New Zealand Media And Entertainment
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New Zealand Media and Entertainment (abbreviated NZME) is a
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 ...
newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...
,
radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...
and
digital media Digital media is any communication media that operate in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital media can be created, viewed, distributed, modified, listened to, and preserved on a digital electronics device. ' ...
business. It was launched in 2014 as the formal merger of the New Zealand division 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 ...
, APN New Zealand; The Radio Network, part of the Australian Radio Network; and GrabOne, New Zealand's biggest ecommerce website. NZME brands include flagship national newspaper ''
The New Zealand Herald ''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation of all newspapers ...
'', regional newspapers ''
Bay of Plenty Times The ''Bay of Plenty Times'' is the regional daily paper for the Bay of Plenty area, including Tauranga, in the North Island of New Zealand. History The ''Bay of Plenty Times'' was first produced on 4 September 1872 as a bi-weekly publication. It ...
'', ''
Rotorua Daily Post The ''Rotorua Daily Post'' is the regional newspaper for the Central North Island including the greater Rotorua area as well as Taupo and the surrounding areas. History The paper was founded in 1885 as the ''Hot Lakes Chronicle'', and received ...
,
Hawke's Bay Today ''Hawke's Bay Today'' is a daily compact newspaper published in Hastings, New Zealand and serving Hastings, Napier and the Hawke's Bay region. It is owned by APN News & Media. The ''Hawke's Bay Today'' is New Zealand's youngest newspaper, fo ...
'' and ''
Northern Advocate ''The Northern Advocate'' is the regional daily paper for the city of Whangārei and the Northland Region in New Zealand. History ''The Whangarei Comet and Northern Advertiser'' was founded in 1875 as a weekly paper by George Alderton and, de ...
''. Its radio division operates multiple networks including the country's largest commercial station
Newstalk ZB Newstalk ZB is a nationwide New Zealand talk radio, talk-radio network operated by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, NZME Radio. It is available in almost every media market, radio market area in New Zealand, and has news reporters based in m ...
, as well 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 ...
, ZM,
Radio Hauraki Radio Hauraki is a New Zealand rock music station that started in 1966. It was the first private commercial radio station of the modern broadcasting era in New Zealand and operated illegally until 1970 to break the monopoly held by the state-o ...
, Flava,
Coast The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in n ...
, and
Gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
. The company also owns the New Zealand rights to the iHeartRadio service.


History

NZME was formed in September 2014 through the merger of the New Zealand division 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 ...
, APN New Zealand, The Radio Network, part of the Australian Radio Network., and GrabOne, New Zealand's biggest ecommerce website. The launch of the business fueled speculation APN News and Media could be planning to fully separate its New Zealand operations, or issue an initial public offering for up to 60 percent of its New Zealand assets on the
NZX New Zealand's Exchange (), known commonly as the NZX, is the national stock exchange for New Zealand and a publicly owned company. NZX is the parent company of Smartshares, and Wealth Technologies. On 30 August 2020, the NZX had a total of ...
.
Fairfax Media Fairfax Media was a media company in Australia and New Zealand, with investments in newspaper, magazines, radio and digital properties. The company was founded by John Fairfax as John Fairfax and Sons, who purchased ''The Sydney Morning Herald' ...
declined to confirm speculation in ''
The Australian Financial Review ''The Australian Financial Review'' (abbreviated to the ''AFR'') is an Australian business-focused, compact daily newspaper covering the current business and economic affairs of Australia and the world. The newspaper is based in Sydney, New Sou ...
'' that it could buy some or all of those assets. In June 2016, APN News & Media completed the demerger of NZME, and NZME was listed on the New Zealand Exchange on 27 June 2016 In 2016, NZME and Stuff Ltd. proposed merging their operations in New Zealand, with Stuff's Australian parent company
Fairfax Media Fairfax Media was a media company in Australia and New Zealand, with investments in newspaper, magazines, radio and digital properties. The company was founded by John Fairfax as John Fairfax and Sons, who purchased ''The Sydney Morning Herald' ...
receiving a 41% stake in the combine business plus $55 million cash. On 2 May 2017, the
Commerce Commission The Commerce Commission ( mi, Te Komihana Tauhokohoko) is a New Zealand government agency with responsibility for enforcing legislation that relates to competition in the country's markets, fair trading and consumer credit contracts, and regul ...
declined to approve the proposed merger. The two companies appealed the Commissions' decision at the Wellington High Court, which upheld the commission's decision on 18 December 2017. In June 2018, the companies appealed the commission's decision at the
New Zealand Court of Appeal The Court of Appeal of New Zealand is the principal intermediate appellate court of New Zealand. It is also the final appellate court for a number of matters. In practice, most appeals are resolved at this intermediate appellate level, rather t ...
, which rejected their merger bid on 25 September 2018. In October 2018, NZME and Stuff abandoned their first merger attempt. In November 2019, NZME confirmed that it had entered into negotiations with Stuff's new Australian owners,
Nine Entertainment Nine Entertainment (registered as Nine Entertainment Co. Pty Ltd) is an Australian publicly listed media company with holdings in radio and television broadcasting, newspaper publications and digital media. It uses Nine as its corporate brand ...
, to purchase Stuff. As part of the second merger proposal, NZME proposed a "Kiwishare" arrangement that would ringfence Stuff's editorial operations and protect local journalism. On 14 April 2020, NZME announced that they were laying off 15% of their workforce (roughly 200 jobs) as a result of the economic fallout caused by the
coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identifie ...
. On 11 May, NZME tried to purchase rival media company
Stuff Stuff, stuffed, and stuffing may refer to: *Physical matter *General, unspecific things, or entities Arts, media, and entertainment Books *''Stuff'' (1997), a novel by Joseph Connolly (author), Joseph Connolly *''Stuff'' (2005), a book by Jere ...
, a subsidiary of the Australian company
Nine Entertainment Nine Entertainment (registered as Nine Entertainment Co. Pty Ltd) is an Australian publicly listed media company with holdings in radio and television broadcasting, newspaper publications and digital media. It uses Nine as its corporate brand ...
, for NZ$1 under the pretext of saving jobs during the pandemic. In response, Nine Entertainment terminated further negotiations with NZME. In response, NZME filed an emergency junction at the Auckland High Court to force Nine Entertainment back into negotiations. On 19 May, the Auckland High Court ruled against NZME's bid for an interim injunction against Nine Entertainment.


Publishing

The publishing division of NZME reaches an estimated 2.1 million people each week by print, desktop computer and mobile. It includes national ''New Zealand Herald'' titles, six other daily newspapers, 23 non-daily newspapers and over 20 websites, mobile sites and apps.


New Zealand Herald

''
The New Zealand Herald ''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation of all newspapers ...
'' is the flagship title of NZME and is the daily newspaper of
Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...
. It has the largest circulation of any newspaper in New Zealand, peaking at over 200,000 copies in 2006, with numbers down to 162,181 by December 2012. Auckland is its main delivery area, but it is also delivered to much of the north of the
North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...
including Northland,
Waikato Waikato () is a Regions of New Zealand, local government region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipa District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton, New Zealand, Hamilton City ...
and
King Country The King Country (Māori: ''Te Rohe Pōtae'' or ''Rohe Pōtae o Maniapoto'') is a region of the western North Island of New Zealand. It extends approximately from the Kawhia Harbour and the town of Otorohanga in the north to the upper reaches of ...
. The Herald's main book publications include ''New Zealand Herald'', ''Weekend Herald'' and ''Herald on Sunday''. Its supplements include ''Be Well'' on Monday, ''Travel'' on Tuesday, ''Viva'', ''Driven'' and ''Herald Homes'' on Wednesday, ''TimeOut'' on Thursday, ''Canvas'' on Saturday, and ''Spy'' on Sunday.


Regional newspapers

NZME's flagship daily regional papers include ''
The Northern Advocate ''The Northern Advocate'' is the regional daily paper for the city of Whangārei and the Northland Region in New Zealand. History ''The Whangarei Comet and Northern Advertiser'' was founded in 1875 as a weekly paper by George Alderton and, desp ...
,'' ''
Bay of Plenty Times The ''Bay of Plenty Times'' is the regional daily paper for the Bay of Plenty area, including Tauranga, in the North Island of New Zealand. History The ''Bay of Plenty Times'' was first produced on 4 September 1872 as a bi-weekly publication. It ...
'', ''
Rotorua Daily Post The ''Rotorua Daily Post'' is the regional newspaper for the Central North Island including the greater Rotorua area as well as Taupo and the surrounding areas. History The paper was founded in 1885 as the ''Hot Lakes Chronicle'', and received ...
'', ''
Hawke's Bay Today ''Hawke's Bay Today'' is a daily compact newspaper published in Hastings, New Zealand and serving Hastings, Napier and the Hawke's Bay region. It is owned by APN News & Media. The ''Hawke's Bay Today'' is New Zealand's youngest newspaper, fo ...
and the
Whanganui Chronicle ''The Whanganui Chronicle'' is New Zealand's oldest newspaper. Based in Whanganui, it celebrated 160 years of publishing in September 2016. It is the main daily paper for the Whanganui, Ruapehu and Rangitīkei regions, including the towns of Patea ...
- New Zealand's oldest newspaper, founded in 1856.'' The company also publishes multiple weekly community papers, such as the '' Bay News'', '' Katikati Advertiser'', '' Te Puke Times'', '' Coastal News,'' '' Waihi Leader,'' '' Hamilton News'', '' Country News'', '' Taupo and Turangi Weekender,''
Manawatu Guardian 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 Here, There & Everywhere (company), APN News & Me ...
, Whanganui Midweek, and
Horowhenua Chronicle ''Horowhenua Chronicle'' is a regional newspaper for the Horowhenua district, encompassing Foxton, Shannon, Tokomaru and Levin. It is owned by NZME New Zealand Media and Entertainment (abbreviated NZME) is a New Zealand newspaper, radio ...


Joint publications

NZME co-owns the ''Chinese New Zealand Herald''. In 2019, it was reported that the website and content of the ''Chinese New Zealand Herald'' is under the operational and editorial control of the state-run China News Service, controlled by
Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victoriou ...
's
United Front Work Department The United Front Work Department of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (UFWD; ) is a department of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) which is officially tasked with "united front work". For this endeav ...
and subject to state censorship and government propaganda.


Radio

NZME Radio began as The Radio Network in 1996 when the commercial radio activities of
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 ...
were divested by the fourth National government as part of the
Ruthanasia Ruthanasia, a portmanteau of "Ruth" and "euthanasia", is the pejorative name (typically used by opponents) given to the period of free-market policies conducted during the first term of the fourth National government in New Zealand, from 1990 t ...
free market In economics, a free market is an economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government or any ot ...
economic policies of that government. Radio New Zealand Commercial, which included talk networks
Newstalk ZB Newstalk ZB is a nationwide New Zealand talk radio, talk-radio network operated by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, NZME Radio. It is available in almost every media market, radio market area in New Zealand, and has news reporters based in m ...
and
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 ...
and music networks
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 ...
and ZM, became privately owned and was renamed The Radio Network. In 2014, it became part of NZME and was rebranded again as NZME Radio. The majority of the programming on stations is networked from the main studios on Graham Street in Auckland Central. However, Newstalk ZB run local programmes in Wellington, Nelson, Christchurch and Dunedin. The Hits run local breakfast and morning programmes. Auckland station Mix 98.2 was relaunched in 2014, based on stations previously known as Radio i, Easy Listening i, Viva and Easy Mix, later being rebranded in 2020 as
Gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
. Privately owned Gore station
Hokonui Gold Hokonui (previously known as Hokonui Gold) is an Adult Contemporary radio station that first launched in Gore, New Zealand, broadcasting across Southland and now also broadcasts across South Otago and Mid Canterbury. Hokonui also from April 2 ...
is operated by NZME under a long-term lease contract.


History

Publicly owned Radio New Zealand Commercial became privately owned The Radio Network in 1996, and later that year it also purchased Prospect Media Limited and its eleven Auckland and
Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...
stations. The brands of Auckland's
Radio Hauraki Radio Hauraki is a New Zealand rock music station that started in 1966. It was the first private commercial radio station of the modern broadcasting era in New Zealand and operated illegally until 1970 to break the monopoly held by the state-o ...
and
Easy Listening i Mix was a greatest hits radio station in New Zealand, broadcasting music from the 70s, 80s and 90s. Mix was owned and operated by New Zealand Media and Entertainment. Mix is targeted at 35 to 54-year-olds. Its head office and studios were loc ...
were retained and launched as nationwide networks, while Hamilton's
Easy Listening i Mix was a greatest hits radio station in New Zealand, broadcasting music from the 70s, 80s and 90s. Mix was owned and operated by New Zealand Media and Entertainment. Mix is targeted at 35 to 54-year-olds. Its head office and studios were loc ...
, Auckland's The Breeze on 91, Hamilton's The Breeze on 89.8 and the other stations were converted to the former Radio New Zealand brands. The company was bought out by a syndicate that included United States radio company Clear Channel Communications and publisher Wilson & Horton. Wilson & Horton was then purchased by Ireland-based media conglomerate Independent News & Media, and on-sold to Independent's Australian subsidiary APN. The Radio Network became an APN and Clear Channel networked commercial radio joint venture, like the Australian Radio Network already was, and as a result The Radio Network became part of the Australian Radio Network. Radio Network House in Christchurch was damaged in the February
2011 Christchurch earthquake A major earthquake occurred in Christchurch on Tuesday 22 February 2011 at 12:51 p.m. local time (23:51 UTC, 21 February). The () earthquake struck the entire of the Canterbury region in the South Island, centred south-east ...
beyond repair. The building became infamous for being the first New Zealand demolition by implosion in August 2012. The implosion was conducted by US specialists and went without problems, providing reassurance for contractors planning to carry out similar operations.


Community Radio Network

The Radio Network previously ran a group of provincial radio stations known as the Community Radio Network. Established in June 1998, the network retained the local names and live breakfast shows of each station but began broadcasting a network feed from Taupo for other times of the day. The line-up included Mark Bramley (10a - 2p), Aaron Gillions, Scott Armstrong and Brian Gentill (2p - 7p), and Peter Gosney, Corey K and Duncan Allen (7p - 12a). Other voices heard on the network included Geoff Bargas, Rebecca Ali, Nadine Christiansen, Sarah McMullan, Chris Auer, Marke Dickson and Paul Frost. On 1 December 2000 CRN stations joined the Classic Hits programme fed from Cook Street Auckland, also operated by TRN. Where the station had both an FM and AM frequency the FM frequency was usually used to broadcast a localised version of Classic Hits while the AM frequency was used to broadcast
Newstalk ZB Newstalk ZB is a nationwide New Zealand talk radio, talk-radio network operated by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, NZME Radio. It is available in almost every media market, radio market area in New Zealand, and has news reporters based in m ...
. Two stations, Radio Waitomo 1ZW and King Country Radio, have closed down. Others continue to operate as The Hits stations, including Tokoroa's
Radio Forestland Radio Forestland was a radio station in Tokoroa, New Zealand. The station was started by Radio New Zealand as Radio Forestland, broadcasting on 1420AM with the call sign 1ZO. The station was started in the mid 1970s and in 1978 moved to 1413AM a ...
, Taupo's
Lakeland FM 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 L ...
, Gisborne's 2ZG, Masterton's
Radio Wairarapa Wairarapa FM was a radio station in Wairarapa, Wairarapa, New Zealand broadcasting from studios in Masterton. The station was started by Radio New Zealand (which at the time was known as the National Broadcasting Service) in 1958 on 840AM with t ...
and Wanganui's River City FM. It also included South Island stations Radio Marlborough in Blenheim,
Scenicland FM Scenicland FM was a New Zealand radio station broadcasting on the West Coast of the South Island. The station was started by the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation (which later became Radio New Zealand) in 1968 as Radio Scenicland. Radio Sce ...
on the West Coast, 3ZE in Ashburton,
Radio Caroline Radio Caroline is a British radio station founded in 1964 by Ronan O'Rahilly and Alan Crawford initially to circumvent the record companies' control of popular music broadcasting in the United Kingdom and the BBC's radio broadcasting monopoly ...
in Timaru and
Radio Waitaki Radio Waitaki was a radio station in Oamaru, New Zealand. Radio Waitaki began broadcasting on 1395AM on 5 July 1980, with the late John "JR" Ramsay behind the microphone. The station was originally a commercial station operated by the governme ...
in Oamaru.


Current networks

The NZME radio networks are the result of the re-branding of the Community Radio Network and several further years of brand consolidation. In 2004, Cool Blue 96.1FM in Auckland became the first Flava station and Jammin' Oldies in Hawke's Bay became the first Coast station. Original stations of The Breeze in Auckland and Hamilton, 2QQ in Palmerston North and
The Planet 97FM The Planet 97FM was a hit music radio station in Nelson, New Zealand. History The station was founded in 1999 by Kevin Ihaia who was the former manager and founder of Fifeshire FM in Nelson. Ihaia left Fifeshire in 1998 after the station was so ...
in Nelson became ZM. Classic Rock 96FM in Hawke's Bay was replaced with Radio Hauraki. The station once known as Easy Listening i has subsequently been rebranded as Viva FM, Easy Mix, Mix 98.2 and now Gold (on 105.4FM). In 2014, the entire Classic Hits network was 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 ...
.
Newstalk ZB Newstalk ZB is a nationwide New Zealand talk radio, talk-radio network operated by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, NZME Radio. It is available in almost every media market, radio market area in New Zealand, and has news reporters based in m ...
and The Hits now reach 25 markets, and ZM and Gold AM reach 19 markets.
Radio Hauraki Radio Hauraki is a New Zealand rock music station that started in 1966. It was the first private commercial radio station of the modern broadcasting era in New Zealand and operated illegally until 1970 to break the monopoly held by the state-o ...
reaches 16,
Coast The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in n ...
reaches 12, and Flava reaches 8.


References


External links


NZME official website
{{Coronavirus pandemic in New Zealand Here, There & Everywhere (company) Mass media companies of New Zealand Companies based in Auckland Articles containing video clips Radio broadcasting companies of New Zealand