TheBuzz
TheBuzz
A sign at Pearlridge West 16 movie theaters over the weekend informed customers that Consolidated Theatres would discontinue advertising its movie listings in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin as of Sept. 11. What time is that movie?
At Star-Bulletin parent company Oahu Publications Inc., President Don Kendall and other officials were involved in ongoing negotiations for advertising agreements with Consolidated parent company Pacific Theatres Corp. based in Los Angeles. Officials with Pacific Theatres were unavailable for comment.
Consolidated Theatres Regional Director Glenn Yim in Honolulu said yesterday that while he was unsure of the date, "my understanding was that it was going to be pulled out today." A block of movie listings for Consolidated did run in yesterday's Star-Bulletin.
Yim said he would love to be able to advertise in both Honolulu daily papers "if we could afford it."
"I'm responsible for the business operations and we're looking at the cost structure," he said. "Costs (of newspaper advertising) have doubled year over year."
As for the theater's apparent endorsement of the other Honolulu daily paper, Yim said, "I didn't tell (theater staff) to post the sign. I prefer that they engage with the guest."
Yim compared movie listings to television programming listings, which newspapers run at no cost to TV stations. He said while traditional broadcast TV stations use public airwaves and the programming is viewed for free, programming viewed via cable systems is paid for by the customer, the same as movies viewed in theaters. He said that is part of his ongoing discussion with both newspapers.
Oahu Publications, meanwhile, expects to run movie listings from Consolidated compe- titors Signature Theatres and Wallace Theatre Corp. seven days a week by the end of this month, according to Don Moores, vice president of sales and marketing.
Radio's revolving doors
Within a week's time, "Star" KUCD FM 101.9 has lost one program director and gained a new one, and "Extreme Radio" has removed "interim" from its program director's title.Ken Martin, who arrived in December from WSSR FM in Tampa, Fla., has left the station, but is weighing options, hoping to remain in Hawaii. "I'd love to stay here but if that isn't an option then I'll be going back to the mainland," he said.
The new KUCD program director is market veteran Jamie Hyatt, who parted company with Cox Radio Hawaii's KXME Extreme Radio (104.3 FM) earlier this year. In June he told the Star-Bulletin, "I was hoping to stay here but I think I ran out of companies. There used to be 16 but now there are like four or five."
One of the Hawaii stations he once programmed is KIKI FM 93.9; it and Star are among seven Honolulu stations owned by Texas-based Clear Channel Communications Inc.
After lo these many months, Hyatt's replacement at Extreme is afternoon drive personality "K.C.," whose first major task is to find a new morning show. After falling into a volcano Friday -- maximizing radio's strength as "theater of the mind" -- hosts "Budman & Booger" have exited the station for employment in San Antonio. TheBuzz is told the duo will keep its beach home in Lanikai for return visits.
Cox Vice President and General Manager Austin Vali said the new morning show lineup would be announced within two weeks, and that the names would not be familiar.
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin.
Call 529-4302, 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