KKCR 90.9 FMKKCR 90.9 FM

Kauaʻi is one island cut into pieces by its own mountains, and the Kekahu Foundation was formed by residents to build a station that could talk across them. KKCR went on the air from Hanalei in the summer of 1997 at 90.9 FM, then filled in the gaps the terrain left: 91.9 from Kilauea, 92.7 at Anahola, and eventually 88.9 reaching across the channel to Honolulu. It has stayed commercial-free and listener-funded, and when a hurricane or a flood closes the highway it becomes the island's information line.

More than eighty volunteer programmers hold the schedule. The small hours belong to Hawaiian music — Gabby Pahinui and Dennis Kamakahi's slack key, Kalani Peʻa, Amy Hanaialiʻi — and the day opens out into reggae, jazz and blues, Classical Blend on Sunday, and Lagniappe, two hours of Cajun records for an island four thousand miles away from Louisiana.