KPHW is a Rhythmic Top 40 station licensed to Kaneohe, Hawaii, and serves the Honolulu

Honolulu, Hawaii

Honolulu is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii. Honolulu is the southernmost major U.S. city. Although the name "Honolulu" refers to the urban area on the southeastern shore of the island of Oahu, the city and county government are consolidated as the City and...

 radio market. The Cox Radio

Cox Radio

Cox Radio, Inc. is a division of Cox Enterprises that holds a number of radio stations. Cox Radio is headquartered at 6205 Peachtree Dunwoody Road in Sandy Springs, Georgia....

 outlet known as Power 104.3 (billed as "Hawaii's #1 For The Most Hip Hop And Hits"), broadcasts at 104.3 MHz with an ERP of 74 kW. It is also transmitting on Oceanic Time Warner Cable

Time Warner Cable

Time Warner Cable is an American cable television company that operates in 28 states and has 31 operating divisions...

 digital channel 858 for the entire state of Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

.

History

The station hit the airwaves in 1997 as KXME, Xtreme Radio @ 104.3 from 1997 to 2001, and 104-3 XME Hawaii's #1 Hit Music Station from 2001 to 2004, and offered a Mainstream Top 40 direction that focused on Hip hop

Hip hop

Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...

 and Modern Rock

Modern rock

Modern rock is a rock format commonly found on commercial radio; the format consists primarily of the alternative rock genre...

 hits. During the early years of the station, it tended to play very unusual music on the station, including one of the first instances of playing a heavily edited version of the Insane Clown Posse

Insane Clown Posse

Insane Clown Posse is an American hip hop duo from Detroit, Michigan. The group is composed of Joseph Bruce and Joseph Utsler, who perform under the respective personas of the "wicked clowns" Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope. Insane Clown Posse performs a style of hardcore hip hop known as horrorcore...

's Boogeyman. It proved to be a success at first, but by 1998 it would wear out its welcome, resulting in the station dropping the Modern Rock tracks and shifting to a Rhythmic Top 40 direction. It is currently one of five Rhythmic Top 40 outlets in Hawaii, and one of two Rhythmic Top 40 outlets in the Honolulu market, the competition being KDDB 102.7 Da Bomb.

Programming

In 2004 it changed its call letters to KPHW and adopted the "Power 104.3" handle to reflect its current position and focus on R&B/Hip-Hop product, but by 2010 it began moving more towards Rhythmic Pop tracks, which became more noticeable after the recent departures of Top 40/CHR rival KQMQ and longtime Rhythmic rival KIKI. Power 104.3 heavily promotes its 52 minute music hours with only 8 minute stop-sets and very clean language (a common practice among Cox Radio outlets). Notable on-air personalities inclide "KC and Taka" in the morning, "Island Boy" in the afternoons, and Micah Banks in the evenings.

External links

• Power 104.3's website