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TheBuzz

BY ERIKA ENGLE

Market move for
afternoon music director

With L&L Hawaiian Barbecue opening in the Las Vegas suburb of Henderson later this month, I94 Music Director and afternoon drive-time personality Blaine "Pablo" Sato may be among its first customers as he'll be moving there this weekend.

He leaves the No. 62 radio market Friday, arrives Saturday, moves into his home Sunday and hits the airwaves at a new station in the No. 41 radio market on Monday.

After starting as an unpaid intern at KIKI-FM five years ago, the 25-year-old Sato has been hired as music director and night-time DJ at the Top 40 KFMS-FM in Las Vegas.

It was an opportunity he couldn't pass up even though he'll miss Program Director Fred Rico and the rest of his I94 his ohana, "not to sound cliché," he said, launching into a vocal impression of "Stitch" of "Lilo & ..." fame.

"The great thing is my parents go (to Vegas) four or five times a year so I'll probably see them every other month," he said.

His brother from California will also be hanging out with him for awhile.

The scariest thing about the move is hearing that the daytime high in his new market was 106 degrees earlier in the week. It's also scary that auto insurance will cost him more than his monthly car payment, he said.

Sato's former mic will be manned by Terrence "Big Teeze" Hallums, who moves up from nights, while Tati Pelegreen gets the music director promotion and teams up with Mark "Marko" Livingston for the 7 to 11 p.m. "Naughty Night Show."

Both KIKI and KFMS are owned by Texas-based Clear Channel Communications Inc. but the job change is not a transfer, according to local Clear Channel General Manager Chuck Cotton.

"They talked to us and asked if they could talk to him," Cotton said, "and if somebody calls and says they've got a different position and more money etcetera, you want to give your people a chance."

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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