"We wanted to put it on the FM dial (where) there was already substantial listenership," Aeto said.
Meanwhile, Jacqueline "Skylark" Rossetti joined the Office of Hawaiian Affairs' daily radio program "Na 'Oiwi 'Olino" as co-host today.
She and co-host Kimo Kahoano were marquee names for the old KCCN-AM 1420 and also co-hosted years' worth of Merrie Monarch Hula Festival telecasts and other events, "but we'll be working together (on the air) for the first time in radio," she said.
The show is broadcast from 6:30 to 9 a.m. weekdays on KKNE-AM 940, owned by Atlanta-based Cox Radio Inc., as well as Pacific Radio Group Inc. stations on neighbor-island stations. OHA buys the time for the show as an outreach to constituents; it is also a sponsor of "Leo Ho'okahi."
Rossetti succeeds co-host Brickwood Galuteria, who took leave from the show to run for office. "I'm just a fill-in," she said, until an election determines Galuteria's future.
She will co-host from the Big Island and sees the gig as an opportunity to get neighbor island voices heard.
Listeners tell Kahoano how much they appreciate hearing about the "great things" that are happening in the Hawaiian community, that it helps Hawaiians "stand as a culture, together, very proud."
THAT WAS QUICK
The space that was
Sam Choy's Diamond Head won't be idle for long.
Sergio's Italian Restaurant is expanding into it, while retaining its Hilton Hawaiian Village space for a new, more value-oriented concept.
Owner George Vandeman saw an opportunity to draw more kamaaina to the fine-dining concept by moving it, while making the hotel space more welcoming to family dining, said publicist Lisa A. Kim.
Sergio's new operation is expected to open in Kapahulu in September or October and Chef Alfredo Lee will oversee both restaurants, she said.
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