REGIONAL ROUNDUP March - Hawaii

Jim Leahey Passes Away

Jim Leahey, sports broadcaster for more than 40 years passed away in January at the age of 80. The University of Hawaii graduate was the television and radio voice of Rainbow Warrior and Rainbow Wahine teams for KITV, KGMB, KFVE, KKEA and OC Sports until his retirement in 2018. A statement from his family reads: 
 
“Today we lost the patriarch of our family. A man known by his supreme talents for storytelling, an unrelenting passion for Hawaiʻi and the teams and athletes that represent it, and a lifelong love for the craft of sports broadcasting. “
 
Leahey followed in the footsteps of his father, Chuck Leahey, taking over broadcasts of boxing at Schofield Barracks and basketball on KGU radio. In 1979 he was named director of sports programming at KITV, later sports director at KGMB. 15 years later he began regular play-by-play announcing on KFVE and OC Sports. Leahey was a 19-time recipient of the Hawaii Sportscaster of the Year award.
Photo courtesy University of Hawaii

Nikki Schenfeld Returns to KHON2

KHON2 news welcomes back reporter Nikki Schenfeld after a short Maui hiatus. The Chicago native graduated from Columbia College Chicago with a degree in broadcast journalism. She worked briefly at Comcast SportsNet before fulfilling a dream of moving to Hawaii in 2011. She wrote for Valley Isle publications before hopping over to O’ahu and KHON2, where she covered general assignments and Maui-related stories. A year ago Nikki moved back to Maui but has now re-settled in her old newsroom.