 Your host for today's special episode of Community Matters, Think Tech's Place in the Community with our guest, the man behind Think Tech, Jay Fidel, who is celebrating a special day today. Happy birthday, Jay. Thank you, Carol. I hate birthdays. But your birthday gives us a perfect opportunity to reflect on the gift that you have given to our community. Think Tech Hawaii is now in its 17th year. So welcome, Jay. And on behalf of all of us at Think Tech, staff, volunteers, our board, our guests, our hosts, everyone who watches Think Tech, thank you so much for your years of creativity and devotion and hard work in giving us this opportunity to present to the public awareness and raising civic engagement and promoting public awareness. Thank you, Carol. Okay, so give us a snapshot of Think Tech Hawaii. What is it now? It's fabulous. It's got this fabulous splendid studio here. We are so lucky. Thank you, MW Group and Pioneer Plaza for making this possible for us. We've got this great equipment that works like a charm. Thanks to our underwriters for funding that. And thanks to our staff for putting on these incredible programs and our volunteer hosts and volunteer guests, so many people, hundreds of people come through here. And they're all dedicated and all volunteer and they speak their minds and they teach us about what's happening on the ground here. I don't think it's any other media that I know of in Hawaii anyway that tells you what's really going on on the ground, how people feel, how they think. We have it here, right here. So how would you define Think Tech in just a few short sentences? Well, tech is only part of it. I'd square that away right away. You know, it started at Tech, it started in the year 2000 all around tech and now radio show on Hawaii Public Radio from 2001 to 2008 and thereafter on AM, that was about tech. But, you know, it sort of evolved into other issues. You talk to somebody about tech and you find out that tech is enabling some other thing. You find out the person you're talking to has other interests and you get interested in these other issues and interests and, you know, evolutions and events and world. And you wind up expanding your consciousness and so you start at Tech, good place to start, but we cover everything. But when you started in 2000, right, it was only on the radio? That's true. We had a website, thinktechawaii.com, dates all the way back to that. And my cohorts and I, we were doing luncheon programs for the Building Owners Association because we involved in that part of the business community and we did increasing, you know, increasing range of subjects in those luncheon programs taught me a lot. But then in the last part of 2001, early 2002, we got involved in HP, our Hawaii Public Radio, 89.3 FM. And we had a weekly show there called, Guess What, Think Tech Awaii. And this, of course, is while you were practicing so far our viewers who don't know, Jay's been a long time practicing attorney in the firm of Bendett Fidel. Right now it's Bendett Fidel and Sugimura. Right? And what type of law were you practicing? Oh, really good. What is that general business? It is a general business firm. It still is, of course. And it's a real estate firm and, you know, we make deals, try to help people. We try to be on the positive side of the equation. So when people think of lawyers, they should think kindly of our style and our, you know, kind of practice. So Think Tech, starting Think Tech, it then was more of a side interest for you because of your interest in technology? Well, you know, I told you that we were doing programs at Building Owners Association. Right. That was actually a suggestion on one of my clients. I see. And the watershed event was the sinking of the Hemi Maru off Waikiki in 2001 where PBS engaged me. I should talk to their audience on national television, you know, like 50 million people. Every day, while the court of inquiry at Pearl Harbor was going on, and I met hundreds of people in the press, I became familiar with that community and I got to know them, including the ones here, including NPR. And, you know, as a result, it sort of turned my thinking. My brother, who is very close to me, said to me at the time, he said, this is going to change your life. And it did. So getting close to the press made this possible and it sort of opened up my eyes and opened up this possibility way back in 2001. And you were chosen for the Hemi Maru because of both your law background but also your Coast Guard background? Yeah, I was a legal officer in the Coast Guard and I had experience in this kind of court of inquiry and in court marshals and, you know, other investigations. I was the investigation guy for the Coast Guard. I mean, I was right up there. And so as a result, you know, I was probably a good pick for this Hemi Maru thing because it was a big investigation. So now, let's fast forward then a few years. So at what point did Think Tech become video medium? Well, you know, in 2008, we left FM radio and HPR and we went to AM radio for a year or two. And in the process, we started doing video in the radio studio. And this was downtown? Well, downtown in Kalihi there, AM. And then we sort of brought the video into a studio here in Davies building and we would have the studio and the radio both the same. We wired up. That was really creative. We wired up. So what we said in the video studio was going out on the air, on the radio. It was cute. And how often were you broadcasting? Oh, once a week. Once a week for half an hour or an hour? An hour. So you were doing this by yourself? At first, yeah. And then we started to get hosts and then more hosts and then we started doing more than one show. And then we had more guests and before you know it, a lot of this was not my idea. It was a staff's idea. People were around. We were helping. They had all these ideas about expanding. It's okay, let's expand. And we now have multiples more of them. I mean, wow. Back then, during the radio at HPR, we had four people in the team and we rotated two and two. We went to AM. It was maybe the same, maybe less. And then when we got into video, all of a sudden it started to flower out. And people really wanted to see this go and they were open to the idea of having more shows, many more shows. And now we have 30 plus, maybe 35 shows in a given week. We have hundreds of guests come through. We cover so many topics. We have such an interesting array. And I have to, you know, I have to hold myself back at two o'clock in the morning. If you turn on our stream on thinktecawaii.com, it's really interesting. It's interesting as anything else, I tell you. Right. And so I understand we also started a podcasting. Yes. Oh yes, as of what, December, January. Right. I have the suggestion of one of our staff and one of our directors too, they got on us. Said, you got to do podcasting. We did podcasting. Now, all our talk shows are on iTunes podcasting. People love them. We had a tremendous response to that and hundreds of people listen to them all. And gee whiz, it's really popular. I guess it's the generation, right? People like to see podcasts. So give us an idea of the range of topics you cover now because you said you're not just tech anymore. We're not just tech anymore. How much time you got? Short. I want a short list. There are ranges everywhere from, you know, tech and energy, a lot of energy. We have like six shows a week on energy. No kidding. And, you know, all kinds of science. We do, you know, community affairs. Law. We do social policy. We do the arts. Gee whiz. Education. Education, thank you. Politics. Politics. And we have wonderful, wonderful hosts who come in and they're experts in this area. And they can really help us. And they're guests. We have a whole array of, a roll of decks of guests who are just incredible. And I mean, I just, I want to tell you if there's one thing that take away, it didn't take away, right? If there's one thing, you know, is we want to feel the pulse of this community. We want to show off the expertise in this community. We want Hawaii to be great. We know the world also listens and watches. And we want them to know that Hawaii is a really special place. And the people here are special. And they know some stuff. They do. They know some stuff. And we want to show that off. So, again, the importance to think tech in our community. Have you seen it growing? And does it extend beyond our local community? Oh, yeah. I mean, when you go in the net, that happens. And a word on the net, you know, you and I went to the National Association of Broadcasters last year in Las Vegas. I'm going to go again this year. It really gets you going. It really excites you to find out that the net is growing so quickly. And, you know, to go on the net is to go global right there and then. Furthermore, the net is catching up with TV. One of these days soon it will surpass or become morph and go confluence into TV. People watch a lot of TV, but I think as time goes by, they will find that the net has either the same or sometimes better content than TV does. I mean, I can show you some programs on TV. That you shouldn't be watching. But, you know, some of the stuff on the web is fabulous. So we have shows on YouTube. Yeah. How many are you think of our previous shows that are archived? Oh, 6,000. 6,000 shows on. We've done a lot. Thousands of different topics, different speakers. All over the place. One of the things that we didn't mention is we do a lot on Asia. We will continue to do a lot on Asia, every country in Asia. We want to know about diplomacy. We want to know about their internal politics. We want to know about their thinking, their art, their culture, their people, their globalism. This is a time for globalism, despite what Donald Trump thinks. We, you know, we have to expand. We're part of that expansion. We're going to keep on doing that. So what kind of shows get the most hits? Good question. I guess the shows that get the most hits are the ones that are timely and topical. If we're tripping off a headline of some kind, if we're talking about something that happened right now, that show is likely to get more attention. If a guest is good, likely to get more attention. If the conversation is active, you know, and scintillating with interesting points and remarks, that's likely to get more attention, because it's not the first guy who watches. It's the first guy who watches and sends out something else to someone else, the internet, right? And so you get this viral effect, and then, ooh, it goes, you know, so it's not the immediate impression. It's the first guy who gets more attention over the days and weeks to follow. We had one yesterday with Governor John Wahey, one of our hosts, and Carl Campani, another of our hosts, and we talked about executive orders. We wanted to explore what an executive order is and what the authority of the president, wow, what an interesting inquiry that was. I was fascinated myself. So tell me, how do you distinguish between, what is the benefit of a small media company like Tech versus a broadcast station? We don't have maybe the size of the studio or the staff, but we have flexibility. We can, how do you see the advantages? We don't need a big studio. We don't need, this is perfect for us. Come and watch, come down, you guys, come down and take a look. This is perfect for us, and our staff is perfect, and our equipment is perfect, and our whole model of doing business is journalism, volunteer, voluntary journalists, it's all just swell. And what is really interesting is that we have a live view camera now. We can go out in the field, thanks to our underwriters, and we can take live pictures anywhere, and we do that, and we show them live on our system. So we can go walk talk anywhere, any island, anywhere in the world, with our live view camera. Now what this means, all of it taken together, is we are nimble and efficient, and those things really are different. We have really a very few people doing a lot of things with really highly leveraged systems and equipment, and wow, that's different. Right. Okay. Well, we're going to use this opportunity to take a little break, and thank you, Jay, for, again, happy birthday, and for starting Think Tech Hawaii. So we'll be right back. Thank you, Carol. What I want to tell you. Aloha. My name is John Wahee, and I actually had a small part to do with what's happening today, served actually in public office. But if you don't already know that, here's a chance to learn more about what's happening in our state by joining me for a talk story with John Wahee every other Monday. Thank you, and I look forward to your seeing us in the future. Hi, this is Jane Sugimura. I'm the co-host for Kondo Insider, and we're on Think Tech Hawaii every Thursday at 3 o'clock. And we're here to talk about condominium living and issues that affect condominium residents and owners, and I hope you'll join us every week on Thursday. Aloha. Welcome back. This is Carol Monly, and I'm here with Jay Fiedel in Community Matters talking about Think Tech. Jay's very favorite topic, right? You bet. 24 by 7. You know that. Absolutely, right. And Jay and I are both volunteers for Think Tech. But tell us, where do you see Think Tech in two to five years, and where do you want it to go, and how is it going to get there? Well, I think the outline is in place. There's no big surprises coming. The only real expansion and growth will be using existing things that we have. One thing is that camera I mentioned, it's a digital broadcast unit. It's the live-view digital broadcast unit. We're going to use that. We're going to go everywhere with that. We're going to capture scenes and people all around the state with that. So both here, in the studio, but outside the studio, on location, and also to the neighbor island? Yes, exactly. We're going to talk to people, and you know what? They talk to us. We go out there and say hi, and they talk to us. They tell us how they feel, and we get these kind of little snapshots, vignettes of how it is on the ground. I don't think a lot of media do that, so happy to do that. That's one thing. And we'll cover, you know, not only the news that's reported to us as citizen journalists, but we'll cover the essence of the place. And I want to do that more and more and more. So I think that's important for us to come together. You know, one great concern about the state is it's drifting. They're going to insulate drifts along the islands. We want to try to reverse that, bring the state together. The state that thinks and knows what it is and what it wants together is a better state, a better community. So that's what we want to build. The other initiative that will grow over the years is our program, which we call The Hub. It's called, you know, thinktechbetter.com. And it's a program that we're building now thanks to another underwriter and a grand tour who has helped us get a filemaker program system that allows us to build all kinds of functionality and just do huge things with the push of a button that we need to do anyway. So it makes life easier for all of our staff. We have, what, eight or nine people on the staff now? Well, 10, including you and me, right? And that will enable us to free us up to do many, many more things. So the idea is to be as efficient, use the software, if for all. We began in tech and tech is still our middle name. This is something we got to do. But as we evolve this program, as we implement it, roll it out, socialize it, we will find that it changes the way things operate. And that's the growth I see in the next two to five years. Well, you mentioned that this equipment is funded by grants that thinktech has been able to receive over the last year or so. How is the funding going to continue in the future? I mean, how do you see that as being supported? What kind of resources are there out there? Well, we are so, so appreciative of our grand tours, our underwriters. Most of them really, most of them have been with us from the time we started operating the studio. And they keep on supporting us every year. And I really love that. I love that, you guys. I love that. Thank you. But as we do more, as we go out farther, we have to have people to do it. And we have that transportation to do it. And there are expenses. And our expenses, sometimes they go up. So we always have to be looking for new underwriters and new grants to support our activities. So do you see a specific focus on topics? Like I know you mentioned, we already have five or six energy shows. And that continues to be important to our state, politics, education. But are there other areas that you see think tech as being more better equipped or able to focus on than the rest of the media? I want to get into the schools more. I want to find out what's going on in the schools. I want to have those kids come down here. I want to have a connection with the schools, the student body, the teachers, the faculty. I want to be all over the science fair and all the science activities they do. I want to be connected with them. Not just for making videos, but for understanding them and encouraging them and building our educational system and connecting Bishop Street with the educational community out there. I think that needs to happen more than it's happening now. Okay. Do you have a particular favorite among all of the different topics that you... What is that? Science. Really. I know a closet scientist. Yeah, I love the scientists. You know, have you hugged a scientist today? What particular area in science? Well, I certainly like ocean and earth science. I like biology. I like information technology. I like engineering. I like all those things. Those are the things I should have taken more in school. This is my way of making up for lost time. I see. I see. And how about the arts? Oh, I love the arts. We have performing arts. We went and made a movie of the ceramics program in which Santa Marata was involved and two recognitions. The museum, the performing arts, the fine arts, all the arts. And you know, I think the problem is people are busy. They don't have time. The music, the opera. Oh, yeah. We've had the opera on a number of times. I went to see a streetcar named Asire last weekend. And we have to have this in our community. It opens your mind. And so ThinkTech wants to help do that. Wants to help promote, help understand, help socialize the arts, every kind of arts. Yes, absolutely part of the array. And so among your 30 to 35 shows that we broadcast a week, how do you determine the topic for each show? How do hosts get in touch with you? And who makes the decision to put on a show? How does that work mechanically? Lots of email. Lots of contact. You know, we manage a stable of 30, 30, 40. Actually, there's more than that in terms of hosts, because some of them are every two weeks. So you get this more than 30. It's like 50 hosts already. So we have to talk to them, write to them. And that's one of the reasons the FileMaker program is so important that we can communicate automatically and schedule things and make sure that everybody knows where they're supposed to be and they decide on the topic and they let us know the show information. We have to have that on a regular basis. And it's hard to keep it all under control with a few people, a few volunteers we have in the studio. So are there always new shows coming up? Always new shows coming up. So if somebody is interested in a particular topic that needs to be... We're always open. So they should contact you? Yeah, 780-9254 or jayatfidel.com. And we want new shows. We want to go down the path of the evolution of our state and try to keep at the front of the envelope there, you know, the frontier of what's happening, what people are thinking and what they want and what bothers them. You know, all the issues that we are faced with every day. We want to cover that all so we know the rainbows of the state. So tell us a little bit about the board and how the board of directors is involved in running Think Tech. I think about the board a lot. It was posted here in our reception. And I look at their pictures and I say, what a bunch of great guys and girls. They're very diverse. They come from diverse backgrounds, diverse jobs and expertise. They're all sweet. They're all behind us. They all contribute. And I think they're a great board. And boards are important. Last night, Charlie Rose was interviewing Ursula Burns, the really incredible woman executive who's the CEO of... She has been the CEO of Xerox. And I was so impressed with her. And one of the things she said is the success of the CEO, the success of the organization, directly related to the quality of its board. Not only must you have a good board with good people willing to put in the time and thought, but also you have to manage them. You have to listen to them and understand them and use or not use their advice. So it's a relationship. And our board, we enjoy that kind of relationship. Great. So I know you have a board. We have underwriters. We have, of course, hosts. We have guests. We have our staff. We have volunteers. And now we have a new advisory board. Tell us about the advisory board. Advisory board, also diverse, young. It's not as much a commitment, I would say, as being a member of the board, but it's a sounding board for us. It's a feedback thing where we can go out and kind of survey them on things we're not sure about how people will react. This is very valuable because you need to be in touch with your audience. They are our advisors as to what an audience might think. And I know we're very involved in social media. How has that changed over the years from? Oh, gosh. I remember being really concerned about social media. That it was a kind of hole in the boat. And that it was dangerous. And you'd be careful what you say and do. And those things may be true, but the fact is that social media has changed our lives. In the last five years, it has gone viral everywhere. And it is all over us. And we have to learn to learn by it and be engaged with it and manage it. So it doesn't take over our lives. How many emails do you get? How many messages do you get every day? And you have to still have a life. But it's changed our world. It's changed our way of communication. It's changed journalism. It's changed the way we perceive politics, national events, and geopolitical. So I would say it is the new normal. And it is never going to stop. It's only going to get bigger, better, more powerful, and in some ways more worrisome. Right. So are you personally on Facebook? I am. But I don't spend much time on it. Like millions of others. And it's my birthday today. I've got 500, you know... And you're going to get more? I told you I hate birthdays. Well, let's talk a little bit about your personal life now that we know it's your birthday. And I think we have some pictures, Suri, that we can show. But how long have you been in Hawaii, Jay? Since October 1st, 1965. Uh-huh. And who do we have here on our screen? Oh, that's my wife. My wife Sharon, who I met like a week after I got here, you know. Sharon Fidel, who is a beloved employee at First Wine Bank, and a great supporter of Fink Tech. And she's there with my dog, Minky, who's no longer with us. But tell us about... So I know you just came back from a wonderful trip this summer. Where were you? Oh, we went to Portugal. Uh-huh. It was great. Yeah. Portugal is wonderful. I urge people to go to Portugal. People are nice, they're sweet. There's a real similarity between Lisbon, you know, people in Lisbon and all around Portugal and the people here in Hawaii. They're very nice, unassuming people and they really love... And the food is out of this world. And the prices are real reasonable. So... And they have art, they have music, they have everything you want. It's a whole new world. We've been to other places in Europe. But Portugal has to be one of my favorite, actually. Great. Let's see. We have any other pictures here? Very... Aha! Jay. Oh. And let's see. Jay is with a group of people with the illustrious former Governor John Y. Hay and Evelyn Lance, retired Judge Evelyn Lance, who... in myself. And this is at our holiday party just recently in December. And Evelyn is representing the H.O.T. Yeah. Evelyn's been on the board. She was the president for a long time of the Kulaiapa Theater. And she accepted the award. And what award was this? This was an award for Distinguished Community Service. And we gave it to five people, five organizations. And it was one of them. And I think it's wonderful what they do. I've always felt that you need, as I mentioned before, you need culture. You need music in our community. It uplifts all of us. Go to an opera. You'll see what I mean. Right. And any more pictures? Aha! But what is that? Jay. That's the award at OC16. Yeah. Yes. In 2016, O'Lello... I mean, sorry. OC16 presented to Think Tech Hawaii its Mahalo Award. So we were there to accept the award. There's a picture of Jay holding the beautiful glass star. Yeah. That was a surprise. Didn't have any idea. And that's a picture of Jay and me at the NAB, which is the National Association of Broadcasters. What do they call it? A show? Yeah. Show in Las Vegas last April. Right. And last April. And we're going to go again this year. So, okay. So Jay, you have some parting thoughts on Think Tech, dreams for Think Tech, how viewers can get involved. Well, let me say that in the spat between Arnold Schwarzenegger and Donald Trump, Schwarzenegger said that he thought that they should switch places. Mm-hmm. That he, Schwarzenegger, should be president, even though he wasn't born in this country. And that Trump, you know, should be back on the, what do you call it, your fired show? The apprentice. The apprentice show. And that would be better. Why? Because it would allow people to sleep at night again. Okay. And what I'm saying, and the reason I tell you the story is, what I'm saying is that a lot of people have trouble sleeping at night because of what's happening in this administration. And, you know, it's like the New York Times has said, we're going to follow this very closely. Because there was never a time in our lifetimes when we needed to hear from the press on what was going on. And they're stepping up to the plate. And I really appreciate that. Same thing with Washington Post and others. Well, I think Think Tech has to step up to the plate, too. We have to be citizen journalists. We have to cover these things. We have to be the connection for people on the things we do, the things we cover. And I want to fill that role. I think we can. We will fill that role. And so in a funny way, we become more important in the confluence of media today. Think Tech, there's a place for Think Tech going forward. Thank you. And on that note, I want to wish you, again, a happy birthday. Thank you on behalf of so many thousands of people who watch and enjoy and learn from Think Tech. And again, this is my guest, Jay Fidel. And we have one part of the picture of someone very familiar to you. And who is this? Oh, my baby. That's my baby, Emily Caihea Fidel. Okay. On that note. Aloha. Thank you very much. Thank you. See you next time. Okay.