Dan On Maui

We arrived in Maui at 9 a.m. Rex Von Arnswaldt and I went to Costco. It was very busy. Customers are buying up essentials: water, toilet paper, canned food and more.

We met with Mayor Charmaine Tavares after that. She said she will call the storm “Fickle Felicia” since it has changed directions several times.

Tavares said she is concerned about Hana, Kaupo side of the Valley Isle because the area is prone to landslides and flooding.

Tavares said the biggest challenge for Maui County is to figure out what to prepare for because the county covers three islands. She said there are also remote locations on Maui that are hidden.

Despite the oncoming threat, Maui had a beautiful day after some showers in the morning.

Dan In Hilo

Here are a few insights from Dan on our KITV4 Twitter account:

Arrived in Hilo at 9am. Hot & humid. Overcast with drizzles. Went to Ken’s PAncake House & most people are not overly concerned.

Just left Hawaii Civil Defense. Quince Mento told us the Felicia has been downgraded to a tropical storm and is veering to the Northwest.

Hilo town is dead. No windows boarded up or sandbags. They are actually holding a surf contest today at Honoli’i. Weather is calm.heavy rain up to 12 inches in six hour period, is expected to Start hitting Monday, 5pm but that is subject to change.

Inauguration Coverage

It’s coming soon and I’ll be blogging and twittering. Stay tuned!

Rollercoaster

Ho. We it was a rollercoaster of a ride on Tuesday.

 We had David Farmer on. Yes I thought he was the running back from UH too at first. This David Farmer is the bankruptcy attorney for Aloha Airlines. He nearly broke down during an interview on KITV right after the demise of Aloha Airlines (Demise is this month’s hip word in Hawaii). One of our very cool coworkers set up a live interview with Farmer the next morning. He came in and during a live morning show interview proclaimed that 900 Aloha employees who work for the contract services division were also out of work. STOP THE PRESSES. The division was sold to Pacific Air Cargo. The deal would be finalized on Monday and now  900 MORE Aloha employees were out of jobs before anyone had a chance to sign on the dotted line. So instead of 2300 Aloha employees on the street … it was actually 3200 local residents. That wasn’t in the daily papers. No one had reported that! I miss the interview because I was preparing for another segment (we don’t wing it the entire time). Mahea told me just before the segment that had nothing to do with Aloha started. My mind was racing. It was 6:15 AM. We had to change everything. And change it we did. We blew out our regular Headlines at 6:30 segment which we do at the top each half hour and replaced with interview with Mr. Farmer. I watch and think … we are killing everybody. The papers, our morning show TV competitors, everyone! This is today’s big story and you heard it first right here on ‘KITV 4 Your Island Television News This Morning.”

 

Hours later when I return from the predictable story of how busy Hawaiian Airlines Cargo is now … Mahea breaks it to me. Farmer made a mistake. He was wrong about ? services. There jobs were safe and secure because the sale of Pacific Air was literally protected by the bankruptcy court. Farmer apologized. I don’t blame him. Anyone who’s watched me on the air knows I’ve made a mistake or two … or three. He was caught in an emotional situation on very little rest and was quoted the law. A … what I thought was a feather in the show’s cap … turned out to be a poke in the eye.

 

And off into the space that one goes.

 

I responded by waking up the next morning … going to work … and looking for another way to trump my competitors

 

Washed Up at the Water Park

http://www.kitv.com/thismorning/index.html 

I’ve reported in blizzards and rain storms, but my most washed up liveshot was at the Hawaiian Waters Adventure Park today on the Flow Rider which is the ride where you surf or at least try to. When I got there, I noticed that professional body boarder and Hawaiian Waters lifeguard, Delori Manus, was kicking up a ton of water that splashed outside of the ride.  Hmmm.  What a great place to do a liveshot.  However, she thrashed the water with such force that it nearly knocked me over and the rain jacket that I was wearing did little to protect me.   I actually was reluctant about today’s liveshot after seeing Dan’s previous liveshots at the water park when he wiped out on the Flow Rider for 2 hours of our show and ended up having a sore neck for a couple weeks.  Turns out all you need to do is have someone hold onto you from the side instead of just dropping in.  The Flow Rider is actually more like snowboarding than surfing. 

Thanks to Dan for his creative ideas to also make it look like it I was really surfing major waves at the beach and thanks to the Hawaiian Waters Adventure Park for a really fun and wet morning.

aloha,

Mahealani

mahea@kitv.com

Obama Look-a-like at KITV

Here’s someone who could audition for the Barack Obama character at Saturday Night Live. His name is Sid and he works behind the scenes at KITV in Honolulu. Sid doesn’t really look like Barack Obama, but he’s got a similar tall stature, deep voice and authoritative mannerisms.

Sid actually has acting experience long ago and recent played Obama at the Society of Professional Journalists Gridiron show.

Thanks to Sid’s wife, Patricia for the picture. In the pursuit of fairness, if anyone has a picture of a local Hillary Clinton, John McCain or Mike Huckabee look-a-like, I’d be happy to post it.

aloha,
Mahealani
mahea@kitv.com

The End of an Era

A Big Aloha goes out to KITV 4 Morning newscast director Gale Hermandorfer, better known as “Gale the Gadget Gal,” who occupied the director’s chair for the last time today.

Gale started her segments when what was then called Good Morning Hawaii hit the air in 1996. She’s moving on to greener pastures in Washington State, and we’re going to miss her terribly!

A hui hou, Gale!

P.S. — Mahalo to former KITV’er Rosie Cannell for the pic!

ben@kitv.com

Where is Mahea?/A LOST Opportunity

You won’t see me on the morning show for the rest of September because I’ll be getting some R&R and doing some city hopping as well. We decided to have fun with it so Dan and Ben will give a clue as to where I am. I’ll call into the morning show the next day and let you all know what city I’m in. Just think of it as like “Where in the World is Matt Lauer,” but with absolutely no big network news budget.

On a side note… I got offered a small role on LOST as a t.v. news anchor (I know big stretch) which will be in the next season’s episode 2. But I had to turn it down because the filming was going to be right in the middle of my vacation!!! I was bummed. The opportunity just fell into my lap, but the timing was wrong. Oh well. That’s life.

aloha and stay tuned!
Mahealani

Monday Morning Work Outs with Sofija

For several months now, we’ve had the pleasure (AND pain) to have pilates and fitness expert, Sofija (SAH-fee-yuh) Zekovic-Roth, on our show each Monday for a couple short workouts. Even though the segments are only 3 minutes a piece, we really feel it. Our morning worksout are arguably our most popular segment since every where us morning folks go, people talk about the workouts. We are now starting to hear that people are bringing out their exercise balls to workout with us as we do it on television.

The exercises are so beneficial… though Dan may wince from the pain. Yes, the exercises are challenging, but speaking from experience, they really work your targeted areas. I’ve taken private sessions with Sofija and she can really kick your butt into shape. I’ve needed her firm yet calm voice to keep me going when I’ve felt like giving up from fatigue or pure laziness. Sofija is even trained in accupunture, Qi Gong and Euro and Chinese herbs so she really takes a holistic approach to health.

A warm mahalo to Sofija for making Monday mornings more fun. Many people have asked me for her contact info so here it is. Enjoy your exercises!

Sofija Zekovic-Roth
741-5463
sofija@kaimukicare.com

Talking with Tia Carrere

Dan and Dave were defintely smitten with Tia Carrere who is back in town to promote her latest CD, Hawaiiana. She came with Daniel Ho, who collaborated with her on teh album. It was very cool meeting the woman who we have come to know from Brown Bags to Wayne’s World to Dancing with the Stars.

I also learned Tia will be in the fall season premiere of Nip/Tuck on FX. That edgy show about plastic surgeons and their antics is my guilty pleasure. I heard she’ll be playing a dominatrix. Ouch! I can’t wait.