Geyserland FM was a radio station in

Rotorua, New Zealand Rotorua () is a city in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand's North Island. The city lies on the southern shores of Lake Rotorua, from which it takes its name. It is the seat of the Rotorua Lakes District, a territorial authority encompass ...

. The station was originally started in 1959 by

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 ...

(which at the time was known as the National Broadcasting Service) on 1350AM, the station was originally branded as its callsign 1ZC. The studios were originally located on Eruera Street in Rotorua but moved to Arawa Street in the late 1960s. The station was also rebranded as ''Radio Geyserland''. In 1988 Radio Geyserland began broadcasting on 97.5FM and became known as 97.5 Geyserland FM using the callsign 1GEY. The 1350AM frequency was discontinued and later was assigned to independent station Today AM and eventually taken over by

Radio Sport Radio Sport (previously Sports Roundup) was a New Zealand sports radio radio network, network and the talk radio, talkback sister network of Newstalk ZB. It held commentary rights for most cricket matches, international and domestic rugby uni ...

. 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 1980s ...

. For Geyserland FM the station became known as ''Classic Hits 97FM''. The name ''Geyserland'' was no longer used on air, however it still appeared on the station's logo. 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

, 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 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 ...

. In 1998 Classic Hits 97FM 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 announcers simply called the station Classic Hits. The breakfast show was shortened to a 3-hour show in 2012 on all Classic Hits stations. The station can also be heard in Reporoa, Broadlands, Ngakuru and Waikite Valley areas on 90.8FM. The frequency was adjusted from 90.9FM to 90.8 in 2010. 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 curr ...

. A networked breakfast presented by

Polly Gillespie Pauline "Polly" Gillespie is a New Zealand radio host, formerly on More FM. She co-hosted on '' The Polly and Grant Show'' Saturday mornings from 6-10am and the All-Day Breakfast show on Rova with her ex-husband, Grant Kereama. Gillespie and Ke ...

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 9am and 3pm. The daytime show is presented by Paul Hickey and can also be heard on

The Hits Taupo Lakeland FM was a New Zealand radio station based in Taupō. The station was started by Radio New Zealand (which at the time was known as the National Broadcasting Service) in the 1960s as Radio Lakeland at 1500AM with the call sign 1ZA. Radio ...

. The studios are now located on Fenton Street in Rotorua.

References

Rotorua Rotorua () is a city in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand's North Island. The city lies on the southern shores of Lake Rotorua, from which it takes its name. It is the seat of the Rotorua Lakes District, a territorial authority encompass ...

Mass media in Rotorua Defunct radio stations in New Zealand {{NewZealand-radio-station-stub