Throwback Thursday: My First-Ever Radio Show, as a High School Kid, 25 Years Ago

Dr. Mike and Damon V., from the summer of 1990

It's hard to believe, but this month marks the 25th anniversary of the summer I spent with a bunch of kids from around the state of Hawaii living at the University of Hawaii dorms and getting hands-on experience in the worlds of TV, radio and journalism. It was the State of Hawaii's Summer Program for the Enhancement of Basic Education (SPEBE), a pretty cool program that fell victim years ago to budget cuts. But it made my summer of 1990 -- the summer before my senior year of high school -- a transformative experience for me. (I also returned as a counselor, overlooking a whole new crop of kids, in 1993).

We were all high school juniors and seniors from all over the islands: In-town and rural Oahu, Kauai, Maui, the Big Island and even Lanai. For six weeks while living at the UH dorms we also produced video projects, created a newspaper and did a weekly radio show on UH's KTUH radio station.

A few years ago I shared my bad acting as lothario "Bruce" in one of the cheesy videos we made that summer, "Love Story" (link here).

Now, I just uploaded my first-ever actual on-air radio show -- and it's horrifically cheesy as well. It's the "Dr. Mike and Damon V. Show" (Damon was my roommate), recorded at midnight on Thursday, June 28, 1990. The music is quite the hodge-podge (The Smiths, Jane's Addiction, Phil Collins, Inspiral Carpets, Madonna, The Sundays, Janet Jackson, etc.) and I hog the mic (sorry, Damon!) way too much. Stick around for the news report from Eugene and Marisa. I have cut down the songs so it's not too long of a slog. Here you go:

Podcast Hosting - Download Audio - Dr. Mike and Damon V on KTUH...

Retro Friday: High School Graduation, 20 Years Later

Whoa. How did this happen: It was 20 years ago this weekend that I graduated from Radford High School in Honolulu.

TWENTY YEARS. I remember when my parents hit the 20-year high school mark. Doesn't seem like that long ago. But 1991 was, indeed, 20 years ago. Yikes.

My high school had three valedictorians and one salutatorian (me). So someone came up with the idea of giving everyone's speech a theme: "Yesterday," "Today," "Tomorrow" and "Forever." Above, I give my "Forever" speech.

And below, here's my pal Anthony giving his speech, "Today":




Meanwhile, a pic of just a portion of my senior class. Time to play "where's Mike?"