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ZM (radio station)

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ZM
File:Zmlogo06.jpg
Broadcast area17 markets in New Zealand
Programming
FormatHit Music
Ownership
OwnerThe Radio Network
History
First air date
c.1973
Links
Websitezmonline.com

ZM, or ZMFM is a radio network. ZM is part of The Radio Network of New Zealand. The network's slogan, "Today's Hit Music", reflects the network's chart-music playlist of pop, rock, hip hop and dance music. The network has stations in 17 markets in New Zealand and is also available online. It reaches around 360,000 listeners weekly and targets the 15-39 demographic.

ZM History

ZM was originally formed as a government-owned rock radio station and its disc-jockeys have included controversial broadcaster Paul Holmes. It has its origins as a series of commercial AM radio stations in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch (1ZM, 2ZM and 3ZM) and originally broadcast from 6am to midnight and was networked from dusk till dawn from the 1ZM studios with the ZM All Nighter. In 1983, with the approval by the Broadcasting Tribunal to allow two new private radio stations to be the first fully commercial FM stations in Auckland, 1ZM was forced to change its format to be an alternative commercial free station, largely to allow the new private stations (Magic 91 FM and Stereo 89 FM) to compete successfully for the mainstream contemporary hit radio audience. This was successful, as within 2-3 years 1ZM's market share dropped significantly as young listeners were attracted by the higher quality sound of the FM stations, despite the absence of commercials on 1ZM. 1ZM changed format in 1987 to "Classic Hits" to try to recover audience, but was still costing Radio NZ over $1 million per annum to operate as it was the only "commercial station" legally required to run no commercials! Subsequent liberalisation of the broadcasting warrant system (which was ultimately abolished in 1989/1990) saw Radio NZ win a licence to broadcast Classic Hits on FM in Auckland and broadcast commercials, with the 1251kHz AM frequency reverting to Christian broadcaster Radio Rhema. The ZM All Nighter network service ceased in 1989 as all ZM stations increasingly operated more independently.

Wellington's 2ZM was the first ZM network station to broadcast in FM from 1985 as ZMFM 91 (90.9), but did not cease to broadcast on AM until 1986 with the introduction of a second frequency on 93.5 to provide adequate FM coverage of the hilly Wellington region. Its AM frequency (1161 kHz) was reallocated to Maori station Te Upoko o Te Ika. Christchurch's 3ZM followed suit switching to FM in 1986 and ceasing AM broadcasting several months later (also surrendering its AM frequency for Maori broadcasting) on 1323kHz where Radio Liberty ran in the mid 1990's.

File:96zmlogo.gif
The ZM logo used for Dunedin and Invercargill's 96ZM in 1997

The first new ZM station was Whangarei's 93ZM, a totally local station at that point separate to ZM Wellington and Christchurch ZM's. Next came Dunedin's 96ZM and Palmerston North's 91ZM, both which used a computerised automation system to provide a local programme, recorded minutes before in Wellington and Christchurch respectively. This was followed by a similar station for Southland.

In 2000 ZM changed to a single network format, all ZM stations in smaller regions became part of this network based from Auckland the only regions not originally affected were Christchurch and Wellington where these stations remained local except during the evenings and overnight where ZM ran a nationwide night show. This change was not popular with the listeners and many listeners voted with their radio dials choosing to listen to alternative stations and causing a huge drop in ratings for ZM.

File:Logo anib.gif
The 91ZM logo with the green globe used between 1997 and 2005.

In 2001 more changes were made and this time saw Christchurch and Wellington integrated into the network. The Christchurch studio was closed all together with some announcers being moved to Auckland to produce a nationwide show for all of New Zealand. Wellington ZM remained local but the local breakfast show went nationwide broadcast from Wellington, at first some breakfast show content in Wellington varied to the rest of the country but by 2002 the ZM Morning Crew was a single show. The breakfast show on ZM still comes from the Wellington studio today.

In 2003 the amount of local content on ZM in Wellington was reduced to just during the week and after Drive-Time announcer Julian Burn left ZM Wellington he was not replaced but instead Stables show was networked into Wellington.

In 2005 the ZM Christchurch studio was reopened and now ZM is local in Christchurch between 10am and 3pm during the week. Content on ZM in Auckland also varies to the rest of the ZM Network. Today all ZM stations play the same songs in the same sequence even when a local show is being played in Christchurch and Wellington.

The most recent additions to the ZM Network were Nelson (replacing The Planet 97FM), Wanganui and South Canterbury in 2004.

Slogans

ZM has used the following slogans in the past:

1991 - 1994:

  • Rock of the Nineties 91ZM

1994 - 1997:

  • Just Great Music of the 80's and 90's

1997 - 2000:

  • Just Great Music

2000 - Present:

  • Today's Hit Music

ZM Music

ZM plays mostly pop, rock, dance music in the current Top 40. In 2003 ZM added to its playlist older (mainly 1990's) popular rock, pop and dance music tracks, in the form of the High School Hit. This being done to cater for a more diverse demographic. Also every day at midday ZM switches onto Shuffle and 10 random songs in a row from the 1990's (and at times 1980's) as well as newer music is played. In the past many listeners have had the perception of ZM being a Teeny Bopper station playing only pop music young teenage listeners would enjoy, this mainly from listeners of The Rock, however today ZM regularly plays certain tracks from very popular rock bands such as AC/DC, Metallica, Pearl Jam, Guns N' Roses, Nirvana, Bon Jovi and many more. Rival station The Edge plays similar Top 40 music but has more hip hop on their playlist where ZM has more dance music on their playlist and The Edge does not play the selection of older music that is played on ZM.

ZM Schedule

  • Workday (10am - 3pm)
  • Friday Nights (10pm - 2:30am)
  • Saturday Afternoons (2pm - 5pm)
  • Saturday Nights (6pm - 6am)
    • 200 songs commercial free and the General Lee mix show (10pm - 3am).

Previous Announcers

Announcer Show Duration Reason for leaving Last known station
Aroha Hathaway 91ZM Wellington Daytime (until 2003) and ZM Network Daytime (2003-05) Until 2005 Left to go to Māori Television Still fills in at weekends.
Breffni O'Rourke 91ZM Christchurch Daytime 1998 - 2001 Made redundant after ZM Christchurch studio was closed in 2001. Breakfast show on More FM Nelson
Chuckie Shearer 91ZM Christchurch Breakfast working with Rik and Katrina 1997 - 1998 Moved to Classic Hits Christchurch
Dave Smart 91ZM Auckland and ZM Network Fill-in Announcer Until 2004 Move to Classic Hits Night time announcer on Classic Hits Network.
Geoff Stag ZM Network Nightshow 1999 - 2002 Drive announcer on More FM Wellington
Jason Royal 91ZM Christchurch Drivetime (until 2001) and ZM Network Drivetime (2001 - 2003) 1997 - 2003 Moved back to Christchurch to work on More FM Daytime show on More FM Christchurch
Julian Burn 91ZM Wellington Drivetime show Until 2003 Moved overseas show was replaced with network show.
Justin Rae 91ZM Wellington fill-in announcer (until 2000), ZM Network fill-in announcer (after 2000) 1996 - 2004 Moved back to Wellington More FM Wellington Breakfast show
Katrina Smith 91ZM Christchurch Breakfast co-hosted by Rik van Dyke 1997 - 2001 Made redundant after the Wellington Breakfast show was networked in Christchurch Daytime show on Nelson's Fireshire FM (now More FM).
Lana Kockroft 91ZM Auckland and ZM Network Daytime Show co-host with Niki Sunderland Until 2002 Show dropped as Lipstick Lunch rated poorly. Now unemployed was involved in the Celebrity Drug Scandal in 2005 along with Marc Ellis
Marcus Lush 91ZM Auckland Breakfast and ZM Network Breakfast 1995 - 2001 Made redundant after the Wellington Breakfast show was made the network breakfast show Breakfast on Foveaux FM Southland until 2004 and Radio Live from 2005.
Nick Tansley 91ZM Wellington Breakfast and ZM Network Breakfast with Polly and Grant. Until 2003 Made redundant due to low ratings More FM Wellington Breakfast show
Nikki Sunderland 91ZM Auckland Daytime and ZM Network Daytime Until 2002 Show axed due to low ratings, replaced with Stables Night time Love Songs show on The Breeze Auckland
Phil Gifford 91ZM Christchurch Breakfast co-hosted by Simon Barnett Until 1997 Both Simon and Phil were offered a large sum of money to work on More FM Christchurch Left More FM in 2003 and worked on Radio Sport for some time following this.
Rik van Dyke 91ZM Christchurch Breakfast co-hosted by Katrina Smith 1997 - 2001 Made redundant after the Wellington Breakfast show was networked in Christchurch Classic Hits 97.7 Christchurch Breakfast show until 2006 and now Program Director for The Breeze Christchurch.
Simon Barnett 91ZM Christchurch Breakfast co-hosted by Phil Gifford Until 1997 Both Simon and Phil were offered a large sum of money to work on More FM Christchurch More FM Christchurch Breakfast show
Timothy Homer 91ZM Auckland and ZM Network Drivetime Until 2000 Show axed due to low ratings, Jason Royal was moved to Auckland to take over this show.
Val Robinson 91ZM Christchurch Daytime Until 1998
Willy Macillster 91ZM Christchurch Night show and ZM Nationwide Nightshow Until 1999

ZM Frequencies

City/Town Frequency
Whangarei 93.2FM
Auckland 91.0FM
Waikato 89.8FM
Bay of Plenty 89.8FM
Rotorua 98.3FM
Gisborne 107.4/107.7FM
Taranaki 98.8FM
Hawke's Bay 95.9FM
Wanganui 96.8FM
Manawatu 90.6FM
Kapiti Coast 91.1FM
Wellington 90.9FM & 93.5FM
Blenheim 90.5FM
Nelson 97.0FM
Christchurch/Canterbury 91.3FM
South Canterbury 96.3FM
Dunedin 95.8FM
Southland 95.6FM
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