Ron Middag

Even before high school, Ron was building radio transmitters and talking to the world as a ham radio operator. At one point he built a small am transmitter and began his broadcast career sending out Motown 'hits' and sharing the answers to homework questions with his classmates. After a tour of the local AM/FM radio and television complex with his boy scout troop, Ron went back and hung around until someone put him to work. His first job was filing records and pulling news copy from the AP Teletype machine.

Before the end of High School Ron had a weekly radio show from the record department at the May Company store in San Diego. After graduation from Lincoln High Ron went on to San Diego State to major in radio and television broadcasting. While going to school, there were jobs at various radio stations around town and Ron ultimately ended up at KPRI FM as program director. KPRI was what was then called an underground station, playing album cuts and music that didn't get played anywhere else. Amazingly it became the number 3 station in San Diego. No FM station had ever done that in San Diego up to that time.

It wasn't long before the desire to 'try for the big time' met with an offer from LA. It was off to the big city and KPPC FM. Ron did the morning show there and was the music director. KPPC was a very creative place and with all the talented people around, anything could happen and often did. The news at KPPC was written and performed by the Credibility Gap. Johnny Otis did a weekly show and it was where Dr Demento (Barry Hansen) did his first radio shows. After a year and a half at KPPC Ron moved across town to KMET. Working at the mighty MET was quite another thing from KPPC. It was unionized and very formal. The DJ wasn't even allowed to play his own records. There was an engineer that cued and played all the music. After the loose creative atmosphere of KPPC, this was somewhat of a challenge.

After a year at KMET, Ron accepted an offer from Elektra records to go on the road with Carly Simon to promote her first album. At Elektra there were also projects with Judy Collins, The Doors, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Don Nix and Harry Chapin. While at Elektra Ron also produced the Mickey Newbury album "Live at Montezuma Hall" and was a principle architect of the Alabama State Troupers tour and a mix engineer for the Alabama State Troupers live album.

Almost three years after moving to LA, it was time to get back to doing some radio. KSAN in San Francisco was the mother ship of FM rock radio stations and it was a long time dream to work there. After meeting with Tom Donahue and Thom O'hare, Ron was hired to work weekends at KSAN. This was a truly magic period in radio and there was amazing energy at KSAN in those years. This is where Ron and TK first met, both working mostly weekends and doing some vacation relief work while working on other projects during the week. At KSAN you could walk into the lobby on any day and run into Bill Graham or Grace Slick, Jack Nicholson or John Lennon. Every week there were great concerts, intimate club performances and live radio shows from recording studios and clubs all over the Bay Area.

It was during this time that Ron received an offer from Stax records in Memphis TN to work for them on some of the new acts they had just signed. One of those bands was Larry Raspberry and the High Steppers and Don Nix, who had been on Elektra, was now with his hometown label again. Thus began a period of major commuting from Memphis to San Francisco and back in order to be back in SF for the weekend radio shows at KSAN.

Working for Stax records was an opportunity to work for a company that was history making in many ways. The home of Otis Redding and Albert King and Booker T. and the MGs… it was a magical place. Ron worked on records by The Staple Singers and Johnny Taylor as well as Don Nix, Larry Raspberry and the Highsteppers and Big Star. The ride with Stax unfortunately was not a long one as Stax went into bankrupsy in Dec of 1975.

The next chapter would take place back in LA (again). Shelter Records was a record label owned by Denny Cordell and Leon Russell. The label was getting ready to release some great new music and looking to hire some new people. Timing, as they say is everything. Aside from new releases from Leon Russell, there were records by J. J. Cale, Dwight Twilley, Freddie King, Phoebe Snow and a new band called Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. The Shelter years were good ones, good people and good music.

The later part of the '70s was devoted to independent projects with Beserkley Records, the Electric Light Orchestra, Talking Heads and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Radio was still happening through these years. Ron alternately worked for KSAN in San Francisco and KTIM in San Rafael.

By the end of the '70s the record industry was in trouble. For the first time since the beginning of the business, the public wasn't buying. The cost of PVC was up and there were gas lines again. Consultants were increasingly controlling radio. It was time to look for something else. Time to check out Television.

Trying to break into television took some time. Finally, in the fall of '80, Ron got hired by KOVR in Sacramento. Then in'82, it was back to San Francisco and KRON TV and NBC. This began a career at KRON that went for 19 years. These were tech years, technical director for the Daybreak show for 10 years, mixing the audio for the Today Show when they were in San Francisco and sound design and audio mixing for New Years Live, a syndicated show, done by KRON in Las Vegas and aired in over 60 markets. KRON was a great place to work but ultimately it was sold to Young Broadcasting and it was immediately apparent that the end was near.

In the late summer of 2001 Hawaii came calling, an opportunity to go back to radio but this time in Hawaii, the most magical place on the planet. Needless to say, Ron took the job and never looked back…

Tony Kilbert

TK's dad, Porter Kilbert, was a Chicago jazz musician who played with Duke Ellington, Coleman Hawkins and even the big band led by the young Quincy Jones in 1960. Dad gave TK his 'ears'. Listening to music with his father was the start of what TK calls 'deep ear'. 'Energetic intention', as well as tone, melody and rhythm, are just some of the the things going on in any piece of music. How it makes you feel is first, after that, how does it affect you physically...then it's on to the mental side of things as well as accessing the nuances of the players and their talents. This perception matrix is a constant to TK. Rock and Roll is the stripped down, blues based and deceptively simple version of this unique American music that comes from the Southern Cultures where his father and mother grew up. His parent's legacy is second nature to him and it's propelled TK's career in radio, records, television and artist management. Feeling and listening can take you very far...if it's from the heart.

TK's mother, Florence Kilbert, was the first Black head nurse at the University of Chicago hospital and she later became a school teacher in the Chicago Public School system. Caring for people, and the constant attainment of knowledge, was her forte. TK owes her his understanding of the heart, she was the ultimate 'people person'. His mother was a great listener who respected all people and actively understood that we can grow as much as we want to, there's always more to understand and be part of, in knowledge and in active process. The constant evolution of every individual, as well as any society, requires a constant monitoring...music is just another 'record' or 'snap shot' of this process. When TK left Illinois to go out on his own, San Francisco became the nurturing place for him. It was the field of all possibilities in the most multi-cultural of American Cities. In 1972, the father of FM Underground Radio, Tom Donahue took a chance on the young kid from Chicago and gave him a weekend air shift at the legendary KSAN FM in San Francisco, TK hasn't look back since. All the guidance from home, all the trust in something bigger and all the love for music was funneled into one vehicle that supported 'ALL' of that. KSAN played Folk, Jazz, Blues and Rock and Roll. You had to know your music, your audience and the trends that were evolving in the world at that time. Niche marketing did not exist and creativity abounded. You were the reason for the next song heard on the air, not a consultant or a play list. The responsibility to handle that task and still be entertaining made the young man trust his instincts fully...he still does.

So, after working at 5 radio stations, two major labels(Motown and Elektra Asylum), 1 TV station, 1 major artist(Santana) and 28 years in the San Francisco Bay Area, TK now calls Kauai home and he chooses to be of service to the beautiful Garden Island. What a frequency to align with!

Both TK and Ron Middag, who've been friends since their KSAN days, are committed to giving Kauai the best of their experiences to compliment the people and the lifestyle of this wonderful place. SHAKA rocks, naturally and soulfully.