The Best of Aloha Shorts

Books have been having a tough time of it lately, as flashier and “handier” conduits for the written word have been developed. Radio, as a unique conveyer of the spoken word, has been slugging out this battle for much longer. Every new tech wave, from television to podcast, has required radio to look to its roots, remember what it does uniquely well, and then learn to do it better. And it turns out that one of the services that radio can provide better than any other medium is one of the very oldest—perhaps the most ancient of all, so old it’s part of our DNA. It can draw its community around the campfire, and against the silence and the warming glow, enable it to tell its stories. Hawai‘i Public Radio (HPR) takes this responsibility seriously. One of the most original and successful examples of HPR’s commitment to this idea has been Aloha Shorts, a collaboration between Bamboo Ridge Press and HPR, masterminded by co-producers Phyllis S.K. Look, Sammie Choy, and Craig Howes. The basic idea was simple enough: local stories written by local authors, read by local actors (sometimes the authors themselves) before a local audience, and then broadcast over our local public radio network. Add Phyllis’s and Sammie’s stagecraft, a house band, a charismatic emcee, and the irresistible lure of free admission and cookies, and . . . well, for the first couple of months it was hard to get anyone to take any notice. BUT (and this is where public radio always scores) everyone persevered, none more resolutely nor determinedly than the producers. Before very long the seats were filling up and the broadcast audience was growing—the experience of bearing witness to Hawai‘i telling its own stories to its own people proved irresistible, and the show began developing cult status. Would-be audience members spilled out onto Kaheka Street, inconveniencing traffic. The 30-minute weekly radio program, engineered by Jason Taglianetti, became destination listening for anyone interested in Hawai‘i stories and literature. Over four years it became a major jewel in HPR’s local-programming crown. I’ll always be grateful to Phyllis, Sammie, Craig, and Bamboo Ridge for doing so much to help HPR live up to its full potential, during these transient and tweetful times, as a keeper of our community’s cultural flame. This fine collection, drawn from the series, is a fitting tribute. *Michael Titterton was the President and General Manager of Hawai‘i Public Radio during the years when Aloha Shorts was on the air.