Radio Waitomo 1ZW was a

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

that broadcast on 1170AM in Te Kuiti,

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. The station was started on 15 March 1985 by the

Radio New Zealand Radio New Zealand ( mi, Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa), commonly known as Radio NZ or simply RNZ, is a New Zealand public-service radio broadcaster and Crown entity that was established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995. It operates news and c ...

Commercial network. Local content was limited to just a few hours per day, programming was shared with

King Country Radio King Country Radio was a radio station in Taumarunui broadcasting on 1512AM. The station was first started in 1966 broadcasting 1520AM with the call sign 1ZU. The station moved to 1512AM in 1978 after the AM frequency spacing in New Zealand was a ...

at other times and on air at these times branded as ''King Country Radio and Radio Waitomo''. In July 1996 the

New Zealand Government , background_color = #012169 , image = New Zealand Government wordmark.svg , image_size=250px , date_established = , country = New Zealand , leader_title = Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern , appointed = Governor-General , main_organ = , ...

sold off the commercial arm of

, the sale included Radio Waitomo. The new owner was

The Radio Network New Zealand Media and Entertainment (abbreviated NZME) is a New Zealand newspaper, radio and digital media business. It was launched in 2014 as the formal merger of the New Zealand division of APN News & Media, APN New Zealand; The Radio Ne ...

, a subsidiary of

APN News & Media Here, There & Everywhere (HT&E), formerly known as APN News & Media, is an Australian media company. Divisions include broadcast radio and Out-of-home advertising. The company previously had assets in New Zealand, and previously owned Adshel ...

and

Clear Channel Communications iHeartMedia, Inc., formerly CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc.), a company fou ...

, which operated as a division of the

Australian Radio Network ARN is a group of commercial radio stations around Australia. It includes the Pure Gold, KIIS Network, CADA, ARN Regional and iHeartRadio brands. The company operates the ARN News service in Australia, which uses international correspondents ...

. Local content was limited to just a few hours per day. At other times the station took a feed from King Country Radio or 1ZH (Hamilton) or National Radio. In June 1998, Radio Waitomo joined the newly established Community Radio Network. As a result, the station continued to run a local breakfast show between 6-10am, but outside of these times the station carried the network feed from Taupo. On 1 December 2000, the Taupo-based Community Radio Network was replaced with the Classic Hits network programme from Auckland. Radio Waitomo was subsequently re-branded as Classic Hits Radio Waitomo. In November 2003, due to dwindling listenership and rising costs, The Radio Network decided to close the station. The following year, The Voice Of Waikato/Waitomo Trust arranged a lease of the station and the frequency and it was re-launched as The Voice Of Waitomo. In July that year, the station reverted to its original name: Radio Waitomo 1ZW. Less than a year later, Radio Waitomo closed down permanently due to poor management and lack of local support.

References

External links

Radio stations in New Zealand Defunct radio stations in New Zealand {{NewZealand-radio-station-stub