BYTEMARKS
KTUH as real as radio gets

By Burt Lum

When my buddy Gary Chun and I were hosts for a recent alumni show on KTUH 90.3 FM, we decided to reprise our mid-'80s show called Rough Take. The last time we were on air was on a Monday night, Sept. 26, 1988. It's hard to imagine where those 14 years have gone — but who's counting?

A lot has changed since 1988. Two things that immediately come to mind are the widespread acceptance of the Internet and the power increase of KTUH.

Back in the mid-'80s the station went through a power boost from 10 watts to 100 watts. We thought that was a big deal, yet it barely got the signal into downtown Honolulu. Now at 3,000 watts, an increase that went into effect in August 2001, I can drive to Pearl City and still hear the music.

But 3,000 watts is still a limitation. What has opened access to KTUH is the Internet. The Web site, ktuh.org, got a major facelift at the same time as the power upgrade and is now streaming to wherever you have a broadband connection.

That is significant for Hawai'i's only alternative, noncommercial radio station — the only O'ahu radio station, IMHO, that has any heart and soul.

I read recently about how some radio stations in national broadcast groups pre-format their music and pipe it in via satellite. Another article informed me that disc jockeys don't even have to be in the same city that the radio broadcast originates in. Talk about faking it.

At KTUH, it's as real as you can get. Disc jockeys rummage through stacks of CDs, passionately creating their own specialty shows. The good and bad of it is disc jockeys and their music come and go. There have been shows that focus on J-Pop, American Indian music, electronica, salsa and acid jazz.

Two words come to mind when describing KTUH: ephemeral and vital. Ephemeral because of the constant change of the disc jockeys. And vital in that it is all for the love of the music. The experience is in the moment, so catch it while you can. ;-)

Burt Lum, cyber-citizen and self-anointed tour guide to the Internet frontier, is one click away at burt@brouhaha.net.