Jim Peters 6:AM
Steven B. Williams 9:AM
Gene Davis 12 noon
Ron King 3:PM
Scott Edwards 6:PM
Dick Wainwright 9:PM
Rick Shannon Midnight

CHART NOTES: While KPOI still ruled the airwaves in the early 1970s, for me a young teenager living on the Big Island, the station of choice was KKUA 69 AM. The main reason was that the reception of KKUA was way better than KPOI in our area.

Anyway, the BIG HIT of 1971 that was played to death on KKUA and practically all other top 40 stations was Three Dog Night's "Joy To The World." Being an avid chart follower at the time, I tracked that record's reign at number one on KKUA for 7 weeks, making it the most popular song on that station.. so popular it ended up being number one for the year. Many other records were very hot as witnessed by their listing on this chart.

That year a very small number of local records got airplay on mainstream Top 40 radio. The most prominent local hit of 1971 was Sam Kapu's "Chatto Matte Kudasai" which at first sounded totally out of place on a top 40 format, but eventually got so popular that it went number one early that summer. Other big local hits were churned out by the Society of Seven, who at the time had a record deal with Uni Records (which later became MCA). The group released a handful of singles for that label, 2 of which became hits on KKUA. They were "We Can Make It Girl," from the spring of that year, and "Frisco Bay" a hit from the fall of 1971. Dick Jensen was the other local entertainer to have a top 40 hit with his single, "Three Cheers For Love." The local hits are indicated by blue type.

* Climax's "Precious And Few" was a number 1 hit in Hawaii during the summer of 1971 before breaking out nationally in 1972. The group was very popular in Hawaii having charted several more times with such songs as "Life And Breath," "Walking in the Georgia Rain" and "Caroline This Time".

Several nationally released singles were hot in Hawaii and nowhere else in 1971. These included "Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep" by Middle of the Road, "Number Wonderful" by The Rockflowers, "Give Up Your Guns" by The Buoys, "Keep It In The Family" by The Road Home, "Devil You" by The Stampeders, and "Cubano Chant" by El Chicano. All of these received airplay on KKUA and other top 40 radio stations of the time. Nationally released records charting high in Hawaii but nowhere else, are indicated by red type.

Among the popular albums of 1971 were Three Dog Night's "Naturally" which contained the #1 hit "Joy To The World" as well as the very radio friendly ballad "Sunlight," a track that never was released as a single. Also popular was Carole King's "Tapestry", Santana's "Abraxus", Sly & the Family Stone's "There's a Riot Going On," and several albums by the Jackson Five and Osmonds. One of the biggest slow dance hits ever, never made it to KKUA's Top 69. Chicago's "Colour My World" was released that year and got some airplay, but did not chart high enough to make the cut.

The chart is taken from a handwritten copy that I jotted down while listening to the Top 69 on KKUA during the Christmas/New Year Eve holiday of 1971. The Top 60 was usually counted down either on New Year's eve or day.