ONE OF ONE
w/ Joe Savage
ONE OF ONE includes a diverse mix of interviews with influencers, community stakeholders, businesses, professionals, and guests from television, film, music, and sports.
Listeners:
Top listeners:
00:00
00:00
volume_up
chevron_left
-
play_arrow
Island Block Radio Pulse Of The Pacific, Where Paradise Lives
-
play_arrow
EVERYONE LOVES LULU, Ep. 23 - TUI LETULI
Joe “Savage” Fa’avae is a Samoan American media executive, radio personality, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He is best known for being the co-host of the world-famous BBQ Show and The Morning Ride on the Los Angeles Pacific Contemporary digital station Island Block Radio formerly powered by DASH. Founder of the Island Block Network and Island Block Foundation as well as the producer of the Island Block Concert Series in partnership with Live Nation & House of Blues. He is also an executive producer of Island Block TV, Island Block Podcast and serves as a creative director for Shop Island Block (E-Commerce).
Born and raised on the island of Carson, California, and hailing from the village of Island Avenue, Joe Savage is one of ten children (lucky #7) with parents that emigrated from the islands of Samoa in the 1960s. Carson became synonymous with Samoans since it became a cultural enclave for Pacific Islanders dating back to the late 1950s. From humble beginnings, Joe Savage alongside his older and younger siblings experienced many of the social ills that came from growing up in the hood so family, religion, sports, culture, and the streets served as escapism while trying to survive on the daily. Coming up during the ’80s and early ’90s as an adolescent in LA at the height of gangbanging, Joe Savage would go on to lose many friends and close family to the streets including his hero, his older brother, George “TUT” Fa’avae. This would forever become the life-changing moment that would impact Joe Savage’s life thereafter.
After high school, Savage would go on to graduate from the University of Colorado, Boulder with a major in English Literature in 2002. Upon his return back to Los Angeles he would venture into a career in Education as well as working within his community in the non-profit sector. Fast-forward to 2009 where Joe Savage made his acting debut in an independent movie called, Caged Animal starring Robert Patrick, and Ving Rhames. While on location he would meet and connect with lead actor and upcoming hip hop artist at the time, the late great Nipsey Hussle. Unfortunately, the film became the only movie that Nipsey would be featured in before his untimely demise. Some years later, Savage brought his unique and compelling media personality to listeners worldwide in 2012 with The BBQ Show on the pacific contemporary digital station, Betelnut Radio. Savage partnered with Joey Quenga and developed a highly popular format. With its mix of self-deprecating jokes: provocative interviews with influencers; commentary on pop culture, community, relationships, and cultural nuances; as well as live-in-studio visits, performances by artists and tastemakers, the radio program became wildly popular especially amongst the global pan pacific diaspora.
With the vision of creating a bridge between the continental U.S. and all of Oceania (Pacific Island nations) through digital media, the Island Block brand was born. As fate would have it, Joe Savage would reconnect with the late great Nipsey Hussle at a Back To School event in 2014 hosted by Compton rapper, YG. At the same event media mogul, Dj Skee was present and Savage seized the opportunity backstage to pitch him on the Island Block brand. Shortly thereafter, a partnership was created to launch the Island Block station on the Dash Radio platform which to date is the world’s largest all-original digital radio network. Now reaching over 5 million listeners worldwide, Island Block Radio became the only mainstream ethnic media digital outlet in the continental U.S. to represent the Pacific Islander community at large through its pacific contemporary and islanesian (Polynesian, Micronesian, and Melanesian) indigenous music as well as its original curated content by real DJs and social influencers. Figures like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Dinah Jane, J Boog, Metta World Peace, Fiji, Ali Campbell (UB40), Iration, The Green, Anuhea, Sammy Johnson, Wyclef Jean, Alex Aiono, Auli’I Cravalho (Moana), Troy Polamalu, Alessia Cara, and Common Kings have all blessed the Island Block Radio airwaves since its inception in 2015.
Gallery
My Favorite Quote
“THERE IS LOYALTY AND NOTHING AFTER THAT.” ~ Joe Savage
In expanding the Island Block brand to add other verticals, in 2019, Island Block TV, Island Block Podcast, Shop Island Block & the Island Block Foundation was launched. Savage is also an executive producer of original content and marketing initiatives for Island Block TV & Island Block Podcast orchestrating campaigns for companies like Providence St Joseph’s, Flipboard, Ethnic Media Services, AADAP, Anchor.FM, Well Being Trust, Census 2020, House of Blues, and Live Nation. Serving as a creative director for Shop Island Block (E-commerce site), Savage developed merchandise and products as well as manufactured brand activations. Being of service to the community has always been at the core of the Island Block brand and the formation of the Island Block Foundation speaks to the various community efforts like Christmas in Carson (Annual Toy Giveaway) and the formation of a student grant for Pacific Islander youth interested in the media industry, so the Island Block Media Scholarship was created.
The Covid-19 pandemic of 2020 almost crippled the entire entertainment industry shutting down several facets of media and forced many to downsize, file bankruptcy, or even close down completely. A new normal was born out of all the chaos of 2020 and Island Block adapting to the current climate transitioned out of its partnership with DASH and launched its own independent media platform, Island Block Network (IBN). The mission of IBN is to serve Pacific Islander Americans, the pan Oceanian community, and consumers of Pacific culture globally by informing, empowering, and entertaining.
