[ PROMOTIONAL PIONEER ]

Moffatt a force in
Hawaii’s pop culture

The concert promoter and former deejay
has always had a keen eye for trends

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By Burl Burlingame
bburlingame@starbulletin.com

Hawaii folks have been fond of radio personality and promoter "Uncle Tom" Moffatt for half a century now. Take, for example, a simple incident that escalated out of control in 1959. Longtime radio pal Ron Jacobs -- they met while hosting roller derby and pro wrestling events -- had a faux feud running with Moffatt shortly after station KPOI went on the air. Some fans brought fresh fish to the station, and Jacobs locked Moffatt in a room with the fish, which were beginning to ... turn.

"I was the villain and Tom was the hero," recalled Jacobs. "The next thing, we had 300 people in the station, and they were trying to bash down the door to release Moffatt, and I was laughing maniacally on the air. And then they finally liberated Moffatt, and I fled out of the studio. A big cheer went up and Moffatt took over the board."

"Gosh, that started out as a fluke, ha-ha-ha!" unconsciously punned Moffatt. "We got more excitement out of a dead fish on the radio back then than a $10,000 giveaway gets today! Radio is the most fun of anything I've ever done."

Moffatt has been a constant presence in local popular culture since the early days of statehood.

STAR-BULLETIN / 1962 Tom Moffatt, a Honolulu disc jockey in the '50s and '60s, greeted Elvis Presley as he arrived at Honolulu Airport in April 1962 for the filming of "Girls! Girls! Girls!"

He is almost solely responsible for Hawaii being taken seriously as a performance site by the biggest names in show business.

Moffatt was one of the fresh-faced disc jockeys when radio station KPOI went on the air. He had transferred to the University of Hawaii from Detroit in the mid-'50s and was already making a name for himself as a promoter, studying at the knees of Ralph Yempuku and Earl Finch. Moffatt's early successes included bringing the Five Satins to the Civic Auditorium in 1957.

He also became a recording artist himself, a sometime actor and a record company executive for the Paradise and Bluewater labels.

But as a disc jockey with a keen ear for music, and a promoter with a keen eye for trends, Moffatt became a driving force in Hawaii's pop culture during the 1960s. KPOI became wildly popular, and disc jockeys such as Bob "The Weird Beard" Lowrey and Dave "The Moose" Donnelly ruled the airwaves.

STAR-BULLETIN / JUNE 13, 2002 Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Tom Moffatt posed for a picture in June after a press conference at the Blaisdell Galleria. Johnson was back in town for a wrestling appearance.

Moffatt's career as a promoter during the '70s and '80s ranged all over the map, from Cecilio & Kapono shows to rescreening Abel Gance's classic "Napoleon" with the Honolulu Symphony at the Waikiki Shell.

Moffatt also broadened his clientele beyond rock 'n' roll and became known as a solid, dependable agent in Hawaii, which is important to acts with dozens of employees and tons of equipment. Without a professional promoter on this end, the costs of performing in Hawaii scare away top-notch acts.

"It's been very gratifying being able to bring music to Hawaii," said Moffatt. "I'm still happy to bring performers here. People like Elvis really made a difference to our local economy. I think 'Blue Hawaii' did more for us than any other film. And I'm happy to bring other artists to Hawaii who will be the big stars of tomorrow."

In one year, Moffatt brought in acts as large or diverse as the Eagles, Gloria Estefan, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston and the Rolling Stones. Acts don't get larger than these, and -- as Moffatt points out -- people from all over the world traveled to Hawaii just to see these performances, making the islands an entertainment crossroads of the Pacific as well.

More to the point, Moffatt has met, become friends with and promoted everyone in the music business. Everyone. Every last one of them. And he managed to get his picture taken with most of them.

STAR-BULLETIN / JAN. 2, 1997 Michael Jackson was all smiles as he enjoyed a keiki hula show at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in January 1997.

Moffatt has managed to make other entertainment history in the islands:

>> Moffatt presented Elvis Presley in concert here for three decades, from the '50s to the '70s.

>> Moffatt established the viability of Aloha Stadium as a concert venue by presenting Cecilio & Kapono and Kalapana as a double bill there in 1976.

>> Moffatt later put together reunion concerts by Cecilio & Kapono and Kalapana as separate events at the Waikiki Shell, recording both performances for release as "live in-concert" albums.

>> Moffatt presided over "Honolulu City Lights," the Keola & Kapono Beamer record generally recognized as the top-selling local recording of all time.

>> Moffatt was honored with the Lifetime Achievement in Broadcasting Award at the 2000 'Iolani Awards. The name 'Iolani was chosen because the first local radio transmission originated from Iolani Palace on June 16, 1900. No, Moffatt wasn't there at the time.

STAR-BULLETIN / MAY 1, 1997 Days before her May 3, 1997, concert at Aloha Stadium, Gloria Estefan gave a press conference at Waikiki's Planet Hollywood.