Posted on: Sunday, July 21, 2002

Hawaii Public Radio sells KIFO AM

By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

Hawai'i Public Radio's AM station, KIFO 1370, has been sold and will cease operations as a public radio station on Aug. 1.

Diamond Broadcasting, a subsidiary of Legacy Communications Corp. of Utah, has acquired the station in a sale that has been under negotiation for months. KIFO will continue to broadcast its regular programming through the end of this month.

The purchase price was $500,000, half of which is earmarked to help reduce HPR's debt. The rest will be spent on a re-engineering of KIPO 89.3 FM, known for its news and jazz broadcasts, to boost service and access.

The re-engineering will make KIPO as accessible to listeners as sister station KHPR 88.1 FM, the network's classical music station.

"Selling KIFO has been under discussion in HPR board meetings since 1999," said Michael Titterton, station president and general manager. "The board is now totally focused on our objective of broadcasting two high-quality program services to all of Hawai'i."

KIPO (in Honolulu) will continue its format of providing news, information and entertainment programming, with jazz, world, blues and other types of music in the evenings. KHPR (in Honolulu), KKUA 90.7 FM (in Wailuku) and KANO 91.1 FM (in Hilo) feature news and classical music formats.