Hawaii Sports Radio Professionals Dave Kawada And Tiff Wells Team Up For A Podcast

Nick Abramo
September 10, 2020
9:11 pm

Dave Kawada has been around a few more years than Tiff Wells, but both of their voices are well known in Hawaii sports radio circles. They’re now teammates again on the “Dave and Tiff Sports Podcast.“

Kawada has done play-by-play for high school and college sports for many years, and Wells is the play-by-play man for University of Hawaii women’s and men’s volleyball.

Their collaboration began a while back when they teamed up to cover UH women’s basketball for 10 years. About a year ago, they started the “Dave and Tiff Radio Show.”

“I thought that we worked well together, had enough diversity in our personalities, perspectives, age and upbringing that we could offer entertaining content on different topics,” Kawada said. “Not to mention Tiff is a die-hard in the volleyball community, so that helps and his more regular engagement in social media is also a benefit.

“With the (COVID-19) pandemic, doing a podcast became the more available option. And the convenience toward interacting with guests on video gave us another platform (video along with audio) to play around with.”

Watch and listen to Dave and Tiff interview New England Sports Network and former Hawaii TV journalist Jahmai Webster on their podcast.

Kawada says the podcast is growing steadily and that it’s a goal to incorporate more of a multi-media concept with written content and other video-audio content.

Earlier this summer, Kawada and Wells broke the news that Honolulu Star-Advertiser volleyball reporter Cindy Luis (who started her career in the late 1970s) was retiring and that the Star-Advertiser was laying off staff. Luis is Wells’ mom and the two have seen many a UH volleyball match together through the years.

And there have been some enlightening, amusing and surprising moments with guests on the podcast, according to Kawada:

>> “(Former Hawaii TV reporter) Jahmai Webster (currently working for the New England Sports Network) remembering when he played in a UH Midnight Ohana basketball game as a ‘celebrity all-star’ in jeans and loafers and drained ‘a few 3s’.”

>> “Jahmai also gave great insight behind the players and environment he now covers for NESN and Boston’s pro teams.”

>> “UH men’s volleyball libero Gage Worsley … he is just a character.”

>> “USA volleyball player Kawika Shoji telling us when he crashed a mo-ped and injured his shoulder the night before he was to start against Brazil.”

“(We strive) for the podcast to have a comfortable, humorous environment and to have a conversation with guests like we were talking story in a bar and getting to know each other,” said Kawada, who also hosts “All In With Dave Kawada,” a solo podcast. “We want to know about the people, not just the sports information.”

Wells, who is sure to say he and the Rainbow Wahine or Rainbow Warriors are “Far, Far From Home” whenever he broadcasts a match from the mainland, is well-rounded in his familiarity with local and national sports.

Readers can be the judge: Do Dave and Tiff have perfect radio faces, or what?

“Tiff’s real contributions to each episode is his preparation and general knowledge on various topics on sports,” Kawada said. ” He is more technical with knowledge (data, background on individuals), and has a good memory on stuff.”

When sports resume in Hawaii, you’ll likely be hearing Kawada and Wells doing sports broadcasts on ESPN Honolulu 1420-AM and CBS 1500-AM.

And there’s no need to wait. You can hear them on the the “Dave and Tiff Sports Podcast.“

Video versions of the podcast can be found at the Kawada Productions YouTube page.

Within a few days, the “Dave and Tiff Sports Podcast” will be featured on the BedrockSportsHawaii.com home page along with two other Hawaii podcasts: “Court Sense with Brian McInnis” and “Hawaii Real with Io Keehu.”

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