That voice is one of the most distinctive in Hawai`i, rich with Island inflections, noble and resonant. If you've listened to an O`ahu radio station or watched O`ahu television for any length of time, you've probably heard the voice of Kimo Kahoano.

His first memory is of the Kaimuki wilderness he roamed as a youngster, before his parents were divorced. "You know Crater Road? It's a little crater right up in Kaimuki, and we used to live there," he says. "We were playing out in the fields in the middle of the crater. Of course, now they're all developed real estate… but in the old days, it was just dry brush."

James Halolena Kahoano, Jr. was born at Queen Kapiolani Hospital, the third child in a family of six siblings. After his parents divorced, Kahoano and his siblings lived "all over the place", first with one grandmother, then the next; they even lived in Japan for a while. Finally, he ended up at Kamehameha.

Just before he graduated, Kahoano got involved with a traveling group of entertainers. It was a heady experience for the young man. "I went, 'You mean this is WORK?!? You have fun and you get PAID for it?!!' That's how I got started in this business."

In the next nine years, Kahoano worked at various Waikiki show business venues. At one point, he was a fire knife dancer, working for Gilbert Kauhi, better known as Zulu. He befriended Zulu's drummer, a DJ who introduced him to other radio personalities. "This guy Krash Kealoha said one day, 'Hey, how would you like to be a DJ? One of the guys is leaving.' I said, 'Sure, I can do that!'"

For his first radio gig in 1975, Kahoano worked at a tiny AM station, playing Hawaiian music. "Everybody became stars; everyone had a showroom; they had an outlet for all their recordings. It was great!" He was happy to work for free as an emcee at various functions. "Everybody would say, 'Well, you're supposed to get paid!' But it allowed me to really learn what emceeing was about, how to be in tune with what your audience is doing, and how to get their attention."

His radio work led to television projects. "My goal in life when I got out of high school was to be an actor. I had already done a lot of plays. When Hawai`i 5-0 came to Hawai`i, it was the perfect opportunity to explore that venue." Kahoano appeared on ten episodes of 5-0, and he also appeared on Magnum, PI, Barnaby Jones, Jake and the Fatman, The Jeffersons, and One West Waikiki, for a part he almost didn't get because the casting directors thought he didn't look Hawaiian enough!

In 1981, Kahoano got together with musician Paul Natto to record a song Natto had started writing. It wasn't quite finished, but they went into the recording session anyhow. "I had heard Frank Sinatra's "Strangers In The Night" in the 1960s, and I knew the story about how Frank's producer wanted him to change the 'doobie-doobie-doo' part, and he wouldn't! It turned out to be a link to the success of the song. I thought, 'Well, this might help with THIS song; it has a big gap in it! A-doobie-doo, be-doobie-doobie-doobie-doobie-dooooo….'"

He asks me to hold, and I hear him running. Suddenly, he calls out, 'I'm here! Hold on!' Then, I hear that inimitable baritone: 'Ladies and gentlemen, aloha, and welcome to the Kodak Hula Show!'

Three days each week, Kahoano is the voice of the Kodak Hula Show. After Kodak discontinued sponsorship in 1999, the famous 63-year-old program was taken over by the Hogan Family Foundation. "Ed Hogan remembers the day of Hilo Hattie and the great old-time performers, and he knew the heritage of the Kodak Hula show, so he was inspired to save [it]," says Kahoano. His emcee and narration work has included a twenty-year commitment to the Merrie Monarch, an IMAX film called Behold Hawai`i, and countless trade shows and conventions; he also co-hosted Hawai`i Stars with Carole Kai for eight years.

This month, Kahoano celebrates his second anniversary as morning DJ at KORL 99.5. He has a clear vision for his program, which bears no similarity to those of Howard Stern and other "shock jocks". "My show is designed to be something that everyone in the family can enjoy. There's too much terrible stuff being shared on the air. That's not what I'm about."

On the personal front, Kahoano was married to his wife Lynette for 28 years; they are now divorced. He was once a surfer, but these days he enjoys golf. He hopes to turn his hobby into a golf/game show, and says this might happen as early as September.

And then there are his sons. "They're all safe, they're all healthy, they all have their own goals… My oldest son (Haku) got his master's degree at UH, and is still challenging himself. He's the real warrior of the family. The second one (Ikaika) has left Making the Band; he's now in his own band in New Jersey (LMNT). The third one (Kamuela) is into musical composition."

'We welcome you… with a chant of ancient Hawai`i, the voice of Hawai`i's past. The sound of the ancient conch shell announces the arrival of the moi' kane, as we share the ancient dance of Hawai`i, hula kahiko, in a tribute to the great warrior chief who united these islands… Kamehameha.'

When he returns, Kahoano's voice abruptly changes. He becomes a lion, passionately defending the pride. "Not everything that's supposed to be a reality show is real. I respect [Ikaika], and I respect my oldest son for caring about his brother. It was very hard to deal with that show, especially at the end, because we could not come back and say that Ikaika's brother was only thinking on his behalf. Pearlman (producer Lou Pearlman) had the last say onscreen, and they really downed Ikaika and his brother. And we, as a family, had no way to come on television and say, 'Hi, I'm Ikaika's father, and what you saw was just very unfair to our family, and to my sons.' We know what was right and what was wrong. We know our son is a good young man. We had no way to express that to the nation, but we knew it. And if anyone had any inside understanding of what these reality shows were all about, they saw it, too." After a moment, he adds, "All you parents, you know that if your children are alive and well, and doing the best they can, that's all you can ask of them."

The experience has made him acutely aware of shifting tides in the entertainment industry. "The business is changing. Because of major corporations buying up radio stations and television stations, it becomes all about profit and loss. It's not about finding a new sound, it's about making a sound, programming people… No matter what, art will live on. And I will try to be a part of whatever's coming along. I still want it all. Someday, I'd love to get a role as an actor, something I could really be proud of, that shows the depths of my ability as an actor. That hasn't happened quite yet, but hopefully..."

There is a long pause. Several roars of applause are heard, with excited tourists chattering happily in the background. The beat of the ipu drum rises, then fades.