Ron Jacobs
September 3, 1937 – March 8, 2016
Legendary 93/KHJ Program Director RON JACOBS passed away today [3/8/16]
(presumably of natural causes), March 8, 2016 at his home in Pearl City, Hawaii at
the age of 78. No further details or memorial plans available at this time.
Ke Akua pu a hui hou
[The bio info below is dated, but likely written by Ron himself.]
RON JACOBS
(Born: Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii; September 3, 1937)
In the 1950s, what were the odds against a Honolulu kid growing up to radically
change the dynamic of the national radio industry; and then dominate it through the
last half of the 20th century and well into the first decade of the 21st? Staggering,
perhaps, but for Ron Jacobs, not impossible.
Early years
A cub reporter at 15, the FCC issued Ron Jacobs his license to broadcast on
Christmas Eve, 1953. Dropping out of high school, he turned pro as an all-night DJ
at Honolulu’s KHON Radio. This was before his first big break when he was picked
up by NBC affiliate KGU as the Honolulu correspondent for the network's
groundbreaking new program, Monitor.
Connecting with the visionary industrialist, Henry J. Kaiser, in 1957, Jacobs teamed
with fellow KGU DJ (and future concert impresario/record producer) Tom Moffatt to
jump-start Kaiser’s new KHVH Radio. The young deejays broke with mainstream
radio traditions with a solid injection of rock ’n’ roll. In no time, the two dominated
Hawaii’s airways; brought the best young talent to perform concert dates in
Honolulu; and developed incredibly tight relationships with the era’s best rock talent
– including lifelong relationships with industry legends Elvis Presley and his
manager, Colonel Tom Parker (even serving as honorary pallbearers at Parker’s
1997 funeral).
In 1958, at the age of 20, Jacobs – now at KPOA Radio – became Hawaii’s
youngest program director. This was incubation time, where Jacobs honed his
skills, mixing with trailblazing radio executives Bill Gavin (Lucky Lager Dance Time)
and Mike Joseph, the medium’s first programming consultant.
Then, in 1959, Jacobs launched and programmed fabled K-POI Radio – Hawaii’s
first Top 40 outlet. Together with Moffatt and news director Tom Rounds, in the first
six months of K-POI’s life, Jacobs programmed it, was the morning guy, the
afternoon guy, and the production/promotion manager. Within six months, K-POI
ruled the ratings, and Jacobs ruled the station’s success. Jacobs’ wild stunts also
landed him and K-POI in a feature story in NEWSWEEK magazine.
Using the large K-POI studio, Jacobs wrote and produced the first Pidgin English
rock ‘n’ roll records, among them: “Da Kine,” about Hawaii’s delayed entrance into
the US, and local Hawaii rock hits by “Lance Curtis” (real name, Dick Jensen); and
co-wrote “Dahil Sa Lyo” (“This Song of Love”), still available on Alfred Apaka’s
Greatest Hits.
Programming the Nation
At 23, Jacobs had gone as far as anyone could go in Honolulu radio. His drive
soon took him to the mainland where, in 1962, he was promoted to vice president
of programming at the Colgreene Corporation. Fine-tuning his format and
promotional concepts, Jacobs took them to San Bernardino’s KMEN Radio and,
three months later, to Fresno’s KMAK. Within months, both were rated Number
One.
In Fresno, Jacobs found himself competing head on with radio consultant Bill
Drake, but rather than duke it out in smaller markets, Drake and Jacobs not only
buried the hatchet, but combined their talents to program RKO General’s KHJ
Radio, and simply slayed the competition in Los Angeles. Within six months, the
Drake-Jacobs’ “Boss Radio” format was Number One in America’s second largest
radio market, garnering national recognition for creating pop radio’s most influential
sound of the 1960s. Ron Jacobs was just 27 years old.
Jacobs’ KHJ finale was the 48-hour, fully produced, History of Rock and Roll.
Radio’s first "Rockumentary" – coined by Jacobs to describe the much-imitated,
never duplicated broadcast – brought together the considerable talents of Los
Angeles Times’ syndicated pop-music columnist Pete Johnson, who scripted the
show; and legendary Boss Radio morning man Robert W. Morgan, who narrated
the original 1969 broadcast. Jacobs’ History of Rock and Roll was accepted into
the Library of Congress as the “first aural history of rock and roll music.”
Though still programming the RKO radio chain from KHJ, Jacobs teamed again
with pals Moffatt and Rounds to form Charlatan Productions. Ten years before MTV
had occurred to anyone, Charlatan produced more than 30 “concept” films
featuring extraordinary recording artists in weird, eye-catching settings: “My favorite
film was shot in a deserted Santa Monica lighthouse,” Jacobs remembered. “It was
a most bizarre flick, with Jimi Hendrix performing ‘All Along the Watchtower’ while
Aretha Franklin floated along in a rowboat in a small lake in Echo Park.”
Watermark
After four years atop the L.A. radio ratings, Jacobs left KHJ to co-found and
become vice president of Watermark, Inc. In 1970, with Tom Rounds and veteran
LA deejay Casey Kasem, Jacobs co-created American Top 40, which enjoyed a
25-year international run. AT40 evolved to become the most widely syndicated
radio program in history.
At Watermark, Jacobs also produced the award-winning Elvis Presley Story, written
by noted rock author Jerry Hopkins and narrated by broadcast personality, Wink
Martindale. The program earned the distinction of being the first American radio
production ever purchased by the British Broadcasting Corporation.
Next, Jacobs began a long-dreamed-of project: A 13-album record series saluting
pop radio pioneers. Entitled CRUISIN': A History of Rock 'n' Roll Radio, each LP
recreated an historic disc-jockey’s show, starring the very air personality who
attained regional dominance during Top 40 music’s nascent years. Besides the hits,
each album included authentic retro radio commercials, and each album cover
drew upon the teen fashions of the year it represented.
Jacobs produced several other notable records at Watermark’s “Farm Studio” --
built by a carpenter/aspiring actor named Harrison Ford – including the cult classic,
A Child's Garden of Grass, for Elektra Records; Key: An Album of Invisible Theater,
the debut album of internationally renowned performance artist Meredith Monk;
and, Music From Another Present Era, the first recording by the jazz ensemble,
Oregon.
KGB San Diego
There would be one more mainland stop before Jacobs returned home to Honolulu:
San Diego’s KGB AM/FM Radio owned by broadcast pioneer, Willet Brown. Within
months of Jacobs taking the programming reins of KGB, the station was Number
One. In 1972, the sold-out KGB Charity Ball in then-San Diego Stadium was the
largest public-service concert in California's history.
While programming KGB-FM, one of the first profitable album-oriented stations,
Jacobs conceived and produced the original Home Grown album. Winners were
chosen from hundreds of entrants in this song contest – sort of a hometown, way
ahead of its time, American Idol – which gave raw, young talent a chance to be
heard on the radio and the possibility to record. Among the winners in San Diego
and Honolulu was Michael Damian – whose group, The Weirs, was selected for the
first album – now an international idol with his long run on the CBS soap, The
Young and the Restless.
A loyal KGB listener – and, today, a top film writer/director – Cameron Crowe wrote
the first Home Grown liner notes. In 1973 that LP became the largest-selling album
in San Diego history. For more than 30 years, this proprietary project was repeated
in other US cities, also benefiting charities.
The KGB Chicken, later known to the nation as “The San Diego Chicken,” was also
hatched from Jacobs' fertile imagination. In 1972, Ron Jacobs was honored by
Billboard as Program Director of the Year. Jacobs’ documentary about Max Yasgur,
on whose farm the Woodstock festival was staged, won Program of the Year
honors and two years later, Billboard named KGB, Station of the Year.
Concert promotion
Through all his mainland years, Ron Jacobs never stopped the concert promotions
he, Tom Moffatt, and Tom Rounds had begun in Honolulu in the late 1950s. In
1964, the three men formed Arena Associates, staging the first rock show in the
Honolulu International Center (now, the Neal S. Blaisdell Arena). In 1968, Arena
Associates produced the Miami Pop Festival, the largest event of its kind to that
time and precursor of The 1969 Woodstock Music & Art Fair, which was staffed by
many of the Miami Pop crew
The concert promotion team of Jacobs, Moffatt, and Rounds presented the
brightest stars on both sides of the Pacific at such venues as the Waikiki Shell,
Honolulu Civic Auditorium, Hollywood Bowl, Hollywood Palladium, San Diego
Stadium, the Orange County Show Grounds, Fresno State Fair, and even
Grauman’s Chinese Theatre.
Home again
In July 1976, 21 years after Jacobs began his hometown radio career, he was
again behind the mike in Honolulu doing morning drive on KKUA Radio as
“Whodaguy Ron Jacobs.” Serving as KKUA’s program director, Jacob brought the
station Number One ratings by November, while successfully introducing his Home
Grown concept to Hawaii.
“I couldn’t wait to bring this project back home considering the great response I had
over the years in San Diego,” said Jacobs. “The concept brings exposure to new
musical and graphic artists, which was always exciting to me.”
Hawaii’s first Home Grown breakout artist was Noelani Cypriano, who earned a
record contract based on the popularity of her winning entry, “Lihue.” (Incidentally,
of the 10 slack-key (or kī hō‘alu) guitarists who performed on the first CD ever to
receive a Grammy Award for Hawaiian music, three performed on Home Grown
albums that Jacobs released through KKUA, KDEO, or KRTR: John Keawe, Ken
Emerson, and John Cruz.
For his efforts, Jacobs was honored by the Hawai‘i recording industry with a Nā
Hōkū Hanohano Award — the Hawaiian Grammy — in the first year of its
existence.
Radio & TV – Local Style
Jacobs’ TV career began when he hosted the Coca-Cola Record Hop on
KHVH-TV, owned by Henry J Kaiser. A 16mm original negative of one of the
programs from the series is in Honolulu’s Bishop Museum, classified in the
archives as Hawaii’s earliest sound-on-film specimen.
In 1977, Jacobs expanded his television work, producing Home Grown TV
specials; a half-hour documentary on contemporary Hawaiian music entitled Slack
Key and Other Notes, and a quarterly magazine-format series, Pictures of
Paradise, for CBS affiliate, KGMB-TV. The program won local recognition and
several national Clio Awards.
In 1980, Jacobs launched KDEO Radio as Hawaii's only full-time country music
station, "the Western-most country station in the nation." Within six months, KDEO
ranked among the top-ten stations in the state.
And the Hits Just Keep on Comin’
In 1985, in conjunction with Hawaii's visitor industry, Jacobs conceived, wrote and
produced a nationwide radio promotion, The Hawaiian Chief. The contest ran in 48
markets in the continental United States under the sponsorship of American Airlines
and Sheraton Hotels.
From 1935 through 1975, Hawaii Calls was the most-listened-to radio show in the
world. In 1992 the program returned for a one-year run. Broadcast live each week
from Waikiki Beach, the show featured live music, dancers, and a studio audience.
Jacobs was hired to produce and co-write the show.
After three decades in broadcasting, Jacobs shifted his focus to print. His first
book, Backdoor Waikiki, was published in 1986. For seven years he was a
contributing editor to both Honolulu and Hawaii magazines. More than 150 of
Jacobs’ articles have appeared in both local and national publications.
In 1994, Jacobs returned to the mainland briefly for a final assignment, joining
Radio Express in Los Angeles as executive producer of The World Chart Show. By
the end of 1995, The World Chart Show was heard on 360 stations in 54 countries
with co-productions in 27 different languages.
In April 1997, having successfully launched The World Chart Show, Jacobs
returned to Honolulu, this time pledging to stay. He produced Home Grown ’97 for
KRTR-FM and an inter-island network of stations and, once again, all for charity. In
fact, profits from the CD of previous Island Home Grown records all went to
Habilitat, a rehabilitation facility located in Kaneohe, on the island of Oahu.
On February 9, 1998, Jacobs joined KCCN-AM 1420 as host of the morning-drive
show. A year later, the station changed to an all-sports format. Jacobs left the
airwaves.
In February 2002, Zapoleon Publishing, Stafford, Texas, released KHJ: Inside Boss
Radio, a 407-page narrative and series of oral-history interviews covering Jacobs’
tenure at Boss Radio, with hundreds of memos and graphics. With a broadcasting
career spanning five decades, the Hawaii State Legislature recognized Jacobs for
his cultural contributions in the area of Hawaiian music and the Mayor of the City
and County of Honolulu honored him with a “Ron Jacobs Day.”
And the Beat Goes On
Jacobs has lived in Kaneohe, Oahu, Hawaii since 1997. He has continued to
consult mainland stations. “With the ever-expanding technology – monitoring on
streaming audio, I can e-mail copy in a few seconds from Kaneohe to Chicago –
quantum speeds faster than I could in L. A., where memos sometimes took a day
to travel upstairs via the mailroom,” said Jacobs.
Now, as Lynn Cook wrote in the May 2008 issue of GENERATIONS magazine,
Ron Jacobs is “leading Hawaii into the brave new world of Web sites morphed into
a new way of broadcasting and a new way of listening.”
“He describes it as a world where radio stations and other media have Web sites
that are still presented as an adjunct to the main thing – tuning in the station or
reading the paper. He says it is changing as quickly as we turn the pages of a
magazine.”
“The broadcaster who understands this will operate from the most phenomenal
vehicle to come down the pike since guys like Gutenberg and Marconi began
futzing with ways to bridge the gap between human minds and hearts,” wrote
Michael Harrison in his “Letter from the Publisher,” Talkers magazine, June 2007.
Ron Jacobs is that broadcaster.
It's the Year of the O-Bomb
RJ began visiting the Chicago area while his daugher attended Northwestern
University in Evanston, IL in the late 1990s. He heard of another "local boy," also
born in Honolulu, young Illinois state Sen. Barack Obama (Punahou 1979). Jacobs
(Punahou 1955) learned that Obama was among the thousands of "Whodaguy"
listeners to KKUA in the 1970s. On February 19, 2008, Jacobs attended the Hawaii
Democratic Caucus -- and found himself elected President of Precint 42, Hawaii
District 2. He resigned that post several weeks later to begin work on his newest
book, OBAMALAND: Who Is Barack Obama?, to be released by Trade Publishing
of Honolulu in Novermber 2008.
Scores of writers, poets, photographers, artists in many media, political figures,
Punahou alumni and others contributed to the book. It is the first book about
Obama written by another keiki o ka 'aina (chld of the land) and offer much new,
never published material about Hawaii's favorite son -- the most recognizable
person in the worlds. "This project evolved from an assignment to a mission,"
Jacobs says. "There is so much to be learned about Obama, and all begins with his
roots, here on island soil." The book is priced at $19.59 to coincide with the year
Hawaii became a state. The 50th State celebrated its Golden Anniversary on
August 21, 2009. Will President Obama be home to celebrate? "Stay tuned."
Bibliography
More detailed information about Ron Jacobs, or material written by him, can be
found in the following publications:
Elvis: A Biography, Jerry Hopkins, 1971, Simon & Schuster, New York
Solid Gold: The Popular Record Industry, R. Serge Denisoff, 1975
This Business of Radio Programming, Claude and Barbara Hall, 1977, Billboard
Publications, New York
Da Kine Hawaiian Music, Robert Kamoalu Kasher and Burl Burlingame, 1978,
Press Pacifica, Hawaii
Na Mana‘o Aloha O Kaho‘olawe Diary, Ritte & Sawyer, 1978, Aloha ‘Aina O Na
Kupuna, Honolulu
Hawaiian Music and Musicians, Edited by George S. Kanahele, 1979, The
University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu
Back Door Waikiki, Ron Jacobs, 1987, Niniko, Honolulu
Honolulu magazine, Ron Jacobs, 1987-1994, monthly column and features,
Honolulu Publishing, Honolulu
Back Door Hawaii, Ron Jacobs, 1987-1994, HAWAII Magazine, bimonthly column
and features, Fancy Publications, Tustin, California
Miscellaneous magazine and newspaper articles, Ron Jacobs, 1987-1998, Hawaii
& Pacific Room reference desk, Hawaii State Library, Honolulu Hawaii, 1959-1989,
Gavan Daws, 1989, Publishers Group Hawaii, Honolulu.
The Birth of Boss Radio, Ron Jacobs, 1990, “Birth of Boss Radio,” 25th
Anniversary Scrapbook.
Sonny Bono: And The Beat Goes On, Sonny Bono, 1991, Simon & Shuster, and
New York
Dream-House, The History of a Major West Coast Radio Station, Bill Earl, 1991,
Desert Rose, Montebello, California
Rock Radio Scrapbook HALL OF FAME, 1992
Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley, Peter Guralnick, 1995, Little
Brown & Co., New York
ReelRadio.com -- An Authentic Aircheck Museum of Classic Top 40 Radio,
1996-current, “The Ron Jacobs Collection,” various audio productions and written
notes by Ron Jacobs, Richard Irwin, Webmaster, Sacramento
Journey From Hell, Vinny Marino, 1996, Habilitat, Inc., Kaneohe, Hawaii
Radio’s First 75 Years, B. Eric Rhoads, 1996, Streamline Publishing Co., West
Palm Beach.
The Story of Buffalo Springfield, For What It’s Worth, Einarson & Furay, 1997,
Quarry Press, Kingston, Ontario.
Los Angeles Radio People, 1957-1997, Don Barrett, 1997, db Marketing Co.,
Valencia, California.
Follow the Music: The Life and High Times of Elektra Records, Jac Holzman, 1998,
FirstMedia Books, Santa Monica.
The Hits Just Keep On Coming: The History of Top 40 Radio, Ben Fong-Torres,
1998, Miller Freeman, San Francisco.
Uncle Tom’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Scrapbook, Tom Moffatt, 1998, Paradise, Honolulu.
The Age of Mass Communication, Wm. David Sloan, 1998, Vision Press, Northport,
Alabama
Presstime In Paradise, George Chaplin, 1998, University of Hawaii Press,
Honolulu.
Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley, Peter Guralnick, 1999, Little Brown
& Co., New York.
American Top 40: The Countdown of the Century, Rob Durkee, 1999, Schirmer
Books, New York.
The Great Chevy Killer, Ron Jacobs, March 1999, Car & Driver, Ann Arbor,
Michigan
A Rams Fan in 49ers Country, Ron Jacobs, 2000, NFL Insider, NFL Properties, Los
Angeles
The Radio Station, Fifth Edition, Michael C. Keith, 2000, Focal Press, Woburn,
Massachusetts
Turn! Turn! Turn! The '60s Folk-Rock Revolution, 2000, Ritchie Unterberger, Mark
Brend, Backbeat Books, San Francisco
FM: The Rise & Fall of Rock Radio, Richard Neer, 2001, Villard Books, New York
KHJ: Inside Boss Radio, Ron Jacobs, 2002, Zapoleon Publishing, Stafford, Texas
Eddie Would Go: The Story of Eddie Aikau, Hawaiian Hero, Stuart Holmes
Coleman, 2002, MindRaising Press, Honolulu
Elvis In Hawaii, Jerry Hopkins, 2002, Bess Press, Honolulu
Shakey: Neil Young’s Biography, James Mc Donough, 2003, Anchor Books, New
York
The Colonel: The Extraordinary Story, Alana Nash, 2003, Simon & Shuster, New
York
Aircheck: The Story of Top 40 Radio in San Diego, David Leonard, 2003
Original Photography, Ron Jacobs, misc. publications, 2004 to present.
Showman of the Pacific: Tom Moffatt, Jerry Hopkins, 2006. Watermark, Honolulu
Frank, Sammy, Marlon & Me: Adventures in Paradise with the Celebrity Set, Eddie
Sherman, 2006, Watermark, Honolulu
California Dreamin', Henry Diltz, 2007, Genisis Publishing, London
OBAMALAND: Who is Barack Obama?, Ron Jacobs, 2008, Trade Publishing,
Honolulu
Turn It Up! American Radio Tales 1946-1996, Bob Shannon, 2009, Austrian Monk
Publishing, Bainbridge Island, WA
Radio Wars, Claude Hall, 2011, self-published, Las Vegas, NV
Neon Fun Jungle: Quest for Adventure in Hollywood Rock and Roll Radio, Woody
Goulart, 2012, Amazon Digital Publishing, Seattle, WA
The Me Generation...By Me (Growing Up in the '60s), Ken Levine, 2012, Amazon
Digital Publishing, Seattle, WA
The Wrecking Crew: The Inside Story of Rock and Roll's Best Kept Secret, Kent
Hartman, 2012, Thomas Dunne Books, New York
Barack Obama: The Story, David Maraniss, 2012, Simon & Schuster, New York
Hawaiian Music & Musicians: An Encyclopedic History by George S. Kanahele and
John Berger, 2012, Mutual Publishing, Honolulu
Rock'n'Roll in Hawaii by Ron jacobs, Hawaii Book & Music Festival, 2012
For further information, E-Mail: kevin.gershan@cbs.com
