95 BOP FM was a radio station in

Tauranga, New Zealand Tauranga () is a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty region and the fifth most populous city of New Zealand, with an urban population of , or roughly 3% of the national population. It was settled by Māori late in the 13th century, colonised by ...

. The station was started by Radio New Zealand (which was then known as the National Broadcasting Service) in 1961. The station was originally branded as it is callsign 1ZD and broadcasts on 1000AM. In 1978 the AM band in New Zealand was changed from 10 kHz spacing to 9 kHz spacing as a result 1ZD moved to 1008AM. In the 1980s 1ZD became known as ''Radio BOP'' and relocated to the Bay Savings Bank building on Devonport Road in Tauranga. In the late 1980s, the station was known as ''Hits & Memories BOP'' In 1990 the station began broadcasting on 95.0FM and became known as ''95 BOP FM'', the AM frequency was now used to broadcast an easy listening format as ''Easy BOP AM''. The same year 95 BOP FM relocated to Harrington House on Harrington Street In 1993 Radio New Zealand rebranded many of their heritage stations as

Classic Hits Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes songs from the top 40 music charts from the late 1960s to the early 2000s, with music from the 1980s serving as the core of the format. Music that was popularized by MTV in the early 1980 ...

. For 95 BOP FM the station became known as ''Classic Hits 95 BOP FM''. In the early nineties, Radio New Zealand also began rolling Newstalk ZB out across the country. The 1008AM frequency was replaced with Newstalk ZB. In July 1996 the New Zealand Government sold off the commercial arm of Radio New Zealand, which included, among other things, the

branded stations. 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 and Clear Channel Communications, which operated as a division of the Australian Radio Network. In 1998 Classic Hits 95 BOP FM was reduced to just 4 hours of local programming between 6 and 10 am 7 days a week. Outside this time nationwide shows based from Auckland took over, and the network announcers simply called the station Classic Hits. The breakfast show was shortened to a 3 hour show in 2012 on all Classic Hits stations and local weekend programming was removed. On 28 April 2014, all stations part of the Classic Hits network were rebranded as

The Hits The Hits was a music video channel broadcast in the United Kingdom and Ireland, owned by Box Television. On 15 August 2008 it was rebranded as 4Music. Overview and availability The channel showcased a range of pop centred on chart hits and cur ...

. A networked breakfast presented by Polly Gillespie and

Grant Kareama Grant Rodney Hokowhitu Kereama (born 30 May 1967) is a New Zealand radio host, formerly on '' The Polly and Grant Show'' on the ZM and More FM network. Kereama co-hosted his morning show with his ex-wife Polly Gillespie. Kereama began in radi ...

was introduced to almost all The Hits stations with the former breakfast announcer moved to present a 6-hour show between 9:00 am and 3:00 pm. The daytime show on The Hits Bay of Plenty is hosted by Will Johnston.

References

{{Radio in New Zealand

Bay of Plenty The Bay of Plenty ( mi, Te Moana-a-Toi) is a region of New Zealand, situated around a bight of the same name in the northern coast of the North Island. The bight stretches 260 km from the Coromandel Peninsula in the west to Cape Runaw ...

Mass media in Tauranga Defunct radio stations in New Zealand