The 2026 NZ Radio and Podcast Awards ceremony is at 5pm tonight, full winners list out at 7:30pm.
Winners and Finalists: 2026 NZ Radio & Podcast Awards Winners & Finalists.pdf (239.9 KB)
The Hits has updated its playlist and imaging this week. Has removed all remaining 80s songs and its new positioner is â90s till nowâ, while the imaging is going hard on âLove The Hitsâ.
A mix of the imaging from Matty & PJ:
| SONG | ARTIST |
|---|---|
| Save Your Tears | The Weeknd, Ariana Grande |
| Homewrecker | Sombr |
| Lose Yourself | Eminem |
| Late Night Talking | Harry Styles |
| Semi-Charged Life | Third Eye Blind |
| Fever Dream | Alex Waren |
| Funhouse | P!nk |
| The Fate of Ophelia | Taylor Swift |
| You and Me | Lifehouse |
| DAISIES | Justin Bieber |
Hereâs a sample from the 8pm hour:
| SONG | ARTIST |
|---|---|
| The Door | Teddy Swims |
| Behind These Hazel Eyes | Kelly Clarkson |
| Endlessly | Six60 |
| A Sky Full of Stars | Coldplay |
| Opalite | Taylor Swift |
| If Youâre Gone | Matchbox Twenty |
| Dancing With a Stranger | Sam Smith, Ariana Grande |
| Unstoppable | Sia |
| Golden | K-Pop Demon Hunters |
| Numb | Linkin Park |
Might be it for the 80âs songs this time round. Happened a few times where they dropped them only to reinstate them again.
Looking at the playlists so far, not too many 90âs songs in there either. Would love a wider variety instead of the same old stuff.
Leaving the 80s entirely to Coast then, interesting.
Imaging sounds good.
I just wonder if the music mix isnât accessible enough for a woman in their 30s as target market, needs more 90s and 2000s.
Agreed, too many songs within recent years. Not sure what the target is.
Great imaging, very fresh sounding. Wish that playlist had more older songs though, itâs like they want to be more ZM than More FM even though they share a lot of the audience of the latter.
Even though the start of the 2000âs is now almost 30 years ago (!!), thereâs obviously a directive for The Hits to skew younger, but going any further is almost a complete overlap of ZMâs realistic audience. I say realistic rather than target, because as much as ZM (and The Edge) tries for the late teen/early 20s listener, itâs an incredibly hard sell these days to get this age group listening to live radio.
Dare I say it, does ZM risk killing itself off if it puts all its eggs into the younger age group, rather than evolving with its loyal fans, such as its transition from Top 40 to a âHits and Throwbacksâ format in recent years (similar to some of Americaâs biggest top 40 stations). Many current ZB listeners grew up with the respective local 1/2/3/4ZB stations and have stuck with the station their whole lives. Maybe ZM is the brand that should keep evolving and serving the same generation that connected with it at earlier phases of their lives.
Iâm sure the average 30 year oldâs Spotify Playlist would include plenty of 90s music. And 80s.
Could we see a day when NZME morphs the ZM and Hits networks into one?
Iâve sometimes pondered this. When you have a number of stations to play with, is it always wise to keep skewing younger rather than just letting a station age with its audience? If youâve got the younger market covered with other stations why not just let a station age? Especially in this day of streaming where you can launch new stations all the time.
FVH is starting to morph into something like The Hits for its audience, if you minus Hayley. But the show is becoming more of a Hayley show now
Power intros are good; glad they are investing it on The Hits (would have been perfect for ZM).
Agree with this. I think the duopoly nature of the radio market means neither NZME or mediaworks will do this. Their station ecosystem means you start with one and then move to another one of their stations when you are âolderâ.
Music tastes seems to be more fluid than ever but radio hasnât caught on. I reckon the ZM playlist is probably the oldest skewing it has been for some time. Not too uncommon to hear throwbacks that are over 20 years old now.
That is true, however you could also argue that Flava captures some of the older listeners of ZM and Mai with old skool R&B and Dance and Channel X does a similar thing with older listeners of the Rock and Channel
Z, with its old skool rock, indie and dance. Hauraki also covers some of this demographic.
I thought that was the âbroadâ part of broadcasting? So are people really unwilling to hear a song thatâs not en-genre for them in amongst others that are? It kinda feels like a litmus test for tolerance.
I listened to (Classic) Hits for about 10-15 minutes tonight and must say I found it veryâŚZM-y. Admittedly I only heard 3 songs, but not one was older than 2010. The imaging is okay but it took me back to what ZM sounded like around 20 years ago.
I donât get the whole âdropping songs older than the 80sâ thing - thereâs still a fairly decent sized audience that likes that kinda music, and not everyone can get Coast.
Hell, even Magic did the 60s and 70s well but now itâs been reduced to just being an online station, which is totally pointless for most of their audience, who just want to hear that music on the radio, not have to setup some device to stream it 
Only 2 Songs from the 90âs in the last two hours. Doesnât really look like they have added any songs that they werenât playing already, probably just a more repetitive playlist across the day.
Hopefully they get some feedback and reconsider things.
I tried again last night (this timeframe used to be the very good âJukebox Saturday Nightâ, which I loved!) and did hear a few more 90s songsâŚbut not much.
I daresay a good portion of their audience still likes 80s stuff, but it seems theyâre not overly interested in catering to them now, which is a pity.
In a shop yesterday they had More FM (Auckland) playing and I thought the music wasnât too bad, although I probably couldnât listen to it all the time as there were a fair few songs I didnât know. Maybe Iâm just getting oldâŚ
Theyâve got Coast if they want 80s.
I would say this is a deliberate tactic by NZME to try and make their stations have less âoverlapâ and distinctly own their genre.
Coast - 80s
Hits -90s-now
ZM - 2010s-now
A Hot AC station today (like The Hits) should play familiar songs from the last 10â20 years - more pop, pop-rock and crossover tracks. Itâs a very strong lane for 30â49s, especially as listeners age out of CHR but donât want to hear 80s music.
I often have to remind myself itâs 2026 - the 1980s ended 37 years ago, which means the decade began 46 years ago. The people born during this time were at high school in the 90s.
And I donât think youâll find a âjukeboxâ on the air today.