KKUA

Strong KKUA signal now reaches Kona

The Kona side of Hawaii Island is now able to experience strong through-the-air reception of Hawaii Public Radio’s KKUA 90.7. Ironically, this expansion of service is made possible by the forced closure of KKUA’s original transmitter site, located in the antenna farm on top of Haleakala. Because of a new radio telescope about to be constructed in Science City, all broadcasters have been required to vacate the farm. KKUA has been relocated to a new transmitter site on Maui’s Ulapalakua Ranch, which permits the station’s strong signal to be beamed directly to the Kona side of the Big Island. Broadcast engineers estimate that approximately 26,000 more residents on both Maui and West Hawaii who could not receive KKUA before can now hear it.

“The vast and challenging terrain of the state, particularly that of Hawaii Island, presents us with serious ‘terrain shielding.’ FM signals simply cannot pierce mountains,” said HPR President and General Manager Michael Titterton. “Because of that, a few locations will still not receive the station, but the overall increase in listeners is very significant.”

Up to now, HPR listeners on the Big Island either picked up KANO 91.1 in Hilo on the west side of the island, or the translator at Waimea, which broadcasts KANO at 94.7. However, neither of these transmissions could be heard in Kona homes through the air.

These developments are part of a long-term expansion that began with the building of KANO 91.1 in Hilo in 2000, augmented by an organized local community support group. Since then, the Hilo facility has been entirely rebuilt, complete with a new transmitter and antenna.

Both of Hawaii Public Radio’s program streams — KHPR, the classical music and fine arts stream, and KIPO, the news, information and world musics stream — are carried on Oceanic Time Warner digital cable stations on, respectively, channel 864 and 865.