FEATURE:

Morning Glory

by Kepa Harrington

It’s true, you know: Opposites do attract. Take the hosts of Hawaii’s top-rated radio show for the past 23 years. One, blessed with choirboy looks and a voice as smooth and comforting as a Norah Jones lullaby, was born for the broadcast business. The other, a former football coach with a rough-around-the-edges charm and voice, more or less stumbled his way into it.

KSSK’s Michael W. Perry and Larry Price are as different – and as inseparable – as two people can be. Says Perry, “The Smothers Brothers once told us, ‘You guys are just like us. It’s like being married: lots of arguments and no sex!’” That’s Perry on the left, Price on the right, and their job is to liven up your mornings six days a week.

Perry on the Left

From the time he was 10, Michael W. Perry knew his calling. “I wanted to be a disc jockey,” he recalls. “I just loved the whole theater of the mind thing – to be able to listen to the radio and have everything play out in your head.”

The 59-year-old Kailua resident speaks fondly of his days growing up in Arlington, Virginia, listening to popular radio duos such as Frank Harden and Jackson Weaver broadcast from Washington, D.C.
Perry graduated from Michigan State University in 1969 with a psychology degree. During the summer months, he worked at the Pentagon in the office of John Gardner, who was U.S. Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare in Lyndon Johnson’s administration. It was during college that he also launched his radio career.

“That’s how I put myself through my last two years of school,” he recalls. “I was a disc jockey by night, a student by day.”

After college, Perry served as a Navy lieutenant in the Pacific Submarine Force. He relocated to Hawaii from Guam in 1972.

“Hawaii was going to be my transition zone, my cultural buffer between living in Guam for almost four years and going back to the Mainland to get my master’s degree,” Perry says. “I came to Hawaii and asked Tom Moffatt for a job at KPOI, but he didn’t have anything for me.”

Instead, Perry joined KKUA and quickly established himself as a force in local radio. “It was a great time,” he says of the days when he was known as Uncle Mikey. “KKUA was the station of the 1970s.”
In 1978, Perry moved to K59 (its name changed to KSSK in 1981) where he worked the afternoon drive-time slot. Two years later, he also began hosting KGMB-TV’s 30-minute “Hawaiian Moving Company.” It had started in 1979 as a disco dance show hosted by another radio personality, Kamasami Kong, before switching to an entertainment magazine format with Perry. The first segment he taped was an interview with Tom Selleck and John Hillerman on the set of “Magnum P.I.”, which aired for eight years.

Hawaii’s longest-running entertainment program to date, “Hawaiian Moving Company” ended its run in 2004 (reruns are aired Sundays at 10:30 p.m. on KGMB). “We’ve got 2,500 segments of the very best stuff Hawaii has to offer – that’s a good legacy,” says Perry. “It also gave me an opportunity to do things that I would normally never do such as flying with the Blue Angels, riding elephants and playing golf with John Elway.”

He also was having a great time at KSSK spinning the hits of groups such as Air Supply, Journey and Chicago on his afternoon radio show.

And then?

Perry pauses.

“Then Aku died.”

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Price on the Right

Asked what it was like growing up in Kalihi, Larry Price frowns for effect. “Growing up in Kalihi? With a haole name?” Out comes the smile. “It was really exciting! I was the second of three boys. My family was poor, but I had good times with a lot of good friends.”

The 71-year-old Kahala resident may be beefy today, but he didn’t always cast a large shadow. “In my sophomore year at Roosevelt, I weighed less than a hundred pounds,” he recalls. “I was a water boy.” After graduating from high school, he was drafted into the Army where he transformed from a scrawny boy to a strapping six-foot, 200-pound young man.

Discharged nine years later in 1962, Price received a scholarship offer to play football at Syracuse University in New York. But then he got a call from Jimmy Asato, coach of the newly revamped University of Hawaii football program, and decided to come home.

Price captained the UH gridiron squad from 1962 to 1964, received his bachelor’s degree in education in 1965, then signed to play for the Los Angeles Rams as a free agent. He returned to his Manoa alma mater as an assistant coach to Dave Holmes in 1968, earned his master’s degree in education in 1971 and took the top coaching job when Holmes quit before the 1974 season.

The three years Price spent at the helm of Hawaii’s football program were eventful. He debuted as coach with a 15-13 victory over archrival Brigham Young University and led the last UH team to play at Honolulu Stadium and the first team to play at Aloha Stadium.

In June 1977, Price joined K59 (now KSSK), doing investigative reports for Hal “Aku” Lewis and filling in on the air whenever the legendary morning show host was ill or on vacation. Price also garnered acclaim as a television journalist during his stint at KITV from 1979 to 1985. He won nine national awards for documentaries he wrote and produced for the station on subjects ranging from prison murders to workers’ compensation.

Education remained a priority for Price, who earned doctoral degrees from USC (1985, policy planning and labor relations) and Stanford University (2003, managerial negotiations and influence strategies). He also worked for a spell as the director of the Small Business Management Program at the University of Hawaii and as a part-time professor at Chaminade University.

Despite his impressive credentials as a scholar and broadcaster, Price insists, “It’s never been easy for me to stand up in public and talk. The first time KSSK sent me down to cover the legislature, I thought my days were numbered. I thought I would last maybe a year.”

And then?

Price pauses.

“Then Aku died.”

Hal “Aku” Lewis was the king of local radio for 36 years, and his death in 1983 brought KSSK to a major crossroad. Who would replace him in the all-important morning drive-time slot?

Earl McDaniel, then the station’s general manager, made the call: Perry and Price would do themorning show together.

“He said, ‘You two guys are going to work together,’” Price recalls. “Mike asked, ‘Is he going to do the news and I’ll do the music?’”

Adds Perry, “At that time, Larry and I really didn’t know each other very well. We’d see each other in the hall and say, ‘Hi.’ That was it. There was about a six-month learning curve. It takes awhile to develop the timing and chemistry. You can put some people together for 40 years and they never develop the chemistry.”

The Perry & Price Show launched on August 7, 1983.

Glimpses of Perry Favorite pastime: Boating in Kaneohe Bay Favorite song: Hoagy Carmichael’s Stardust, Nat King Cole version Favorite movie: 2001: A Space Odyssey (first half only) Favorite book: Anything by Dan Brown or Tom Clancy under 400 pages Favorite TV show: That one with the Hawaiian Host guy Favorite musical group or vocalist: Enya Favorite colors: Red, white and blue Favorite dessert: Coffee ice cream Favorite hangout: My yard Favorite escape: California wine country Favorite meal: Grilled salmon Childhood ambition: Be on the radio Fondest memory: Family vacation, 1994, in Wailea, Maui Proudest moment: Seeing my wife graduate from nursing school First job: Salesman at a record store Most recent splurge: An iMac Dream vacation: Mediterranean cruise Biggest thrill: Flying with the Blue Angels Little-known fact about yourself: I don’t have any cavities Happiest moment: Any time spent with my six grandkids Most satisfying achievement: Perry & Price stepping into Aku’s shoes Stress reducer: See favorite pastime Person you most admire: Dr. Larry Price, the Renaissance Man Current goal: Make a real difference in Hawaii

Price laughs at the memory. “People would call in and yell at us. When we first started, I was telling them to shut up and that they were full of ----! I thought the ax was going to fall any day and I’d be out of a job.”

Perry agrees, “I was expecting the same thing. We were pretty terrible when we first started. And then the ratings came out, and they were…good!”

Since then, the unlikely duo has surpassed Aku’s ratings; the show pulls in 160,000 listeners per week.

When did they realize they had made it? “The first indication was that infamous morning when the mayor called in,” says Perry. Scowling, he begins to imitate an angry old woman. “She said, ‘You boys, you’re just so full of it! You make me want to spit and I’ve got toothpaste still in my mouth! This is Eileen Anderson, and you’re wrong!’”

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Glimpses of Price Favorite pastime: Golf Favorite song: Good Times Together by Cecilio & Kapono Favorite movie: Ben Hur Favorite book: How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler Favorite TV show: 24 Favorite musical group or vocalist: Henry Kapono Favorite color: Black Favorite dessert: Haupia ice cream Favorite hangout: Zippy’s Favorite escape: Big Island Favorite meal: Vegetarian chili and brown rice Childhood ambition: Teacher Fondest memory: Graduation from USC in 1985 Proudest moment: Inducted into the University of Hawaii’s Circle of Honor First job: Painter Most recent splurge: Completing the Advanced Management course at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, $13,500 for a three-week course Dream vacation: Italy Biggest thrill: Being a free agent with the Los Angeles Rams. Played in the 1967 game against the Dallas Cowboys at the Los Angeles Coliseum. The Rams won, 35-13. Little-known fact about yourself: I enjoy ballroom dancing Happiest time: 1966 to 1977 when I was the defensive coordinator for the University of Hawaii’s football team Most satisfying achievement: Regarding the above, beating favored University of Washington (1973) and San Jose State (1975) Stress reducer: Reading People you most admire: My brothers Roy and Thomas Current goal: Write a novel or screenplay

Says Perry, “We’re thinking, ‘The mayor’s listening? And she called? And she’s got toothpaste in her mouth?”

More memorable moments from the Perry & Price Show:

The space shuttle Challenger disaster, January 1986. “We covered the lift-off live and we had experts call in,” Perry recalls. “Then we started to play ‘Copacabana’ by Barry Manilow. About 30 seconds into the song, we realized something was very, very wrong. We came back on the air and said, ‘There’s something wrong here…’”

Hurricane Iniki, September 1992. “We were the only ones on the air,” says Price, “and we were telling everybody where to go, what to do, how to tape their windows. We were on for about 18 hours.”

The Posse. “I remember our very first successful posse bust,” says Perry. “Some guy called from a gas station and said, ‘Somebody just stole my car!’ It was classic. This guy was cruising in the stolen car from Liliha to Ala Moana, and he was being followed the whole time by three cars! The drivers were calling in saying, ‘He’s right next to me’ and ‘I’m right behind him.’

“The final person who called was a lady who parked right behind him at a pool hall on Kona Street. The cops went in, and the guy was absolutely clueless. He had his sunglasses on and was combing his hair.”

Off the air, both men are very active in the community. Among other organizations, Perry does volunteer work for the REHAB Foundation, Takitani Foundation, Castle Medical Center and Friends of Hawaii Charities. Price is actively involved with the 4-H Club of Hawaii, OIA (Oahu Interscholastic Association) Foundation; and the Roosevelt High School and University of Hawaii alumni associations.

But they’re known most of all for their morning radio show.

“I’m going to do this show until I die,” says Price. “I’ll die on the air, and then take the ninth caller to guess what I died of. We’ll turn it into a contest!” Turning serious, he looks toward his partner. “I wouldn’t do the show without him. It wouldn’t work.”

Perry nods. “The good news is, these days you can work for a long time. Paul Harvey of ABC Radio Network is in his mid-80s. Don Pardo, who does the announcing for ‘Saturday Night Live,’ is 88 and still going.”

He smiles. “So there’s a future for us.”

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