HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – KNDI radio, a multilingual station that has served Hawaii\u2019s immigrant communities for 66 years, has gone dark on the AM dial after being forced to vacate its transmitter tower, leaving hosts and listeners scrambling to reconnect.<\/p>\n
The station had been broadcasting from a tower in Kalihi, and says it still had three years remaining on its lease when it was told to vacate by Dec. 31 of last year, citing safety concerns.<\/p>\n
The land under the tower is owned by the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, which has not described the specific safety concerns.<\/p>\n
Station executives say they do not plan to sue and are instead focused on raising money to install a new transmitter at a tower in Mapunapuna.<\/p>\n
Hosts say listeners, especially elders, left without a signal<\/p>\n
KNDI host Flor Martinez, who has been on the air for decades, said the loss hit him hard.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was devastated. For so many years that we had been in the air and all of a sudden we are not there anymore,\u201d Martinez said. \u201cOur responsibility to our audience, to our people listening to us, as if we have betrayed them and it\u2019s so sad.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hispanic-language host Rolando Sanchez said listeners were left confused by the sudden disappearance.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey had no idea what\u2019s going on, what\u2019s happening, and all of the station, we have a problem,\u201d Sanchez said. \u201cWe\u2019re on the air. We\u2019re not. We\u2019re here. We\u2019re there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Host Ernie Bautista said he has been fielding calls from listeners who can no longer find his program.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want my listeners confused. (They) keep calling me, \u2018How can I get into your program?\u2019\u201d Bautista said.<\/p>\n