Historical local radio in New Zealand

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#2962419 2-Sep-2022 16:20

quickymart:

Yes, unfortunately - I think networking was the death knell of good, local radio in this country.

Yeah, that used to be one of the highlights of roadies up or down the country from HB back when I was a kid. Heading into the new regions and tuning into the local stations, hearing the different adverts, station idents and announcers.

Try explaining that to a kid today as they lift their devices up in the back seat to block the noise out!

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#2962465 2-Sep-2022 19:50

thermonuclear:...Try explaining that to a kid today as they lift their devices up in the back seat to block the noise out!

You are assuming they put them down in the first place!

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#2962469 2-Sep-2022 20:09

Growing up in Hamilton in the 70's we had 1ZH, Radio Waikato and radio NZ.

I used to love tuning in my 5 transistor pocket radio at night to see what I could pick up, I did get a couple of Australian stations.

When I was about 10 I cam across some plans for an AM booster, basically a wooden frame with 16 turns of wire and a variable capacitor.

Put the radio in on a week station and tune the cap and presto a better signal.

I also used to love ( and still do ) listening to different radio stations when traveling, shame there are so few, mostly networked out of Auckland these days.

One day when I get time / money / lifestyle block I will get some good receivers and start listening to long range radio again, after all a radio is only as good as its antenna.

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#2962484 2-Sep-2022 20:45

thermonuclear:

quickymart:

Yes, unfortunately - I think networking was the death knell of good, local radio in this country.

Yeah, that used to be one of the highlights of roadies up or down the country from HB back when I was a kid. Heading into the new regions and tuning into the local stations, hearing the different adverts, station idents and announcers.

And the playlists! The independent stations all had their own playlists until about 2003, when they (sadly) became centralised. I heard a lot of good music on Fifeshire that I hadn't heard for a long time, which (to me) is what makes a good station, rather than the same tired old songs day in, day out.

farcus

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#2962509 2-Sep-2022 22:17

In Timaru had 3ZC / Radio Caroline (think this became The Hits)
Port FM - re-branded as More FM

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#2962510 2-Sep-2022 22:20

89.8 in the Waikato was called KiwiFM in the 90s, Frequency then got rebranded to the Breeze, then Finally ZM

KiwiFM was local Waikato tho not a networked national station

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#2962573 3-Sep-2022 13:08

quickymart:

And the playlists! The independent stations all had their own playlists until about 2003, when they (sadly) became centralised. I heard a lot of good music on Fifeshire that I hadn't heard for a long time, which (to me) is what makes a good station, rather than the same tired old songs day in, day out.

You know those moments when you go "wow, I'd forgotten how good this song is"?

I had lots of those listening to Fifeshire FM and Sounds FM.

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#2962576 3-Sep-2022 13:51

alasta:

quickymart:

And the playlists! The independent stations all had their own playlists until about 2003, when they (sadly) became centralised. I heard a lot of good music on Fifeshire that I hadn't heard for a long time, which (to me) is what makes a good station, rather than the same tired old songs day in, day out.

You know those moments when you go "wow, I'd forgotten how good this song is"?

I had lots of those listening to Fifeshire FM and Sounds FM.

Had a bit of that also during the short time that "Mix" existed and was just limited to 80s/90s music, then they changed it to Gold and started playing older stuff

Sidestep

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#2962595 3-Sep-2022 15:21

One frosty morning in the 80's, driving to work, Mark Knopfler began to sound like a chipmunk.
The tape was digested so completely that it couldn't eject no matter how hard I hammered the button.

After that - twice a day - it was the sweet sounds of 'Radio Lakeland' that drowned out the rattling lifters in the Val..
Their catchy jingle was quite the earworm... Rad-i-o Lake-land....One Fourty Nine..

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#2962690 3-Sep-2022 15:44

I remember when (And was part of)

My first job (As a tech trainee with the BCNZ) was fitting flood pumps to the ground floor of Radio Scenicland!

ZMFM (Christchurch) Did their first broadcast from the A&P Showgrounds. Even helped carry the 1kW transmitter up the stairs at Sugarloaf, and helped install the microwave link.

Radio Caroline (Timaru) moved their transmitter site from Washdyke to Fairview.

Radio Caroline production studio was upgraded to stereo.

quickymart

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#2962722 3-Sep-2022 17:06

alasta:

quickymart:

And the playlists! The independent stations all had their own playlists until about 2003, when they (sadly) became centralised. I heard a lot of good music on Fifeshire that I hadn't heard for a long time, which (to me) is what makes a good station, rather than the same tired old songs day in, day out.

You know those moments when you go "wow, I'd forgotten how good this song is"?

I had lots of those listening to Fifeshire FM and Sounds FM.

Exactly!! Two fantastic radio stations right there, sadly no longer with us 😢

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quickymart

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#2962723 3-Sep-2022 17:07

msukiwi:

I remember when (And was part of)

My first job (As a tech trainee with the BCNZ) was fitting flood pumps to the ground floor of Radio Scenicland!

That was when they were on Mackay St, right?

msukiwi

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#2962724 3-Sep-2022 17:13

quickymart:That was when they were on Mackay St, right?

Sure was.

quickymart

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#2968305 14-Sep-2022 21:33

Sidestep:

One frosty morning in the 80's, driving to work, Mark Knopfler began to sound like a chipmunk.
The tape was digested so completely that it couldn't eject no matter how hard I hammered the button.

After that - twice a day - it was the sweet sounds of 'Radio Lakeland' that drowned out the rattling lifters in the Val..
Their catchy jingle was quite the earworm... Rad-i-o Lake-land....One Fourty Nine..

I thought they were on 1494 before they moved to FM? Then I believe they later fully relinquished their AM frequency fully.

Just thinking about some of the AM ones I used to pick up on the Coast back in the 80s (before FM fully took off) - I imagine a few people remember these :)

4XO (Dunedin)
Foveaux FM (on 1224AM from Invercargill)
C93 (Christchurch)
Radio Nelson
Radio Marlborough
The Breeze (Wgtn - 891AM)
Te Upoko o Te Ika (Wgtn)
Classic Hits 828 and 2ZA (Palmerston North)
2XX (Kapiti)
River City Radio (Wanganui)
Bay City Radio (Napier)
1ZD (later 95 BOP FM, Tauranga)

I think the furthest north one I could pick up easily was 1ZH in Hamilton. Don't remember getting many Auckland stations properly, unless you count a weak 1ZB signal.

quickymart

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#3008063 10-Dec-2022 13:07

msukiwi:

quickymart:That was when they were on Mackay St, right?

Sure was.

Thread bump, that building was demolished recently - I believe it had structural issues after the Canterbury earthquakes.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/final-broadcast-for-iconic-greymouth-building/KD7HVIFWZVEUJM2DL35BPPIXPY/

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