RTC is a New Zealand record label which licensed recordings from overseas Independent labels in the United States and in the United Kingdom.

Background

The label was started in the late 1970s by

John McCready John McCready was the founder of the RTC record label in New Zealand. He was also the general manager of CBS Records, New Zealand. Background Prior to mid-1974, McCready was working at Phonogram in New Zealand as the GM of their creative division ...

, Brian Pitts, and Warwick Woodward. While still a fledgling indie distributor, they had Kama Fitzgerald in their employ who had previously worked for

PolyGram PolyGram N.V. was a multinational entertainment company and major music record label formerly based in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1962 as the Grammophon-Philips Group by Dutch corporation Philips and German corporation Siemens, to be a ...

marketing manager Stuart Rubin. In 1980, it was reported by

Phil Gifford Philip Douglas Gifford (born 1947) is a New Zealand sportswriter and broadcaster. He has his own rugby radio show ''Front Row'' on Radio Sport from 8 to 10am on Saturdays. He writes a weekly column in the country's highest circulation weekend p ...

in the October 11 issue of ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' that as an independent NZ label they had made a first. With the artists on their label having both an album and single at no 1 on the NZ charts, it was the first time an Independent label in New Zealand had achieved this. The album at the top of the charts was '' Black Sea'' by XTC, and the single was " Food For Thought" by

UB 40 UB40 are an English reggae and pop band, formed in December 1978 in Birmingham, England. The band has had more than 50 singles in the UK Singles Chart, and has also achieved considerable international success. They have been nominated for the ...

. In 1981, it was reported by

Glenn A. Baker Glenn A. Baker (born 28 July 1952) is an Australian journalist, commentator, author, and broadcaster well known in Australia for his vast knowledge of Rock music. He has written books and magazine articles on rock music and travel, interviewed ...

in the September 19 edition of ''Billboard'' that the Australian

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label was sub-licensing recordings to RTC. However one act Mink DeVille, was to be excluded and instead be given to WEA New Zealand, due to its managing director Tim Murdoch having a personal interest in the band. In 1982, the label's way they packaged limited edition albums and singles worked well. In a week, the limited edition 7 inch picture sleeves of the groups Heaven 17 and were sold out.

Staff

As of 1979, the managing director of the label was Brian Pitts. The Promotions manager was Kama Fitzgerald.

New Zealand artists

Kevin Blackatini & the Frigids

Kevin Blackatini And The Frigids were an outfit that had a novelty hit in 1981 with "The Fridge", which was a parody of "

The Bridge The Bridge may refer to: Art, entertainment and media Art * ''The Bridge'' (sculpture), a 1997 sculpture in Atlanta, Georgia, US * Die Brücke (''The Bridge''), a group of German expressionist artists * ''The Bridge'' (M. C. Escher), a lithograph ...

" which was previously a hit for

Deane Waretini Deane Waretini (born c. 1946) is a musician from New Zealand. He had a #1 chart hit in 1981 with the song "The Bridge (Deane Waretini song), The Bridge", a Māori language song set to Nini Rosso's tune "Il Silenzio (song), Il Silenzio". He is al ...

. Kevin Blackatini was actually Kevin Black from Auckland radio station, Radio Hauraki.

Gary Havoc & The Hurricanes

Auckland band, Gary Havoc & The Hurricanes, had an EP/mini-album issued on the label in 1979, The credited musicians on the recording were Havoc on guitar and vocals, John Treseder on lead guitar, Gavin Beardsmore on bass, and Graeme Scott on drums. Drummer Gary Hunt had left to join the

Terrorways Terrorways, not to be confused with Punk bands The Tearaways from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, or from Hertfordshire, England, were a New Zealand punk rock band from Auckland, who were big on the local punk scene. They are also remembered ...

. According to John Dix, in his book '' Stranded in Paradise: New Zealand Rock'n'Roll, 1955-1988'', the group have noted as being responsible for being one of the first, if not the first New Zealand band to self-finance their record and be successful with it, which had a flow on effect for other bands. They received an IRANZ award for their EP. In the mid 1980s, Havoc teamed up with singer / keyboardist Suzie Divine, calling themselves Desire. They released a record on

WEA The Wea were a Miami-Illinois-speaking Native American tribe originally located in western Indiana. Historically, they were described as either being closely related to the Miami Tribe or a sub-tribe of Miami. Today, the descendants of the ...

in 1985 which featured Mark Huckstep and Robbie Robertson on bass and Simon Hannah and Mark Hansen on drums.

International artists

Some of the international artists marketed by the label include Ian Matthews whose single "Shake It" RTC RTS 701 had climbed from no 28 to 19. Others include Joy Division.''Billboard'' 12 June 198
A/NZ-16 New Zealanders, Radio
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Releases (selective)

7" singles

References

{{Authority control New Zealand independent record labels