Tom Moffatt's autobiography, "The Showman of the Pacific: 50 Years of Radio and Rock Stars," is the astounding history of an entrepreneur who helped shape the entertainment climate in the Islands for the past five decades.

The 234-page book, "as told to" Jerry Hopkins, benefits from Hopkins' skill in encapsulating history and breathing life into significant events. It's like having a backstage pass to Moffatt's life as a now-legendary rock and pop promoter and radio deejay, who has made the acquaintance of many an American idol.

Moffatt's story begins in South Lyon, Mich., near Detroit, where Moffatt was a jock, actor, deejay, dishwasher and radio wannabe. He left home for the University of Hawai'i with plans to become a radio jock.

In conversational first-person monologues, Moffatt hosts a tour of his life. Among the highlights: his tenure as a deejay at K-POI Radio, which had an integral role in reeling Hawai'i into the Age of Rock, and his move into promoting musical acts.

Along the way, Moffatt developed show-biz friendships with Jimmy Buffett (Mr. Margaritaville), Eddie Sherman (retired three-dot columnist), Neil Sedaka (teen idol turned lasting pop star), and Sid Bernstein (former manager of The Rascals, and the man behind The Beatles' Shea Stadium gig in New York).

Of course, Moffatt's friendship with Col. Tom Parker, celebrated manager of Elvis Presley, is there. And The King has ample play, too, in photos and in text (he's mentioned the most, on 33 pages).

Moffatt's loyalty to associates, from Mel the Moneyman to Barbara Hallberg Saito, shines through; and he pays tribute to wife Sweetie.

Full disclosure: I was around when Uncle Tom first hit the radio waves; as a high school student, I was a member of his fan club. Later, as a high school editor and a cub reporter for The Advertiser, I interviewed stars and reviewed some of the early rock shows Moffatt put on. I'm mentioned in the text, and a vintage photo of me and a one-time Supreme appears in the book.

Whose life hasn't been touched by Moffatt? You might have first encountered him as emcee-presenter of a classic Show of Stars, when he staged Connie Francis, The Everly Brothers, Fabian, Frankie Avalon, Johnny Crawford, Dion and the Belmonts and Chubby Checker. You may recall the under-$1 tickets way back then; the venue, the Civic Auditorium, is long gone.

You might have bopped on the dance floor on his TV show at KHVH (now KITV), when he hosted a local version of a teen show following Dick Clark's "American Bandstand."

You might have rooted for him in those wild radio promotions of yesteryear, when he participated in a wake-a-thon, speed-boat-a-thon, bowl-a-thon or donkey derby, or taking sides when he was the good guy on the radio, feuding with bad-guy Jacobs.

Or perhaps you saw the Rolling Stones, or Janet Jackson, in monster concerts that Moffatt had a hand in.

Moffatt was the centerpiece of a lot of community to-dos, then and now.

The book validates Moffatt's role as a pioneering advocate of pop entertainment who established his own self as a celebrity in the process. With more than 400 photos, in color and black-and-white, and reproductions of posters and tickets from past shows, "The Showman of the Pacific" also serves as a document of Island culture for the past 50 years.

Reach Wayne Harada at wharada@honoluluadvertiser.com.