Happy Birthday, HPR

On November 13, 1981, a switch was flipped in a makeshift studio in the University of Hawaii quarry and a Mahler opera burst onto the airwaves. The now twin stations have had a long and colorful history, beginning 27 years ago with egg-carton sound dampeners, a move in 1987, online streaming in 1991, and earlier this year, a new 26,000-watt transmitter for KIPO.

HPR has been successful in earning the support of a passionate listener base, raising over 90 percent of its funding locally. And an impressive 63% of its budget comes from individual listeners.  These are listeners that I’ve come to especially appreciate, now that Burt Lum and I host a technology show every Wednesday.

Producing “Bytemarks Cafe” takes a lot of work — admittedly, more than I anticipated when Burt first invited me to join him on the air. Fortunately, we quickly learned what a fantastic team can do for a couple of knuckeleads, and we owe a great deal to our executive producer Beth-Ann Kozlovich and our fantastic engineer Lillian Tsang.  It’s a labor of love, but there’s a lot of love to be sure.

Updated, because 2008 minus 1981 is 27, not 13.