Nearly 50 years ago, as a brash 16-year-old, I applied for my first radio job and was rejected immediately. I was disappointed but not really surprised; after all, the station wasn’t even on the air.

I’d heard about a new radio station, just a couple of blocks up Kaahumanu Avenue from Baldwin High. I stopped in one day after school to find Ron Vaught — the godfather of Maui radio — literally building the KAOI studios in a small office building next to the Aloha Lanes bowling alley (now Central Maui Self Storage). He put his hammer down and gave me a few minutes and some fatherly advice. The station was several months away from operation, he said, so he wasn’t yet looking for talent. He suggested I finish high school, attend college and, perhaps, set my career goals a bit higher.

On June 11, 1974, KAOI-FM hit the airwaves as Hawaii’s first FM station outside of Oahu. As for me, I only followed the first part of his advice, graduating from Baldwin that same month. Nine months later, I was on the air at KMVI as a weekend DJ.

In the summer of 1979, I left KMVI for KAOI-FM. RV had moved on to build yet another radio station (KHEI). KAOI’s new owner, Kirk Munro, also ran a weekly newspaper, The Maui Sun. Our offices were next door to each other, sandwiched in between Maui Recapping, which is now United Tire Maui, and Kentucky Fried Chicken, where Stillwell’s Bakery now stands (side note: I’m old enough to remember Kurasaki Cafe which preceded KFC in that location).

Both the Sun and KAOI were viewed as Maui’s alternative, hip (or hippie) media back then. The only FM station on Maui, KAOI’s format was album-oriented, progressive rock. When he hired me, Program Director J.W. Huser explained that “progressive” referred to the way in which our music sets were constructed, rather than the music itself; that progressive rock stations were basically freeform radio, where DJs could play whatever they wished, regardless of the Billboard music charts, as long as the songs flowed nicely from one to the next. There was no playlist, just two rules: No current Top 40 hits, and no disco. Then he led me into a room stocked from floor to ceiling with vinyl LPs and said, “Go to it, kid!”

I had just become comfortable with all that creative freedom when the call of television news reporting lured me to Honolulu, but I thoroughly enjoyed those few months at KAOI. J.W. left shortly after I did, returning to Maui many years later to head KONI-FM as Joe Hawkins. Some of us radio folks change our names as often as we do stations.

A few, like Jack Gist, find a station to call their forever home. Program Director Jack has been with KAOI since 1986, even longer than KAOI Radio Group owner John Detz, who acquired his first Maui station in 1988. The two of them are already planning next June’s 50th anniversary celebration. Jack says it’s going to be, has to be, really big. After all, for its 25th anniversary, the station gave away 25 pairs of round-trip tickets to Las Vegas.

Reflecting on the past several decades, John is proud of the fact that KAOI-FM and its sister stations are locally owned and locally programmed; no cookie cutter formatting here. His passion for professional, responsible radio is evident when he speaks of KAOI’s commitment to the community.

Like John and Jack, I have lived virtually all of my adult life in the radio business, mostly on Maui. One of my most treasured highlights was founding nonprofit, freeform Mana’o Radio with my late husband, Barry Shannon. When, for personal reasons, I made the heart-wrenching decision to leave Mana’o Radio, John was the first person to reach out to me with a job offer. I declined at the time, but his compassion and kindness touched me deeply and remained in the back of my mind. A couple of years later, I rejoined the KAOI ‘ohana.

That was nearly seven years ago. It took four decades, but I’ve come full circle, working at the first station I applied to. Like a record on a turntable, the extended dance mix version, of course.

* Kathy Collins is a radio personality (The Buzz 107.5 FM and KEWE 97.9 FM/1240 AM), storyteller, actress, emcee and freelance writer whose “Sharing Mana’o” column appears every other Wednesday. Her email address is kcmaui913@gmail.com.