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Finance Factors
co-founder wins
accolades for
going strong at 85

AT 85, Daniel B.T. Lau still puts in his hours as chairman and secretary of Finance Factors Ltd., the company he co-founded half a century ago with five partners.

Of course, that's when his position on the East-West Center board and softball and golf games allow him time.

Lau was named Hawaii's outstanding older worker by Experience Works, a Virginia-based nonprofit that offers opportunities for training, employment and community-service work for senior citizens.

Lau is the last surviving co-founder of Finance Factors. The six families involved from the start are still connected through Finance Enterprises, the holding company for Finance Factors, Finance Insurance Ltd., Finance Realty Ltd. and as many as 30 smaller companies, he said.

He went to Washington, D.C., for last month's awards presentation.

Lau's long career has been peppered with honors, from his Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster during World War II to numerous awards in the past decade, including induction into the University of Hawaii Business School Hall of Honor.

"Just luck, and if you live long enough," he chuckled.

The Experience Works Prime Time Awards salute older workers whose accomplishments amaze those around them.

Lau remains active in business, community service and sports -- and not just golf.

"I still play world championship softball," he said.

Lau travels the country and to some international locations for the game and has two championship rings from tournaments in 1995 and 2000.

His good health enables him to stay active. "But we are older. We drop the ball here and there," he laughed.

His wife would prefer that he stay home, where a honey-do list awaits him.

"But to me, that's the thing, to continue to play and work as hard as you can all the time," Lau said.

Country music lives

California-based Salem Communications Corp. will soon swap two AM radio stations for an FM station, KGMZ, owned by Georgia-based Cox Radio Inc.

Salem will turn over control of the KHNR-AM 650 and KHCM-AM 940 frequencies to Cox, probably about mid-December, said T.J. Malievsky, Salem vice president and general manager.

At that time, KHCM's country-music format will be transferred to two other AM stations Salem already owns -- KAIM-AM 870 and KJPN-AM 1170 -- because of listener demand. The KAIM signal is transmitted from Molokai and reaches Maui and East Oahu, while the AM 1170 signal is stronger over Leeward Oahu, Malievsky said.

Season's bleatings

Three Oahu radio stations will ring in the busiest shopping day of the year with mall-to-mall, uh, wall-to-wall Christmas music.

As of yesterday, 34 stations in 20 states had already started playing holiday tunes 24-7.

KSSK-FM 92.3 and AM 590 and KQMQ-FM 93.1 will deck the airwaves with solid Christmas music on Nov. 26.

With the exception of its syndicated and all-request shows, KSSK's all-Christmas format will continue through Christmas Day. The constant caroling on "The Q" will last only 24 hours.

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