Longtime classic rock station KPOI-FM 105.9 is about to reintroduce something it has not had since July 2011: personalities hosting shows on the air.
The station brought back its "The Rock You Live On" slogan and adjusted its format to 1980s- and 1990s-era rock from its classic-rock format July 4. It has been deejay-free since then, but that all ends Tuesday morning.
People who have been working behind the scenes will emerge amid the megahertz.
Fernando "The Love Machine" Pacheco will kick off his 6-10 a.m. weekday morning show, titled "The Walk of Shame," followed by midday guy Keola "O-Dogg" Okudara until 3 p.m. and then Matthew "HazMatt" Wells until 7 p.m.
"The decision behind this is something we’ve been discussing for a while," Okudara said.
All have worked in radio for years, and "we all have other jobs," he said; nevertheless, the radio shows "for the most part will be as live as possible."
Pacheco is frontman for the band Pimpbot, a stand-up comedian and a blogger for Being808.com. He also had been the public face of the station for promotional events but will now have an expanded role on the air.
Okudara is a part-time bartender and "full-time Boston Red Sox fan."
Wells, a blogger and podcast host, likens his return to the airwaves to "a family reunion, but I can hit on the women. And brag, so I guess it’s more like a high school reunion," he said in a statement.
All are active in social media and use it to engage with listeners as well as the broader online community, both for themselves and for the station.
The station did well in the Arbitron survey released last week.
The station was No. 9 among adults 25 to 54, after sinking as low as No. 15 in the spring 2011 survey.
KPOI was most recently in the top five stations among that age group in the spring 2010 Arbitron survey, when its morning show also was No. 5 among those listeners.
KPOI is one of four Oahu radio stations owned by Ohana Broadcasters LLC; the others are KQMQ-FM 93.1, KUMU-FM 94.7 and KDDB-FM 102.7.
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On the Net:
» www.kpoifm.com
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Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com or on Twitter as @erikaengle.
