Going back to 2000, More’s peak was in S1/2002 with an 11.1 share, still only good enough for 4th behind ZM, Breeze and ZB at the time.
So far this decade, More’s done as well as a 5.9 (S4/2022). Currently, its 3.8 average for 2024 is on track to be its poorest annual performance since 2014 (2.7 average)… it was a pretty steep descent from 2010 (6.8 share) to 2014.
I was doing a cleanout the other week and found a souvenir - a More FM flyer from one of my trips to Wellington, this one must have been in early or mid-1992. They must have been doing okay at the time going by this story, although I have no idea how surveys were done back then - probably using the diary?
Yes, Research International was conducting two surveys per year in Wellington, however I’ve only been able to find a handful of them from prior to 2000. This tracks with what I’ve found: More signed on very strong, and remained #1 for several years in the early 90s.
(I should have noted in my earlier past that the 2002 peak was as far back as consistent data goes back.)
Actually I think I may have my timing wrong - that flyer was probably from sometime in 1992. I’ve corrected the dates above.
I remember Swampy Marsh being a host then moving on to The Breeze (at the time I believe they were separate companies).
I did find a list of the hosts here:
I also remember quite a few of the stations in Wellington around 1991-2-3 - Classic Hits (more like Magic would be today), ZM, 91.7 was something but I can’t remember what, Concert FM, ZM again, The Breeze, Kix FM (this was in 1994), Concert FM again, The Pirate, Atiawa Toa FM, The Quake, The Breeze again, then 99-100 More FM.
Coming from a small town in the South Island with one AM RNZ community station (and National Radio) this was almost like radio heaven 
Having said that, from April 1992 onwards though where I lived we were able to pick up Fifeshire FM from Nelson, and what an awesome station that was - opened my eyes to how good radio could really be! Memories… 
Found this as well, which also lists their frequencies at the time (I think they’re all changed now):
Here’s a glimpse of Wellington Survey 1/1993 (the only data from the market I have from the early 90s)
New office entirely in a new building.
This may sound strange (and my apologies if this offends anyone), but it seems odd to me that they would go to all that effort in a place like Timaru - new studio, new setup - while somewhere like Blenheim (with a larger population) has to make do with a fully networked More FM and Breeze station - why do they keep a local show in Timaru but not in places of a similar size?
No disrepect to the DJ doing the show there, I’m sure he’s a great bloke - just I can’t understand the logic behind getting rid of local shows in a larger market but keeping them in a much smaller market.
Not sure about your population stats. Timaru’s significantly bigger and has a larger hinterland.
Also, the old Port FM studios were still in an old house, weren’t they? They probably were about ready for new digs.
Good point, I didn’t think about the surrounding areas.
Still though, there seem to a few fully networked More FM stations in places that are larger and I don’t get why. I guess if they have a local show on The Breeze it makes up for it? I dunno. Blenheim does seem to be getting the short end of the stick though - Sounds FM and Easy FM both used to be local all the time, until along came the networking.
The story of most rural NZ towns, I’m afraid.
At the time very much a soft AC… both Wellington and Christchurch - ‘Not too heavy, not too soft’. While 91.8 was very much a hot AC/CHR.
Very low-budget, though a novel little station and providing something quite different - FOX and then later ‘the Heat’, no announcers just a whole heap of American sweepers and voice-tracks (which at the time sounded pretty cool - pre-internet) and notably, rather than running any IRN, like most stations of a similar ilk at the time, they would run a sting at the top of the hour ‘No news is good news’.
That’s right - I was able to listen to More FM Auckland on TV4 in 1997 afterhours and holy crap what a completely different playlist; much better than the boring Wgtn one. I used to stay home on Saturday nights to listen (on TV4) to their Saturday Night Party Show. Yet Wgtn would be playing the same tired 15 songs again (quite like ZM, just older ones).
I do remember Fox FM, I think it had a fairly weak signal though, I know it wasn’t too powerful as I was staying in the south of the city (near Kilbirnie) and it was quite static-y. I also remember The Heat - did that start in 1994? Later it became The Box and finally 92 Hitz FM. All were good stations that gave ZM a bit of a run for their money playlist-wise…until the former ran out of money and eventually became Channel Z.
Radio related - this guy is still showing as doing a night show on Mai on the new Rova site, but I found a post from his (now-deactivated) Instagram saying he was moving to a “new opportunity” - was that the Niu breakfast show producer role? Who does nights on Mai then?
For the record, I feel it is fully justified that he lost his job - no one should threaten other people just because of the lifestyle they choose; how did the book reading at the library affect this guy personally? It didn’t.
I saw somewhere that it looks like Peter Williams may have left “Reality Check” “Radio” (lol). What happened there? I thought he was one of their more vocal supporters - especially making that grifting fundraising video when they had to stop streaming last year. It seemed like he would be there a long time, but looking at their site, his last show seems to have been sometime in 2024.
Robert Scott to leave The Breeze
He has been on air for up to 40 years
Big loss to the industry. What’s he off to do now? Maybe he’ll do a podcast?
Also listening to Channel X this morning I see they’ve started playing ads - only 2 per break but good start to make a bit of money. Maybe they saw my idea earlier in this thread?
