Throwback Thursday:KKUA's Top 69 Hits of 1971

We resume our blog after a year long hiatus with this Throwback Thursday (#TBT) post which was originally featured at Hawaii Radio & Television Guide Archive. First up, is the Top 69 Hits of 1971 from KKUA Radio.

KKUA was the dominant top 40 radio station in Hawaii in the mid 1970s. They had a strong AM signal at 690 on the dial and could be heard throughout most of the state. Their main rival was KPOI which broadcast at 1380 on the AM dial as well as 97.5 on FM. KPOI’s AM played top 40 and was the most popular pop music station in Hawaii through much of the 1960s and early 1970s. Their FM played album rock tracks.

Some of the hit records from 1971.

Every year, KKUA counted down the year’s Top 69 songs. The chart below is from the Top 69 of 1971 which listed Three Dog Night‘s “Joy to the World” as the #1 song of the year.

Rank and Title	Artist	Peak Pos. on Top 20
1. Joy To The World	Three Dog Night	1
2. I’ve Found Someone of My Own	Free Movement	1
3. Just My Imagination	Temptations	1
4. Smiling Faces (Sometimes)	Undisputed Truth	1
5. Timothy	The Buoys	1
6. Go Away Little Girl	Donny Osmond	1
7. Knock Three Times	Dawn	1
8. Indian Reservation	The Raiders	1
9. One Bad Apple	Osmonds	1
10. Chatto-Matte-Kudasai	Sam Kapu	1
11. My Sweet Lord	George Harrison	1
12. Precious & Few *	Climax featuring Sonny Geraci	1
13. I’m So Poud	Main Ingredient	1
14. Sweet City Woman	The Stampeders	1
15. Life Is That Way	Jose Feliciano	1
16. It’s Impossible	Perry Como	1
17. Domino	Van Morrison	1
18. Superstar	The Carpenters	1
19. Woodstock	Matthew’s Southern Comfort	2
20. Never Can Say Goodbye	Jackson Five	2
21. Gypsies, Tramps & Theives	Cher	2
22. Maggie May	Rod Stewart	2
23. Yo Yo	Osmonds	2
24. Sweet & Innocent	Donny Osmond	2
25. It’s Too Late	Carole King	2
26. Mr. Big Stuff	Jean Knight	1
27. Stay Awhile	The Bells	2
28. Don’t Pull Your Love	Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds	2
29. If	Bread	2
30. Black Magic Woman	Santana	2
31. For All We Know	The Carpenters	2
32. The Pushbike Song	Mixtures	2
33. Mandrill	Mandrill	2
34. I Can’t Stop	Osmonds	2
35. Tears of A Clown	Smokey Robinson & the Miracles	2
36. Stick-Up	Honeycone	2
37. Liar	Three Dog Night	2
38. Watcha See, is Watcha Get	The Dramatics	2
39. Your Song	Elton John	3
40. Draggin’ The Line	Tommy James	2
41. Morning Of Our Lives	The Arkade	3
42. How Can You Mend A Broken Heart	Bee Gees	3
43. I Hear Those Churchbells	Dusk	2
44. Proud Mary	Ike & Tina Turner	2
45. I Love You For All Seasons	Fuzz	3
46. We Can Make It Girl	Society of Seven	3
47. Ain’t No Sunshine	Bill Withers	3
48. Albert Flasher	Guess Who	3
49. Most of All	B.J. Thomas	3
50. Three Cheers For Love	Dick Jensen	3
51. Mama’s Pearl	Jackson Five	4
52. Rainy Days And Mondays	The Carpenters	4
53. No Matter What	Badfinger	4
54. I Do Take You	Three Degrees	4
55. Somebody’s Been Sleeping	100 Proof Aged in Soul	4
56. Just An Old Fashioned Love  Song	Three Dog Night	4
57. I Just Want To Celebrate	Rare Earth	4
58. Put Your Hand In The Hand	Ocean	4
59. Oye Como Va	Santana	4
60. Love Means (You Never Have To Say You’re Sorry)	Sounds of Sunshine	4
61. Games	Redeye	5
62. Brown Sugar	Rolling Stones	5
63. Lola	The Kinks	5
64. I Dig Everything About You	The Mob	5
65. Love Song	The Vogues	5
66. What Are You Doing    Sunday?	Dawn	5
67. Baby I’m A Want You	Bread	5
68. Frisco Bay	Society of Seven	5
69. Born To Wonder	Rare Earth	5

The big hit of 1971 that was played to death on KKUA and practically all other top 40 stations was Three Dog Night‘s “Joy To The World.” The song was at the number one spot for was seven weeks, making it the most popular song on KKUA.CHART NOTES: 

That year a number of local records got airplay on mainstream Top 40 radio. The most prominent local hit of 1971 was Sam Kapu‘s “Chatto Matte Kudasai” which at first sounded totally out of place on a top 40 format, but eventually got so popular that it went number one in the summer summer. Records by the Society of Seven, who at the time had a record deal with Uni Records (which later became MCA) charted with the singles “We Can Make It Girl,” and “Frisco Bay”. Dick Jensencharted with his top 40 hit single, “Three Cheers For Love.” The local hits are indicated by blue type.

* Climax‘s “Precious And Few” was a number 1 hit in Hawaii during the summer of 1971 before breaking out nationally in 1972. The group was very popular in Hawaii having charted several more times with the hits “Life And Breath,” “Walking in the Georgia Rain” and “Caroline This Time”.

Several nationally released singles were hot in Hawaii and nowhere else. These included “Morning of Our Lives” by The Arkade, “Life is That Way” by José Feliciano, “I Dig Everything About You” by The Mob, “Love Song” by The Vogues, “Mandrill” by Mandrill, “I Can’t Stop” by The Osmonds, “I Hear Those Churchbells Ringing” by Dusk, and “The Pushbike Song” by The Mixtures.

Other songs that got a lot of airplay in 1971 that did not make this chart included “Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep” by Middle of the Road, “Give Up Your Guns” by The Buoys and “Keep it in the Family” by The Road Home.

Among the popular albums of 1971 were Three Dog Night‘s “Naturally” which contained the #1 hit “Joy To The World” as well as the very radio friendly ballad “Sunlight,” a track that never was released as a single. Also popular was Carole King‘s “Tapestry”, Santana‘s “Abraxus”, Sly & the Family Stone‘s “There’s a Riot Going On,” and several albums by theJackson Five and Osmonds.

KKUA’s 1971 Personalities included the following:

Jim Peters 6:AM
Steven B. Williams 9:AM
Gene Davis 12 noon
Ron King 3:PM
Scott Edwards 6:PM
Dick Wainwright 9:PM
Rick Shannon Midnight