Mana‘o Radio still marches to the beat of its own drum
Station marks 20 years since it began in a Waiehu Terrace back bedroom
For 20 years, the disc jockeys at Maui’s all-volunteer nonprofit radio station, Mana‘o Radio, have been creating what have come to be called “Mana‘o Moments.”
When the content is so captivating folks sit in their vehicles and continue to listen even though they’ve been parked in the driveway for a half hour, that’s a Mana‘o Moment. Another version is when drivers are so enraptured by the music they’re hearing they must pull over to give it their full attention.
The eclectic nature of Mana‘o Radio means those listeners could have been grooving on anything from classic rock to bagpipes, from intimate concerts with local musicians to the spoken word.
Three days a week it is charter DJ Bill Best’s turn to capture ears and imaginations on KMNO, 91.7 FM. Alone in the Wailuku studio, Best weaves his shows as he goes, often taking a word or theme and stringing songs and comedy bits together to create a cohesive set. On Wednesday, Best showed just how eclectic Mana‘o can be by playing a half-hour parody by the Firesign Theater dating back to 1969. Though full of snappy one-liners and double entendre, it’s a fair guess that the Nick Danger Third Eye radio melodrama doesn’t get a lot of airplay on other stations around the country.
“I like to do it on the fly because I think I get my best ideas,” Best said after cueing up a CD Wednesday. “Letting DJs play the music they want, imagine that. I like to play music that has caught my ear.”
Best has been with Mana‘o Radio since before it started as a low-power FM station in 2002. He and fellow DJ, Michael McCartney, are the only two who have been with the station since the beginning. In those early days, the DJs operated out of a studio built in the back bedroom of the Waiehu Terrace home of founders Barry Shannon and Kathy Collins. Best says he remembers tiptoeing to the studio to start morning shifts.
“I love Bill Best,” said Collins. “Bill’s show exemplifies what Barry and I envisioned for Mana‘o. From the beginning, Barry said, ‘This can’t be like a typical college radio station or community station.’ We wanted eclectic throughout the day. Barry and I really wanted the listener to tune in any part of the day and be surprised and delighted and informed. Bill’s show always did that. Bill has this magical way of tying it all together.”
Collins, who stepped away from Mana‘o about nine years ago, says she and her husband never expected the little, listener-supported station to endure.
“We thought we might have a few hundred listeners, but we just really wanted to do radio without being bound by corporate interests,” Collins said. “We wanted to be as far away from Top 40 as possible.”
She and Shannon had a hard time believing it when the station’s fifth anniversary rolled around. Their baby was still going strong. In a twist of fate, Shannon died not long after.
“I know he would be proud that this little project of ours has become such a part of the community and it has lasted so long,” she said. “We never expected it to last more than a couple years.”
Best, who also does a live weekly talk show with wife, Bobbie Best, on KAKU titled, “Off the Record with Bill and Bobbie,” says radio is in his blood.
“I feel silly playing music while the world is in so much trouble,” he said. “I wonder if there is anything better I can do? I don’t know anything else. This is what I do. I know it helps people. I know the music helped people through the pandemic.”
With more than 40 volunteer DJs spinning tunes of their own choosing, the station covers a wide range of tastes, styles and genres.
“It’s always an adventure on Mana‘o Radio,” Bill Best said. “Jazz, Irish music, Blues, reggae, Hawaiian, if you want to play bagpipe music, we’re your station that will play bagpipe music. There’s the Hula Honeys, bantering as they each choose the songs that they love. Phat Tony plays more comedy than all of the other DJs combined.”
The Hula Honeys, good buddies Robyn Kneubuhl and Ginger Johnson, have brightened Friday afternoons on Mana‘o for years. Taking turns playing songs, their friendship shines through as they joke and laugh, share stories and hold their weekly quiz on word meanings.
Current Mana‘o Board President and Development Director Michael Elam says the station’s eclecticism is its “strength” and “calling card.”
“The DJs are passionate about the music they play and I think that passion comes through in a big way,” Elam said. “It forms strong bonds with the listeners. We are a community-oriented radio station. All of our DJs are members of the Maui community. We have 40-plus and they and they alone are their program directors. There is no edict from on high telling them what to play.”
Mana‘o Radio’s first broadcast kicked off at 6 a.m. on March 11, 2002. The first fundraising celebration to honor the 20th anniversary of that moment, Mana‘o Radio’s 20th Anniversary Roaring 20s Masquerade Ball, set for Saturday evening at Mulligan’s on the Blue, is sold out. Elam says the station plans to have “three or four” other live fundraising events later this year.
All-volunteer Mana‘o Radio has gone from a low-power FM station transmitting out of a back bedroom, to a full-power station that is listened to worldwide on the internet. To learn more about the station, including how to donate and volunteer, visit manaoradio.com.