SummitMedia this week laid off approximately 20 employees of SummitMedia Hawaii, including many of its well-known on-air personalities as well as President and General Manager Andrew Rosen.
The company owns radio stations KRATER 96, KCCN FM100, Power 104.3 and Hawaiian 105 KINE.
Radio Insight, a radio trade publication, reported the company made cuts in other cities, but most were in Honolulu.
SummitMedia could not be reached for comment.
Veteran radio personality Danielle Tucker, who did traffic reports for the past 20 years, said she was part of a massive workforce reduction. She said, “It’s about the money,” and a company representative told her “hopefully the pandemic will subside and advertising will return to normal.”
She said the company had little local advertising since the pandemic began and often ran national ads, which provided little revenue.
Wayne Maria, who was with KRTR for 28 years and in radio for 32, served as morning show co-host with Gregg and Shawnee Hammer, did a midday show and was program director for multiple stations as well as operations manager for SummitMedia Hawaii. He said he was the first to go of the on-air personalities, and told after the morning show Tuesday that it was his last show. Gregg and Shawnee Hammer were also relieved of their duties.
Maria said he holds “no ill will towards SummitMedia. It’s business. It’s not personal. I’m not happy about it, but I understand … I’ve gone through several of these.”
He said the company is restructuring, and the few remaining are good people.
“I wish them all the luck in the world,” said Maria. “I got to do something I loved at one radio station for 28 years … You can’t buy that kind of fun.”
Maria’s daughter, Candace Kay, lost her position at Power 104.3.
Many listeners commenting online are upset and saddened at the loss of these radio personalities who they listened to over the years, who brought news and traffic along with laughter and joy.
“Reality is, people tune in because they feel a connection with the voice of the on-air announcer,” wrote Ron Kaipo.
The shake-up has possible greater implications.
Billy V, who lost his job on Hawaiian 105 KINE on Wednesday, said on social media that a SummitMedia executive said in an email that the company “is 100% committed to Hawaii and serving the Honolulu community. While we recently made some difficult business decisions, I can assure our listeners and advertisers that we are not changing the format of any station in our cluster. More so than ever, we will continue the tradition of Hawaiian music and celebrate the culture on FM100 KCCN and Hawaiian 105 KINE.”
He went on to write that he is hopeful the value of these stations are known to the current owners, and that they will continue to make Hawaiian music a priority for these stations.
“Please support local businesses with your purchases,” he wrote, and urged people to “support local entertainers and recording artists by purchasing their music and attending their events.”
And if the owners decide to keep the stations and format supporting Hawaiian music, he urged his listeners to support the stations as well.
Eric Keawe wrote in response: “We now wait and see how much culture is preserved and allowed on the airwaves.”
Radio personality Mento Mele Apana said in a Facebook post she resigned three weeks ago from Hawaiian 105 KINE, following Lina Girl’s departure. Shannon Scott was let go after 28 years in radio.
“We have all been in radio for almost three decades and are household names in Hawaii Radio,” Apana wrote. “We have given our life to our community and our music industry.”
Although Tucker continues to cover traffic for Hawaii News Now’s afternoon shows, she will miss radio because she’s been doing it since 1977.
Her first job was weekend assignment editor at KHON TV, then began working for KKUA and KQMQ. She was news director and also worked in public affairs.
Tucker covered the news, weather and traffic and began doing morning shows. She was first paired with Bill Thompson and later with Michael Qseng.
Then after 9/11, the Traffic Management Center was created, and Tucker, who covered traffic for then-owner Cox Radio, never left.
She had been doing 12 traffic reports an hour in the morning, and 10 in the afternoon, all while making calls in between to get more information.
“I just feel blessed that I’ve been able to help people,” Tucker said.
