Post #450897 by allenroyboy on Thu, Apr 30, 2009 8:21 PM

I was directed this way by DigiTiki.

I am doing research for a biography of Webley Edwards of Hawaii Calls fame. A summary of what I'm doing was a feature article of the Honolulu Star bulletin: http://archives.starbulletin.com/2008/08/12/features/story02.html

I got started doing the research about Webley about 2.5 years ago. I happened across "Hawaii Calls" on Wikipedia and listened to the 1949 program that it linked too. I realized that I didn't really even know who Webley Edwards was, even though I'd listened to the program as a kid in the Pacific Northwest for many years. I remember seeing many of those Hawaii Calls vinyl records saying Webley Edwards presents: Hawaii Calls, but I didn't really understand why he was presenting Hawaii Calls. So, I flipped to the Wikipedia page on Webley Edwards and found perhaps 4 paragraphs and then followed some links and found precious little else! I began a search on the web and found that perhaps there were 10 paragraphs of information and that many sites borrowed from other sites so it comes down to about 2 actual sources about Webley.

About this same time I mentioned Hawaii Calls to my wife (who is only 4 years younger than I) and she didn't know what I was talking about. I then began asking around my friends and associates (I live in Montana) and none of them knew what Hawaii Calls was!!! I have come to realize that people older than 60 or 70 are probably the only ones who know about Hawaii Calls and they are getting fewer and fewer everyday. So, I decided to start doing research on Webley to see what I could find out. I've been learning quite a bit; collecting articles, chapters of books, newspaper clippings, etc. I've found his living relatives and talked with most of them. I set up a Webley Edwards family history on Ancestry.com and with help some of his relatives have traced family back to the Mayflower. I've been talking with Nina Kehalihiwahumana and her brother Boyce who were both regulars on HCs. I found his physical therapist who cared for him after his first stroke up till he died. I also talked a couple times to Bill Bigelow who tried to bring the program back in the 90s.

I've learned many things that are not in any biography. But I still have MUCH to learn.

I am also doing a history of Hawaii Calls, because it's hard to separate Webley from HC. I'm here on this forum to contact those who are also interested in Hawaii Calls. I'm certain that there are many snap shots of Hawaii Calls taken by visitors to the program out there in thousands of old family photo albums. If your parents, grandparent, great-grandparents, or weird ol uncle Hal, visited Hawaii during WWII and after (during the 50s and 60s), chances are they visited the program. Also, I'm certain that there are many home movies of the program. And scripts of the programs. etc. I'm not collecting this stuff, but would like the information that can be gleaned from them about the program. What ever may be used in a biography will be properly sourced.

So thanks;
Allen Roy
Bozeman, MT