Earlier today, Coast made the switch to 98.2FM across Auckland, replacing Mix. Mix can still be heard on iHeartRadio and on FM outside the Auckland area.
Wonder if Flava will be next on the chopping blockā¦
Looking online it seems that 98.2FM will become the sole Auckland frequency though not just a simulcast as the website only lists 98.2 and they are promoting that people reset their dials.
So that leaves 105.4FM vacant after a transition period. Maybe Mix will pop back up there.
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Why would they want to swap frequencies like that? Whatās the advantage?
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No idea at all. Coast rates well enough as it is so not sure whatās behind the move.
In Dunedin last year the swapped around the frequencies around for ZM, Hauraki and Flava for some reason as well.
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Thereās a long held ābeliefā that people donāt go beyond the 100 mark on the dial. Whether that is actually true, or indeed behind this, Iām not sure. Thereās certainly advantages to be in a closer grouping to other stations, even in an area where few people are using a knob to go across the band.
I believe the Dunedin shuffle was in line with this. But it does depend on the market too.
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Interesting. Possibly the opposite perception (used to) be true in Australian cities (except Perth). Most of the commercial FMs in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide were above 100 and below 100 was considered a bit āremoteā. Iām pretty sure thatās less of a thing these days though.
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i would have thought the frequncy would not have mattered if a station is branded right listeners will follow regardless
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I think been under 90mhz in NZ would be a major advantage with the amount of imported cars with Japanese radios that only do the 76-90mhz bandā¦
I know personally in the work car I had here in Tauranga I could either listen to 88.6 Magic Music or 89.4 ZMā¦ or It was the AM Band, which I didnāt mind as 1XX 1242 wasnāt to bad 
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Unfortunately, not necessarily true.
Hopefully a kiwi can correct me, but I believe that might have been due to the importing of used cars from Japan (at least in the 80s/90s), which had Japanese car radios with a lower FM band than AU/NZ. The overlap frequencies between Japanese and AU/NZ FM bands were obviously more valuable!
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Yep. Band expanders were/are a must.
If you jump into a Uber in Auckland (usually a Prius 9 times out of 10) itāll be either Newstalk ZB (89.4) or Mai FM (88.9) i
I am listening to a The Hits Jono and Ben podcast for the first timeā¦ the voiceover guy sums it up well, āMore painful than your alarm clockā 
Is it possible that Mediaworks (or NZME) could buy them?
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Hahahaha certainly reflected in the ratings isnāt it.
Mediaworks shifted The Edge in Canterbury to under the 90FM band a couple of years back and NZME did the same with ZM in Dunedin last year.
I tried to give it a go but itās not great. No doubt some adjustment for them as a team as they try to conform with the demographic of the station.
I wonder if Rhema would pick them up cheap as they are (or were) using them after tracksides suspension. NZME wouldnāt be likely as they own a network of ex Radio Sport AM frequencies that are now acting as secondary frequencies for ZB.
Possibly World TV, who took over the TABās TV frequencies seven or so years ago. It would give their radio offer a near-nationwide footprint.
But itās all speculation, they mightnāt want to off-load them.
MediaWorks used to own the Trackside Radio frequencies during the Radio Pacific/Trackside, BSport and LiveSPORT eras. In my book, and with Trackside Radio no longer on air, I think MediaWorks will be able to buy them back so that Magic can be extended to other regions across New Zealand (i.e. Northland, Waikato, Whakatane, Gisborne and Central Otago - Alexandra and Wanaka) and that Magic Talk can be extended to Taupo (91.2FM), Taranaki (97.2FM) and Ashburton (1071AM).
For example, 954AM in the Waikato and 1485AM in Gisborne will be perfect for Magic Talk which currently broadcasts on 100.2FM and 94.9FM respectively. In order to align with Auckland (702AM) and Christchurch (738AM), being on 954AM or 1485AM, depending on the region, involves getting a far clearer and better signal and even more of a chance to be involved in the Magic Talk conversation. For the benefit of Magic listeners in those regions, they can soon get their Magic music on 100.2FM in the Waikato and 94.9FM in Gisborne.
I am a loyal listener of Magic and Iāve been listening to it via live streaming - whether on magic.co.nz or the rova app. People like me will be able to āturn up the feel goodā with the music they know and love on brand new Magic Music frequencies in the near future.
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Are you sure they werenāt Licensed to the NZ Racing Board? All of them?
I think it was a collaboration; thereās plenty of NZRB Licensed frequencies in the RSM SMART database from 1991ā¦ long before RadioWorks or MediaWorks was a thing.
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I have long wondered whether or not Mediaworks owned most of the frequencies used for Magic Talk and some of the Magic Music ones as a lot of them were used for Radio Pacific before Radio Live launched so wasnāt to sure if ownership transferred fully to Mediaworks.
Radio Pacific, now thereās a blast from the past. Iād forgotten the nags were on there beforehand!
Iād imagined the Tote kept their frequencies and Radio Pacific/Radioworks (as they were then known) kept theirs to build the network. A bit like what Rhema did with RNZās AM-Network for Southern Star.
Unless you do a search in the rsm database, you never really know whose license is whose. https://rrf.rsm.govt.nz/smart-web/smart/page/-smart/WelcomePage.wdk for those playing at home.
