Dan interviews Alika Nee of Home Depot (L) and Dan York of Kona Brewing Company, framed by photographer Kevin Matsumoto and production crewmember Felix Berzabal Jr.
Serving up Guava Smoothies at curb side…
…with assistance from the Banana Man and the Strawberry.
And where all those smoothies came from!It was another busy morning today, especially since what was going to be segments on tailgating and the Niketown 5K Run turned into a full-blown block party.
If you’re a regular viewer, you know we sometimes do segments outside on the walkway fronting our studios at 801 South King Street. So it was the area where Alika Nee of Home Depot talked about charcoal grills, the use of which was demonstrated by Dan York of Kona Brewing Company, who cooked up some ono grinds, served at a table next to the grill. At the same time, the folks from Jamba Juice were here as one of the companies helping out with the Niketown run. They set up a tent and started whipping up guava smoothies, which they then passed out free to motorists who pulled up to the curb. Accompanying them were the Jamba Juice Banana Man and another man dressed as a dancing strawberry, prompting traffic guy Dave Hisaka to quip that the show was beginning to look like a Fruit of the Loom commercial. Even so, he still wanted a smoothie, so KITV engineer Hank Kaul used his Segway transporter to take one to Dave at the City Traffic Management Center a few blocks away. Then, the live vans from radio stations Hot 93.9 and Star 101.9 showed up and set up some speakers for music (I don’t know if they were broadcasting live), while more people heading to work stopped by on foot and in vehicles for the free smoothies. To top it off, Mahea passed out smoothies in the Banana Man costume, Dan put on the strawberry outfit, and I took off down the King Street sidewalk at full speed on the Segway to end the newscast.
If this is hard to imagine all at once, photos will be following shortly.
Ben.
ben@kitv.com
Well, this was interesting. Mahealani and I got done with the five-minute update we do at 7:25 and 8:25 during “Good Morning America,” when the station general manager calls and tells me GMA weathercaster Sam Champion has just mentioned the station and me. I missed it completely, but I was able to go to the tape replay to see why. Sam had a satellite map of Hawai`i up to talk about the heavy rain we’ve been having the past few days and the funnel clouds seen off Kaua`i. As he spoke in New York, Hawai`i was still under a flash flood watch (which actually expired at 4 am Hawai`i time, 10 am EDT — after GMA is over). So, he mentions our wet weather, and then says, “We get all of our information, Hawaii, from Ben Gutierrez at WITV, so we hope you do, too.”
Well, he pronounced my name correctly. But WITV? We can forgive Sam, at least a little, since he’s spent nearly all of his broadcast career east of the Mississippi, where virtually all the broadcast station call letters begin with a “W” instead of a “K.” I was curious about this other station, and found that WITV is a PBS station in Charleston, S.C. If there’s a pledge drive going on there, sorry, but I won’t be able to make it.
Basking in my two seconds of national fame,
Ben.
ben@kitv.com
The female Ed Case, that’s how Windward Representative Cynthia Thielen basically describes herself. We had her as a guest on our morning show this morning, the morning after her big announcement that she’s running against Senator Daniel Akaka. She said that she and Case basically voted the same way when they were in the legislature together. Now the big challenge is fundraising and extending her name recognition. As of this morning, she had $250 in her campaign fund.
We are now trying to get Senator Daniel Akaka to come back on our morning show for a second time. At this point, we’ll just have to wait and see.
I must say this year’s primary was one of the most fun I’ve ever worked on. Working with Daryl Huff and the state capitol crew was great. It’s amazing to see his wealth of knowledge, but he also makes things fun and interesting. It’s also great to see our experienced reporting crew kicking some major butt out at the campaign headquarters.
The only thing that wasn’t too fun was getting shocked TWICE by a faulty wire that wasn’t grounded. I got shocked near my tail bone, but it definitely woke me up as the long primary night wore on.
aloha,
Mahealani
mahea@kitv.com
If you were watching our Primary Election coverage last Saturday night, you know one of the main nerve centers is the Senate chamber at the State Capitol, where the ballots are counted, and where Mahealani and Daryl Huff waited (and waited, and waited) for printouts, which Mahealani would then parse through fresh from the printer, while Daryl would dig deeper into the numbers and their meaning.
Here’s what it looked like at around midnight, when Daryl and Mahealani went on the air to say that the final printout of the night wouldn’t be out until 1:30 am, with cameraman Dave McDonough. As is so often the case in broadcasting, there’s a lot of lights, cameras and other equipment that you don’t see on the air.
Speaking of other equipment, there were computers and wiring everywhere, as other off-air personnel entered the numbers for the graphics that went on the air. Here’s Dave, Mahealani, and Vishaka Seon from the sales department, who did some of the data entry.
The photos are courtesy of former morning show crewmember Rich Fewell, who had time — lots of time — between printouts to take the pictures.
Aloha,
Ben.
ben@kitv.com
Second printout of the primary didn’t come out until about 10:30 tonight, more than an hour behind schedule. I was over at Colleen Hanabusa’s law offices downtown, where the state senator had her campaign party. Actually, everyone was starting to get a bit lethargic, waiting, waiting, waiting. There weren’t many seats, but fortunately there was carpeting, and a lot of people were sitting on the floor, including some members of the media (yes, me too).
As for Hanabusa, she was in a strong second in the crowded field for the 2nd U.S. House district Democratic race, and told me she was in a position she expected. I told her she obviously would prefer to be in first. She responded, “Well, at least it’s better than third!” with a big laugh. Not a bad attitude for someone who’s not in the lead.
9 pm — Just got back from the Moanalua Golf Course, where supporters of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Randy Iwase were gathered to wait for the first printout. Those supporters cheered like crazy when the first returns showed Iwase with a comfortable lead. No surprise there. But there were interesting reactions from the crowd to other races:
– Akaka vs. Case: Big cheers at the announcement that Akaka was in the lead.
– Second Congressional District: Not much response when it was announced that former Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono had the lead, but cheers and applause when state Sen. Colleen Hanabusa was announced in second.
At this point of the night, it looks like former state Sen. Malama Solomon will be Randy Iwase’s running mate on the Democratic ticket. Solomon was among those waiting for Iwase at the golf clubhouse.
Just got word here that the first printouts won’t be out until sometime between 7 and 7:30 pm because some precincts were delayed in opening. Even so, most of the crews have deployed to the different campaign headquarters, or to the State Capitol — just in case the printout comes out on time anyway.
It’s 3 pm Primary Election Day as I’m writing this. Dan, Mahealani and I are here, along with the rest of the Island Television news team, preparing for tonight’s coverage. I’m already eating a bento now, just in case there’s no time to grab a quick bite for dinner this evening.
What’s making this year’s primary interesting from a newsroom standpoint is that there’s no obvious front-runner in at least one of the big races, the Democratic primary for the Second Congressional District. With so many candidates running, and the last poll taken two weeks ago, we’re pretty much in the dark as to who will be the leader, even when the first printout comes out around 6:30 or so. So, the question is, who do we cover, especially when the campaign headquarters are so spread out? We can guess, and hope that our hunches prove at least somewhat right.
The GOP race for the same seat is also a 50-50 between state Sen. Bob Hogue and former state Rep. Quentin Kawananakoa, but fortunately their HQ’s are pretty close together.
The marquee race, Akaka vs. Case, will have full coverage tonight. Stay tuned or log on.
This year’s primary election has gone to be one of the most exciting in recent. Talk about some tough choices for voters… and that’s a good thing.
On Thursday and Friday we had some very important final live interviews with Sen. Dan Akaka and Rep. Ed Case. If you may allow us to brag… our morning show was the only morning show that Sen. Akaka appeared on. My co-anchor, Dan, did a great job with the in depth interview.
On Thursday, it was my turn to interview Ed Case and I keep playing the interview over and over in my head (as I do with all big interviews). How did I do? Did I ask the right questions? Did I keep the candidate on track? Was I courteous and polite? I got 2 emails following my interview and one congratulated me saying thanks for asking the tough questions and keeping Case on point. The other email said I like you, but the viewer didn’t like how I interrupted in the middle of some of Case’s answers. And so I find myself wondering and still trying to work toward being respectful, yet not allowing an interview go on too long so can stick to our strict time limitation. I’ve found finding that balance is difficult, but I definitely appreciate the feedback… good and bad.
And so as of my writing this blog, we are now 24 hours away toward potentially getting the first print out from the primary election. Primary elections in Hawaii recently have had poor voter turn out so I truly hope that’s not the case this year. Please exercise your right to participate in our democracy. It’s a right people from other countries have risked their lives for.
aloha,
Mahealani
mahea@kitv.com
