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TheBuzz Erika Engle |
Motoring across
the remote leads to
many local road showsThirteen new installments of "Ohana Road" will air on KITV and it will expand to the Armed Forces TV Network. In deference to the upcoming global audience, new shows will be taped at Magic Island with Diamond Head as the scenic backdrop.
Ratings for the 6 p.m. Saturday automotive show during May were higher than for KGMB news and tied with the news on KHNL, according to Executive Producer Bill Maloney.
Maloney sees other potential audiences for the shows and while most of the 13 shows are planned, he's full of ideas for more, but they'll stay mum until air time.
The half-hour show's format includes five segments including a new car profile, local auto industry events, a mainland produced feature starring Barry Meguiar of car polish fame and a commentary called, "A Bunch of Maloney."
The whole ball of Turtle Wax (apologies to the Meguiars) is hosted by Dale Payson and Jenn Boneza.
"If you're a car enthusiast it has a lot of good stuff in it ... that's a technical term," laughed Mike Rosenberg, KITV president and general manager. "We're hoping it will build over the summer and in November have even bigger numbers."
Cutter Automotive Group is the title sponsor. It had launched its "Cars Cost Less at Cutter" ad campaign shortly before the show's debut March 15.
While the show is not a half-hour commercial for the company, Cutter Management Co. President Nick Cutter called it a way to expose potential customers to the product.
The show is entertaining and informative, "without your typical screaming, yelling, price advertisements, and I, really we, expect the show will continue to get more interesting and draw a bigger audience which is the whole long-term game," Cutter said.
Asked if he could link the sponsorship to increased sales, Cutter said, "I think the whole industry in Hawaii is having a good, solid year. I can't say it is necessarily tied to any particular marketing plan."
Hawaii has at least two other locally produced automotive shows. Island Driver, the TV edition of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin's weekly automotive section, airs on Oceanic Cable channel 16 three times per week. It debuted April 19.
The apparent granddaddy of local vroom TV is Punish'UM Motorsports News Magazine, which has aired on Olelo channel 52 for four years.
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
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