New office entirely in a new building.
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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, Iâm sure heâs a great bloke - just I canât understand the logic behind getting rid of local shows in a larger market but keeping them in a much smaller market.
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Not sure about your population stats. Timaruâs significantly bigger and has a larger hinterland.
Also, the old Port FM studios were still in an old house, werenât they? They probably were about ready for new digs.
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Good point, I didnât think about the surrounding areas.
Still though, there seem to a few fully networked More FM stations in places that are larger and I donât 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.
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The story of most rural NZ towns, Iâm afraid.
At the time very much a soft AC⌠both Wellington and Christchurch - âNot too heavy, not too softâ. 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 âthe Heatâ, 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 âNo news is good newsâ.
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Thatâs 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 wasnât 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-wiseâŚuntil the former ran out of money and eventually became Channel Z.
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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 ânew opportunityâ - 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 didnât.
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Nae is the new offical Night host on Mai
I saw somewhere that it looks like Peter Williams may have left âReality Checkâ âRadioâ (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.
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Robert Scott to leave The Breeze
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He has been on air for up to 40 years
Big loss to the industry. Whatâs he off to do now? Maybe heâll do a podcast?
Also listening to Channel X this morning I see theyâve 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? 
Itâs like Q97 in Whakatane where commercial advertising is limited to maximum of 60 seconds per break, i.e. 2 x 30 second ads in a single break.
@nztv Robert Scott has left The Breeze. I understand that Sarah van der Kley has returned to her former role as host of The Breezeâs daytime slot (10am-3pm) with Mike Puru moving to drive (3-7pm). Adam Percival (ex-More FM) is the new breakfast host but only for those which do not have local breakfast shows.
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Robert was great when he did brekky radio with robert raketeâŚthe two robbies
Theyâve been slowly introducing them over the last couple of months. I imagine itâs a test for Mediaworks to see how much they can squeeze out of a station which doesnât really generate much money for them.
And is taking audience away from their stations that do generate money lol
Heard Dianna Vezich (ex newshub) reading news on ZB yesterday
Have any of their music brands actually taken that much of a hit since X launched, or is it mostly just tapping into an audience that was never keen on traditional radio anyway?