TheBuzz
TheBuzz
Veteran talent to leave
highly rated morning radio showThe No. 2-ranked morning show in Honolulu is about to lose one of its key characters.
Oahu radio veteran Charly Espina, of KCCN-FM 100.3, is going to leave the station, move to Maui and marry a mail carrier, she announced yesterday morning.
"The movers are coming on Wednesday," Espina said. Her last FM100 Morning Jam will be this Aloha Friday.
Mark Takahama, a Kahului letter carrier, entered Espina's life as a listener. "I know, it's a cardinal sin, never go out with a listener," Espina said.
He first approached her, shockingly, by mail. The funny Valentine's Day card he sent was just the beginning of correspondence that revealed a wealth of mutual friends from Lanai, where he grew up and where Espina regularly goes hunting.
"My best girlfriend there, Lynnette Menze, she used to play with him small-kid time," and gave Takahama a good recommendation, Espina said.
Espina, 46, and Takahama will wed in February on Lanai.
Listeners' reacted to the news with mixed emotions, she said. "They're sad to see me go but happy for me, too."
Cox Radio Hawaii Vice President and General Manager Mike Kelly echoed the listeners' sentiments.
"With somebody like Charly, the reason she's so valuable to a radio station is she's a veteran and yet she's stayed contemporary," Kelly said.
Espina has been on the air on Oahu since 1979 when her radio career began at KULA-FM 92.3. From 1980 to 1988 she worked at KDEO-AM 940, moved to "98 Rock" KPOI-FM 97.5 from 1988 to 1996 and has been at KCCN since then.
Replacing a successful player in any organization can be tough but Kelly's additional burden was to fill a high-profile slot with someone who would not alienate the station's listeners or advertisers.
Current mid-day host Lina Girl will join Bill Van Osdol and Jason "Pipi" Rezentes in the morning.
That requires some other air-shift shifts which will play out with Shannon Scott moving from evenings to mid-days and Bryan Min moving from overnights to the 7 p.m. to midnight slot.
In January, Espina begins a primarily off-air job as business development manager for KPOA-FM 93.5 on Maui where she will also do on-air fill-in work.
She will also commute to Oahu periodically to do commercial voice-over work.
"And I'll still be doing Aloha Airlines' in-flight video," she said. "You'll still hear me."
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