New Zealand Radio

She’s been based in Auckland since the start of the year.

I think ZB has two announce studios - one where the host doesn’t have a production desk/faders and one where they do .

Meanwhile, 1XX has passed into new ownership, but remains locally owned…

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That is brilliant news - and a win for local radio! I know both of the major networks have tried for years to purchase 1XX and turn it into a More FM/Breeze/Hits station, but Glenn has remained deeply committed to keeping the business locally owned and operated. Well done! :clap:

I hope the new owners are true to their word and keep it local… no doubt with new owners on board both NZME and MW will be knocking on their door with an offer in the near future.

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@Baldrick What if More FM, The Rock, Mai and Magic (all on relay from Tauranga) joined The Breeze, The Edge and The Sound by extending to the Eastern Bay of Plenty and broadcasting on unused FM frequencies (91.3FM, 94.5FM, 98.5FM & 100.9FM)?

  • More FM: 91.3FM
  • The Breeze: 92.1FM
  • The Rock: 94.5FM
  • Mai: 98.5FM
  • Magic: 100.9FM
  • The Edge: 104.1FM
  • The Sound: 105.7FM

@PaddyTePou, 91.3, 94.5 and 98.5 are out (as I suspect 100.9), considered too close to close to Te Aroha frequencies which get around the eastern bay almost as good as the local ones. My understanding is that RBoP did get a license for 91.3 to cover a very small slice of the Manawahe’s (when they were still on Mt.Edgecumbe), but as this is also an off-air feed for Concert from Te Aroha on 91.4, the license was revoked. Same goes for NatRad on 101 from Te Aroha. Happy to be corrected if I’m wrong.

Also, my understanding is that they’ve kept the three frequencies from Te Aroha to reach as wide area as possible for CD emergency reasons.

@medianz , this might also be a reason why nothing is happening with Today’s old frequency, 92.1, here. It’s possible MW has sniffed an opening with the new management @ 1XX.

Actually, The Hits gets into most of the eastern Bay fairly well from Te Aroha on 98.6 already. It probably wouldn’t be financially beneficial to have a local Hits when one serving another market is already here.

Also, while I’m on the topic, can anyone please explain the rationale of having (effectively) two LifeFM frequencies in the eastern Bay (94.6/104.9), when their flagship station has no presence here any more? I heard they are claiming Rhema on 104.6 covers the entire Bay (exc. Rotorua). It doesn’t. Wouldn’t have made more sense to turn 104.9 into a Rhema? I did ask them the question, but got no reply.

@PaddyTePou, If MW were successful in a RBoP takeover (unlikely, but hypothetically), they’d be better to have their existing Ohope frequencies (92.9, 99.3 & 100.1) and their town frequency (89.7) re-engineered for use on their main Manawahe site. Then either…

  • Synchonise those frequencies for their main coverage area and Ohope. IE: One frequency, 2 TXs. Or,

  • Use the 400kHz rule for the Ohope frequencies. IE 1XX on 90.5 & 90.9; Q97 on 97.7 & 97.3 and Bayrock on 93.7 & 94.1. More likely, MW would abandon both Bayrock in favour of the Rock and Q97 in favour of the Edge.

I know the 400kHz rule would then bring into question of the closeness of the Tauranga frequencies, however, if the 400kHz rule applied to only Ohope frequencies and the licencing limited the coverage west, this shouldn’t be a problem because the Tauranga frequencies aren’t receivable in Ohope.

Of course this is pure speculation with regard to MW, but would be an effective way of getting multiple stations on in the area and at the same time cause the least interference.

Of course, this would require a major realignment, but would be the most effective use of the current spectrum.

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Just heard an announcement on More FM in Dunedin saying that “if you want to continue listening to JJ and Flynny or the breakfast club on Monday then you’ll need to change to 97.4 as this frequency on 100.6 will change from More FM to Channel X tonight.”

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Pulzar FM officially off the air. Announcement now on air saying ‘Anthemz’ will return to Christchurch next week on 100.9

Website for anthemz.co.nz is registered to Andy from Pulzar, and their FB page’s last post from 2 days ago said an announcement is ‘coming soon’.

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Definitely some interesting developments to come. It’s sounding like it’ll be a Christchurch spinoff of Channel X.

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ANTHEMZ ENTERTAINMENT LIMITED is registered to Andrew Ronald POULSEN and Jason Richard AKEHURST, the same owners and directors as the current PULZAR BROADCASTING COMPANY LIMITED.

Despite finishing late, the station signed off air at 12:30am with Shapeshifter’ “One”. 3 mins of dead air and a advisory message that the radio station “Anthemz” will be moving to 100.9FM next week.

For those of an AM DX mind… It would appear that the eastern BoP might be the best place right now.

We lost 1107 a few weeks back and now it appears 1242 has gone the same way. I’m not sure how permanent 1242 is, but it’s off-air now. 1242 was used by 1XX from it’s beginning until now. It might just be down for service, it was sounding pretty bad a couple of weeks back.

But now, with the only AM stations close by being from Tauranga, it opens up more possibilities for night listening.

Just thought someone might want to know. :slight_smile:

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Anthemz has been around since 2020 when Pulzar left the 93.3 FM frequency. They played a playlist of classic dance music and prerecorded shows I think. I’m not too sure if they had live shows or a studio but it was more like traditional radio than Channel X/Brian.

At the beginning of this year 93.3 FM was given to Flava after the station was taken off air on 93.3 in November 2022. Their old website didn’t seem to be updated past Feburary 2021 when I last checked a couple weeks ago. So be interesting to see if they will return to the same format, with a playlist, mixes and prerecorded shows or just a playlist like Channel X.

I know the TX was not the healthiest when I was still living in BOP a few years ago… I offered to head over to Whakatane and help out with some maintenance but got to caught up with having to return home

I thought 1XX had ditched the AM long ago. I’ve never heard it from the West Island, though there’s plenty of competition on 1242 on this side of the Tasman.

I’ve never got 90.5 FM either (via Sporadic E). The eastern Balance Of Payments coast is a hard place to hear via DX.

Believe it or not I’ve had Tauranga FM via tropo into Sydney, it was weak though. I also got Rotorua FM via tropo on a couple of occasions. E-skip to all parts including Hawkes Bay, which is the most distant part of mainland NZ from Australia. My former Sydney location was excellent for NZ reception.

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1XX on 1242 was definitely on the air in October 2015 when I was in the area.

The outage is only recent. Website and linked Facebook page still list 1242kHz frequency. Perhaps transmitter site was impacted by the recent adverse weather.

When I last tuned in a couple of weeks back it sounded pretty bad. Not sure whether it was over modulating or just the audio card, either way it was almost unlistenable. 1XX have new owners now, so that might have been one of their first decisions. There’s probably very few here now listening on AM, so would seem a no-brainer to switch it off rather than repair. I’ll keep you posted if I see the mast being removed any time soon.

A long-shot possibility… RBG has struck a deal with RBoP’s new owners? They might be wanting to re-establish a presence here for Rhema, following (imo) their ill-fated decision to have two Star radio frequencies and believing their Tauranga FM frequency would be accessible outside Tauranga/Western Bay. They would also be a non-competitor to RBoP stations. 1242 under new ownership could be a possibility. I guess we’ll find out in due course.

Sad news re Murray
Muzza in the morning
Passed away at age 80

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Who was it - Murray Lindsay or Murray Owles?

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