Living on the East Coast, Myrtle Beach, SC, does not provide the opportunity to listen to the music of my youth – Hawaiian music. No one will be able to understand the fulfillment I received upon finding this little Internet radio in Hawaii that brought me back to the Islands, be it only through my imagination.

The joy of listening to the sounds of the Islands brings back the memories of Hawaii Calls, as I have lived far away for most of my adult life. Being able to listen to Hawaiian music in the twilight of my life brings me more pleasures than can be expressed in words.

The notion that the government is going to take this pleasure away by increasing the royalty fees to such an extent that most of these Internet radio stations will have to stop providing this service is just another example of the big and powerful controlling what we the ordinary people enjoy.

Please, everyone, write your congressmen and senators! There are very few joys left in life and for me listening to Hawaiian music from Hawaii as I relax in Myrtle Beach, SC is what I so dearly desire.

Pete Provencher

My life has actually changed in many ways just because of my exposure to my most favorite Internet station, Internet Radio Hawaii. Six years ago, when I got broadband, I found IRH. Forty years ago my mother used to play Hawaiian music, but I had no idea what was going on with this genre since, until I discovered IRH. As I listened to IRH, I listed the songs, album names, and the artists’ names of hundreds of sounds I heard, and have purchased about 50 of these CDs since.

I have attended at least 15 or more concerts by some of these artists in the Boston area, New York City, in California, and in Hawaii. I have made at least four trips to Hawaii, especially, to see some of these shows. Without IRH.com I would never have known about any of these artists.

Several of the more famous and popular Hawaiian music artists also got involved with my volunteer work at WGBH, the Boston public television station. In the past six years at least $10,000 worth of CDs from some of the Hawaiian artists have been donated to the WGBH Annual Auction. These CD’s have been auctioned off on the air and have raised more than their value for WGBH. Because of my enthusiasm for Hawaiian music, at least 15 of my friends, too, have come with me to various concerts by some of these musicians. My friends have traveled to NYC and all the way to Maui for these shows, and in April, a dozen of us will go to a concert in the Boston area. Mind you, none of my friends would have even heard of any of these artists if not for the trickle effect, stemming from IRH. Many of my friends have also started their own collection of Hawaiian CDs.

Betty Dew

We are still seeking stories from Internet radio listeners about the impact that your favorite stations have had on your life, and what a loss it would be for you personally if those stations were no longer available. Please submit stories and photos to mystory@saveourinternetradio.com