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TheBuzz Erika Engle |
Some dreams get sold
before they become realityJon Le Duc of Green Bay, Wis., started pursuing his dream of building a radio station in Hawaii in 1996.
He has jumped through the many hoops required by the Federal Communications Commission.
He has spent somewhere between $300,000 and $400,000, some of it on a state-of-the art antenna system that is sitting in rainy Hilo waiting to be erected.
The construction permit he obtained to build a station in Keaau on the Big Island has been sold for $350,000 to California businessman Thomas Troland.
Le Duc and Troland filed an application on Sept. 19 to have the licensed transferred. It is contingent on Troland selling his interests in KBDX-FM 92.7 in Blanding, Utah. On Sept. 22, he agreed to sell the licensed but silent Utah station to William Schimdt for $300,000.
Like KBDX, Troland is keeping mum about his plans for KIHH-FM 105.1, pending final FCC approval of the deals.
Le Duc, 61, speaks passionately about what had been his dream, spurred in part by the way his stepmother and mentor, Helen Holzer, described Hawaii as "God's country."
"The whole reason for my deciding (to sell it), at this point, is I don't know if I have the dollars to build it and to staff it. I have to turn it over to somebody else who has deeper pockets," he said.
His voice reflected sorrowful disappointment.
"I still have a small, furnished, two-bedroom home just sitting in Hilo, waiting the final outcome of this matter. I might add that this has been a very difficult decision to make after all the wonderful people I have met and had looked forward to working with and to serving the Hawaiian community," he said.
"The point was to get very involved in the community. There are things going on in my life right now and with a lack of ... I don't want to start something I can't finish."
"I may end up losing money once I get the amount back on the sale," but whatever proceeds he does collect, he would like to one day reinvest and get re-engaged in Hawaii radio, he said.
In his search for a tower site he met people from Hilo's Christian radio station, KCIF-FM 90.3. Its tower was broken down, lying in a field. He still hopes to help the station put its tower up, he said.
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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
