Hal Lewis (died 1983), aka J. Akuhead Pupule or Aku, was the morning air personality in 1965 at KGMB, an AM station in Honolulu, Hawaii.
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Hal Lewis became a personality in his own right when he moved to Hawaii in 1946 from San Francisco, where he had been an unemployed violinist, and became a staff announcer at KGMB in Honolulu. According to his newspaper biography, he was so poor that he had to sleep on Waikiki Beach. Although he was terminated for insubordination within weeks of his arrival, Hal Lewis was able to get another job at KPOA.
It was at KPOA that Lewis perfected his own style of presentation, which incorporated repetitious time checks, and it was this gimmick that caused him to get the name "aku-head" from a furious listener after he had given out the incorrect time on the radio. Lewis then dropped his own name for J. Akuhead Pupule or plain Aku.
Never one to stay still, Aku began jumping from station to station in Hawaii and in the process he built up a following. In 1955 he showed up in London, England at the offices of the Radio Luxembourg programme listings magazine called 208. Aku asked to speak to the station management and he made a proposal to buy the morning time slot from 6 AM to 9 AM in order to present his own breakfast show. Unfortunately the transmitter which was located in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg was only capable of reaching the British Isles in strength during the evening hours and his proposal was rejected.
In 1965 Aku eventually managed to return to KGMB in Honolulu where his career had begun and where it blossomed as their morning show presenter.
Aku was thought to be charming and contrary at the same time. He is reported to have become the world's highest paid deejay while barely managing to avoid bankruptcy several times. His on-air presence was calm but his off-air presence was obnoxious. While others would spin rock 'n' roll records Aku played music from the 1940s. In addition to his other traits, Aku was a prankster who caused thousands to show up for a non-existent parade one April Fools' Day. But while he loved to create havoc, he had a thin skin for critical press reviews, and while others saw him as an entertainer, he saw himself as a journalist. Aku would also read the news during his morning show. This "Coconut Wireless News" segment would start off with a jingle that included sounds of coconut shell effects.[1]
Aku died in 1983, but managed to get the last laugh on the airwaves when he unleashed his own recorded announcements to stimulate a public mourning for his passing.