What are you reading?

My passion is the territory of Hawai'i. I'm into the music and pre-statehood period, so I read a lot of biographies and historical nonfiction. One of my all-time favorite books is "Hula Blues" by Gurre Ploner Noble, published in 1948 — the story of Johnny Noble but also Hawai'i at that time. Also there's "Waikiki Beachboy" by Grady Timmons. It's very well written because he writes inside their world. Another one I like is "Volcanoes in the Sea" by Gordon Andrew MacDonald, published in 1970. This one documents the geological processes that formed and are still forming Hawai'i's island chain. ... Another is "Pictorial History of Radio" by Irving Settel, published in 1960 (but) written in the late 1950s when radio was being pressured by the young television but had not yet given in to the new medium.

Does knowing a lot about the past help you — whether through your radio or emcee work — accurately make the present memorable for posterity?

It is a responsibility. If you're carrying along information, you have to get it right; you can't distort it. What we print today and record today will change history going forward. I've seen that many times. Comparing new history and old history helps us be sure we haven't lost anything — while we gain new insights, let us be sure to not lose the connections.