Other Radio Formats
Click the station type on or off to show its locations and stations. Hold the mouse over the dots on the map to see the station.
Access radio
New Zealand has eleven community access stations mandated under section 36c of the Broadcasting Act 1989 to provide for ethnic and other minority broadcasting needs. These eleven stations are located in:
- Auckland
- Hamilton
- Hawkes Bay
- Wairarapa
- Palmerston North
- Kapiti
- Wellington
- Nelson
- Christchurch
- Dunedin
- Southland
Each station is a reflection of its community. Population density, range and diversity vary between these station’s communities from the pastoral backdrop of the Wairarapa to the ‘melting pot’ of Auckland ’s multi-cultural ecology.
Other ethnic radio
Other specifically mandated stations include 531PI- a full-time Pacific Island service broadcasting in Auckland, Samoan Capital Radio- a similar but part-time service in Wellington and Niu FM- a recently established networked station originating in Auckland but transmitting to a growing number of cities and regions. Public broadcaster, National Radio also contributes a small amount of ethnic programming, mainly for Pacific Island audiences.
A significant broadcaster of ethnic programmes is Radio New Zealand International, with regular broadcasts in seven Pacific Island languages (Tongan, Cook Islands Maori, Samoan, Niuean, Solomon Islands Pijin, I-Kiribati, and Tokelauan). However, because of the international focus of this broadcaster and its short-wave transmission platform, it was not considered in this report.
A significant proportion of minority radio broadcasting in is carried out by stations that are not mandated by the state and operate either as fully commercial broadcasters or by sponsorship and donor support from sympathetic followers. The major contributors in this category are all full time radio stations and consist of APNA Radio and Radio Tarana, both broadcasting to the Indian community, Radio Samoa in Auckland and Radio Chinese, broadcasting in both Mandarin and Cantonese. Another noteworthy ethnic group broadcasting in is Korean. They occupy a regular slot on Radio Chinese weekdays and have leased the New Zealand Broadcasting School frequency in Christchurch to broadcast full-time when the station is not being used by the School. Currently this gives the Koreans effective access to the frequency for nine months each year.
Iwi radio
Aotearoa/New Zealand has a unique network of radio stations specifically to provide for the preservation and development of Maori language and culture. Each station is affiliated to an Iwi (tribe) and reflects its local community. These twenty-one independent stations are part of what is probably one of the most sophisticated radio services in the world. Not only does each station stream its signal on the internet as well as broadcast but each station is ‘connected’ to all others by a digital broadband network that permits total interaction between stations administratively (voice and data), in terms of programme sharing and for simultaneous network broadcasting.
Campus radio
New Zealand universities have a long tradition of student radio services and these stations provide a wide range of alternative music and other programming aimed at a younger audience. There are currently six campus based stations some of which are loosely linked in a ‘b-net’ network.
"Guardband" radio
New Zealand also has a large number of informal radio stations operating in what is commonly called the ‘Guard Band’. This is a small area of the radio spectrum set aside to protect the ‘bleeding’ of one use of the spectrum with another (e.g. radio broadcasting and military communications). Within this narrow band it is possible to broadcast, without a licence, a low-powered service using an available frequency. The signal must not exceed a few hundred milli-watts and must not interfere with other spectrum users. It is estimated that there could be up to 200 such services currently operating. They cover a wide spectrum of activity from someone trying to operate a local commercial radio broadcast service through to schools, religious groups and individual hobbyists broadcasting for their own entertainment or provided a service to a special community.