Ho`olohe Hou the blog is now Ho`olohe Hou Radio – a unique and exciting new concept in Hawaiian music edutainment.

Ho`olohe Hou the blog simply exploded last year. I published more than 750 pages of information on Hawaiian music artists and composers, and readers responded by clicking on the links that appealed to them. This served as an important form of market research. The more clicks an artist received, the clearer it became that the Hawaiian music-loving world longed to hear those artists again. Interestingly, many of the artists with the widest appeal on my blog also happen to be artists for whom few or no recordings have been made available in the digital era.

If you are an avid follower of Ho`olohe Hou the blog, then you know that the source of the material for this life-long investigation into Hawaiian music is my vast collection of more than 25,000 recordings from Hawai`i dating back more than a century. But what you might not know is that I am also an avid collector of other kinds of music – from classic rock and pop to jazz, standards, the great vocalists (from Sinatra to Ella), Broadway and the Great American Songbook, country/western, R&B, and classical. And I am also a musician myself. So every time I hear one of these Hawaiian recordings, my mind begins to race with the various connections – some obvious, some less so – between the music of Hawai`i and music from other parts of the world. I have always been fascinated by tracing the evolution of Hawaiian music and observing where that story arc intersects with the evolution of other kinds of music. Despite being an island in the middle of the Pacific, Hawai`i and its musicians have been greatly influenced by music from the rest of the world and, at the same time, the world at large owes a debt of gratitude to Hawai`i and its musicians for their contributions.

By last November this blog was receiving more than 8,000 visits per month. That is a startling amount of of interest in the music and entertainers of Hawai`i. But I was more impressed that more than 850 readers visited this blog on December 25th – Christmas Day, for many the most sacred day of the year – to find out what recording I had chosen as #1 in my countdown of the 25 Greatest Christmas Albums from Hawai`i. It was then that I truly realized that I was not alone in my ardent passion for the music and musicians of Hawai`i. And I realized that there were others like me for whom five minutes a day on a blog was not satisfying that insatiable passion.

And, so, Ho`olohe Hou Radio was born.

The concept behind Ho`olohe Hou Radio is simple. It is not merely music for the sake of entertainment. It is an attempt at educating those who are truly interested in the history of Hawai`i and its composers, singers, and musicians – what makes them historically and culturally important. It is a first ever attempt at Hawaiian music edutainment. Unofficially launched via Live365 on January 2nd of this year, the station was relaunched on July 3rd to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the first episode of Hawaii Calls radio broadcasts. And, so far, it is a tremendous success. Already the station has been heard by more than 20,000 listeners from over three dozen countries who have tuned in for more than 13,000 hours. However, to create an internet radio station with the bandwidth to support acceptable sound quality for the greatest number of listeners possible and disk space to house a library of more than 5,000 songs (about 20% of my collection), I had to make a tremendous investment to even pilot this concept. And so I am seeking assistance from you, the faithful visitors to the Ho`olohe Hou blog.

I want you to know everything you want and need to know about Ho`olohe Hou Radio before you make a decision to lend your support. To find out more about the station, click here or on the link to the video above (labeled "POD"). Then visit the link on this page to “Ho`olohe Hou Radio” (under "Topics") for articles about how this station was born, what it makes it “go,” and why it should be important to Hawaiian music lovers everywhere. And, while you’re reading and considering, why not take Ho`olohe Hou Radio for a test drive? Click here or on the Live365 logo on this page to listen to the station and find out for yourself what it’s all about and what makes it special. When you decide to make a commitment of financial support to Ho`olohe Hou Radio, click here or on the Kickstarter logo on this page.

Ho`olohe Hou the blog will continue to exist and will offer tie-ins with Ho`olohe Hou Radio such as additional information about the songs and artists you hear on the station. (See, for example, the many blog features on the stars of the Hawaii Calls radio program in support of the station’s month-long celebration of that program.) So you will hopefully return to this space time and again.

Keep aloha in your hearts, and take Hawaiian music wherever you go. And now you can with Ho`olohe Hou Radio – available on your PC or Mac, iPhone, tablet, or Android device, even your home entertainment system courtesy of TiVo and Roku. I am excited about this exciting new adventure in Hawaiian music edutainment, and I hope you are too. Mahalo in advance for your consideration and your support.

Me ka ha`aha`a,

Bill Wynne