You would think they would have a proper launch and have a few ads so people know about the switch
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The station is still Magic Talk. There is no change
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I would have imagined they would have just changed the name of the existing Magic Talk page to the new name like most other stations do so they donât loose existing followers⌠bit weird⌠Unless they fully want to wipe Magic Talk and everything to do with it?
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Yep⌠This
Some magic talk followers will troll the new station / hosts they disagree with. And they donât have a massive following so better to start fresh.
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Going off how Gurney has described the station in interviews âpositive ⌠modern perspectivesâ etc etc sounds very good in theory but what about when the big talking point is He Puapua or Three Waters for example - and you have a host like Garner or Richardson opposed to it. Are they not allowed an opinion for fear of it being deemed racist or not a positive discussion or a right wing viewpoint that is covered on ZB so they have to steer clear ? The Charlotte Bellis story at the moment - do they ignore it because it would likely be a negative subject with a lot of callers angry at the govt? Interested to see where they draw the line.
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Modern perspectives really does make me laugh. Barring Lloyd and Tova (no newbies themselves), everyone else of the presenters on the weekday lineup are media veterans of 20+ years or have had high profile careers in the public spotlight already.
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Did anyone else notice that the RDS on their local Magic Talk frequency changed to read âTODAYFMâ today? I guess it was pre-programmed to change on the original launch date but someone forgot to adjust it to mid March 
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Yes, Dallas talks a good game but maybe he has momentarily forgotten who he has employed!
To be fair, anything is better than Magic Talk and the full investment from Mediaworks seems to be there this time.
When they start running âbest ofâ replays on the weekend, then we know Dallas has had to tinker with things and the situation has changed.
Thatâs the problem isnât it, Duncan Garner, Mark Richardson, Leah Panapa will already have well entrenched views which have been heard for a number of years⌠on talkback radio. People will either continue to listen or be put right off and wonât give the station a try.
Radioinfo has confirmed the acquisition nearly 2 months later.
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âWeâre thrilled to be welcoming Radio WÄnaka to the NZME family, as well as Mike, Petrea, Hannah and John. Their local knowledge and experience in radio will be invaluable as we work together to continue to provide a voice for WÄnaka residents and businesses.â
Regal will remain as the host of Radio WÄnakaâs Breakfast/Morning show, on-air weekdays from 6am-12pm with well-known broadcaster Peter Mac to host the Afternoon/Drive show.
Interesting they are keeping the station brand⌠for now. They have arguably already made cuts, Peter Mac already does afternoons on Hokonui out of a studio in Ashburton, I imagine this is an additional role for him.
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That might suggest that theyâll eventually rebrand Radio Wanaka as Hokonui
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Agreement between Maori & NZ Govt. to increase Maori interests in Radio Spectrum, Broadcasting, &c. RNZ Article Here
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Apologies to go somewhat off-track, but Iâm looking for some advice.
As some of you may be aware, I have previously shared timelines for radio networks in the UK, along with TV networks in the UK, Canada & Australia. Having taken a bit of a break, I am looking at putting together some more timelines, and Iâm looking at covering the radio networks owned by NZME and MediaWorks.
With this in mind, Iâm wondering if anyone could recommend some good sources.
That would be really interesting to see. I admit I find NZ radio history a bit confusing, pre 90s anyway.
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This is the thing. From the limited info I can find, it all seems very interesting. However, there seems to be a lot less info than there is for British stations.
I wouldâve thought it would be the other way around. New Zealand radio pre-1990 was pretty straightforward. It was after deregulation in 1989 that things got really confusing. New stations started popping up all over the show, some of which lasted only a matter of months. A lot of stations changed frequencies as a result of the tender wars too.
Iâve a bit of a database brewing⌠hang fire and Iâll see what I can tidy up for you. Do you do Excel?
Iâll take any info in any form, but Excel would be handy.
Itâs more that I canât really work out the history of public vs private radio in NZ. It seemed to change a lot more than say the ABC in Australia. Also some commercial stations in Australia have been around 80+ years.