UPDATE: I am in the process of re-scanning all of the old text based RFH surveys and will post them up as image files in the coming weeks. Links to some of the old text based surveys have been temporarily removed.

Secondly, corporate radio giant Clear Channel Communications has launched a new Radio Free Hawaii website and will revive the format on HD Radio later this month. They are already taking votes at their website. The new RFH will be broadcast in HD on KUCD 101.9 - 2 FM. The station will also stream online. The cost for an HD set starts at around $200 each.

--------------

This website is an online archive of Radio Free Hawaii's Top 36 Charts. Radio Free Hawaii broadcasted from Jun. 1, 1991 to Mar. 7, 1997.

Radio Free Hawaii's claim to fame was that its programming was determined by weekly votes submitted to the station by listeners from all over the state using a ballot system. The voted songs and artists were tabulated each week and a weekly survey of the Top 36 Hits based on those votes were counted down with Sheriff Norm Winter every Saturday morning at 10:AM. The songs featured on that week's survey went into high music rotation at the station while other voted for songs were featured on a somewhat lesser rotation. The music represented by listener votes spanned all genres... rap, pop, rock, alternative, country, Hawaiian, jazz, classical, ska and more...

Before the internet became popular, a group of us onliners congregated at a computer bulletin board called Technotronic where we collaborated our votes, discussed the radio station and music in general. The weekly Top 36 chart was posted there. Technotronic was operated by Jerry DeGuzman who provided the first electronic online ballot which allowed users to vote for songs by computer.

After awhile users moved on from Technotronic to other BBS's and the internet.

In Nov. of 1994 the station went off the air as another format was tried, and subsequently failed. On April 1st, 1995 Radio Free Hawaii returned to the airwaves and weekly votes were once again taken through the usual outlets as well as the Radio Free Hawaii website.

The charts listed on this site are either reproductions from the actual printed surveys or the text versions of charts that were posted to the Technotronic and other BBSs and later to usenet.

Sadly Radio Free Hawaii was bought out by a corporate entity on Mar. 7, 1997 and the format ended. The spirit of the station lives on and remembered at several other websites.

Photo above: Cover of the first Hawaiian Island Music Report released on Jun. 1, 1991. Tom the Sentinel was the morning guy for a short period of time at RFH. To the right was "Sheriff" Norm Winter with his infamous sledgehammer.

RADIO FREE HAWAII REWIND - LISTEN NOW!

The Radio Free Hawaii Rewind channel features more than 300 songs that were once played on Radio Free Hawaii. The songs were selected using available data pulled from the Memory Lane Top 300 Chart as well as some of the weekly Top 36 Charts published on this site. Not all songs and artists are represented on the stream since their music is not available on the Finetune music service. Since Radio Free Hawaii ceased broadcasting in 1997, there are no songs newer than that year featured on the player. This stream is not meant to replace RFH, but merely be a way for you to sample some of the music that was once played on the station. They played so much different types of music that it is impossible to cover it within the scope of this stream. To listen to the music click on the green button with the arrow at the bottom of the player. The music will start playing in a few moments. If you click away from this page the music will stop. In order to continue listening you can click on the main Radio Free Hawaii Rewind page. From there you can come back here or click to go elsewhere on the internet while leaving the Radio Free Hawaii Rewind page playing in the background. Flash and a broadband internet connection is required to listen to the music.

SELECTED EXTERNAL LINKS

Clear Channel's New Radio Free Hawaii Website
Can a corporation bring back the true spirit of RFH... without Norm?

Radio Free Hawaii Coming Back in HD
By Erika Engle, Honolulu Star-Bulletin.com, 4-9-08

Flashback: Norm Sledgehammers His TV on RFH
Jeela's Lines of Flight Blog, September 2007

Radio Free Hawaii Discussion Topic
Join HawaiiThreads.com and let's discuss Radio Free Hawaii!

Read Shawn "Speedy" Lopes article on
Radio Free Hawaii
Jun. 3, 2001 | Honolulu Star Bulletin.com

Listener Supported Radio Moving Online
By Burt Lum, Honolulu Advertiser, Nov. 4, 2003
Makes mention of Radio Free Hawaii and links to this site.

Will Kreth's Radio Free Hawaii article

BBS Postings from 1991 to 1995
A text page of old postings to Technotronic BBS and others.