Veteran radio personality Dave Lancaster is back on the air, at KRTR-FM 96.3, after 5 1/2 brutal months of unemployment.

“;God is good,”; Lancaster said of his newly employed status.

Lancaster joined “;Sista”; Sherry Clifton on Krater 96 as the morning show co-host on Monday.

“;Everybody's excited about Dave,”; said Mike Kelly, vice president and general manager of Cox Radio Hawaii, a unit of Atlanta-based Cox Radio Inc., which operates four FM and two AM stations in Honolulu.

“;The first day, it sounded like he'd been on the air for six months,”; Kelly said.

Given the nature of Hawaii radio, Lancaster found many familiar faces at the stations.

“;I know almost three-fourths of the people,”; having worked with them elsewhere, including Kelly, at the old KCCN-AM 1420 in the early 1980s. (Disclosure: Your columnist and Lancaster worked as unpaid “;go-fers”; at the old KKUA-AM 690 and again, for actual pay, at KSSK-AM 590/FM 92.3.)

As with many broadcasters, Lancaster's resume is an alphabet soup of call letters including KQMQ-FM 93.1, KIOV-FM 105.1 (now KINE) and KAIM-FM 95.5 where he hosted the morning show for 11 years until April, when the station cut staff and brought in satellite programming.

Lancaster succeeds Steve Kelly, who had been there about a year. The station decided to take the show in a different direction, Mike Kelly said.

Lancaster is also familiar to TV viewers as a former host of “;TV Bingo,”; a comedic pitchman alongside Ed Kaahea in Ka Lei Eggs commercials, the voice of 7-Eleven Hawaii for 18 years and others. He is also the commercial voice for Pizza Hut and Taco Bell in Hawaii, Guam and Saipan.

T+L readers rate Honolulu highly

Honolulu is Travel + Leisure readers' favorite romantic escape and favorite relaxing retreat, according to the magazine's 2009 Favorite Cities Survey.

Visitors' rankings are separate from residents', which provides interesting comparisons. For instance, visitors inexplicably rated us ninth in diversity and 15th for ethnic food.

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Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin. Reach her by e-mail at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).