City Waipahu, Hawaii Branding 102.7 Da Bomb Frequency 102.7 MHz | Broadcast area Honolulu Slogan "All The Hits Now" First air date 1990 | |
KDDB (102.7 FM), also known as 102.7 Da Bomb, is a Rhythmic Top 40 station licensed to Waipahu, Hawaii and serves the Honolulu radio market. The Ohana Broadcast Company, LLC station is known as "102.7 Da Bomb". It is currently one of five Rhythmic Top 40 outlets in Hawaii, and one of three Rhythmic Top 40 outlets in the Honolulu market, the competition being KUBT and KPHW. It also transmits on Oceanic Time Warner Cable digital channel 854 for the entire state of Hawaii.
Contents
Debut
The station debuted in 1990 as country outlet KDEO.
Radio Free Hawaii
In 1991, the station flipped to an eclectic freeform format as "Radio Free Hawaii", which proved to be popular with listeners, who voted via ballot boxes in various locations across O'ahu and Maui and via their website. These votes were compiled into the Hawaiian Island Music Report (Hawaiian Island Charts). Due to the FCC relaxing its rules on local frequency ownership, the frequency was sold in March 1997. Loew Broadcasting, the owner of the frequency, based on recommendations from a mainland consulting firm, had changed the format to classic rock for about six months from 1994–1995. This format was not popular and Radio Free Hawaii returned to the air.
Despite the popularity of the voting-based format, Radio Free Hawaii had trouble generating revenue. The station's manager, "Sheriff" Norm Winter, stated in an interview years later that this was due to his refusal to subscribe to the Arbitron ratings system, as the fee to subscribe was $50,000 at the time. Advertisers at the time relied mainly on the Arbitron ratings to buy airtime, and were not impressed by Winters' own in-house research showing that the station was in the top 3 stations in Oahu listenership. As a result, the station went deeper and deeper into debt.
The station, under Winter's leadership, was instrumental in starting the first annual rock festival in Hawaii, the Big Mele.
Cool 102.7/Double K Country
On March 7, 1997, new owners dropped the Radio Free format for Adult R&B as "Cool 102.7". However, it didn't attract listeners or ratings, and in 1998 it returned to country as KKHN, "Double K Country".
102.7 Da Bomb
On November 17, 2000, at 3:00pm that format went away (again) when the owners moved KQMQ-FM's Rhythmic Top 40 format to the frequency. After stunting with a loop of The Gap Band's You Dropped a Bomb on Me, it then relaunched as "102.7 Da Bomb", with the first song being "What's Your Fantasy" by Ludacris. In the late 2000, the calls were changed to KDDB. At first, KDDB, like most other Rhythmic start-ups, had featured Hip-Hop as a core component of the playlist, only to scale back on the genre after KIKI and KQMQ both flipped formats, along with the changing taste in its listeners and embracing other musical genres, including the EDM culture (KIKI would return to Rhythmic as KUBT in September 2016). Although their slogan boast "All The Hits Now!," the station's playlist features a broad-based direction with a unique blend of current Rhythmic Pop/Dance hits. The station is now owned by Ohana Broadcast Company and programmed by Kelsey "K-Smooth" Yogi.
In the media
In a December 1983 episode of Magnum, P.I. titled "The Look", the 102.7 MHz frequency was used as the home of the fictitious KTDE, "K-Tide". The plot revolved around a female disc jockey at that radio station. In reality, the 102.7 MHz frequency was dark at that time, as were all FM frequencies above 97.5 MHz (KPOI, now KHCM-FM).