ZM (New Zealand)

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ZM
Broadcast area	17 markets in New Zealand
Slogan	Todays Hit Music
First air date	c.1973
Format	Hit Music
Owner	The Radio Network
Website	zmonline.com

ZM, or ZMFM is a radio network. ZM is part of The Radio Network of New Zealand. The network's slogan, "Today's Hit Music", reflects the network's chart-music playlist of pop, rock, hip hop and dance music. The network has stations in 17 markets in New Zealand and is also available online. It reaches around 360,000 listeners weekly and targets the 15-39 demographic.

Contents 1 ZM History 1.1 Origin of the ZM name 1.2 Present day 1.3 ZM Online Website 2 Slogans 3 ZM Music 4 ZM Schedule 5 Previous Announcers 6 ZM Frequencies 7 External links

[edit] ZM History

[edit] Origin of the ZM name

The ZM name derives from the original 1ZM radio station founded by W.W. ((Bill) Rodgers in the late 1920s in Manurewa, then a farming village south of Auckland, The letter Z meant a privately owned (later commercial) station, and the M stood for Manurewa.

The station was later acquired by the NZ Government and moved 26 km north to Auckland City, where it shared space in the 1941 Art Deco Broadcasting House studios of 1ZB. In April 1944 1ZM was handed overto the US AFRS military broadcasting service to provide entertainment for US troops on R & R leave in Auckland, as part of the AES Mosquito Network. The American programming, drawn from all three US radio networks (ABC, NBC and CBS) and played without commercial advertisements, proved popular not only with US troops but also with Aucklanders who appreciated the lively style of presentation and the latest American hits. After the war 1ZM was returned to the government broadcasting department, New Zealand Broadcasting Service (NZBS) and its successor, but still state-owned, New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation (NZBC).

As part of a reshuffle of frequencies and call-signs 1ZM was re-named, first 1ZD and then 1YD, in line with the Wellington metro station 2YD which had opened in 1937. 1ZM /1YD was turned into a low-power non-commercial metro music station, broadcasting retro hits and oldies from 5 pm to 10 pm weeknights, and from 10 am to 10 pm weekends. Later, to help meet demand for advertising in the single State owned commercial station 1ZB, 1YD was authorised to carry low-level commercials read live at the microphone, and by the 1960s transmitter time in Auckland was leased in the mornings to a private commercial operator Radio i, which later secured its own AM channel.

The start of 'pirate' broadcasting in 1966 from Radio Hauraki, based on a barge in the Hauraki Gulf, and the consequent opening up of NZ radio to private investors led to a sharp rise in competition, and the NZBC looked to sharpen up the rather fusty image of its metro stations by re-branding the three YD stations in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch) back to ZM and promoting them under the brand ZM Maxi Music.

[edit] Present day

The ZM format under NZBC, and from 1975 Radio New Zealand, control evolved through several different musical forms. The ZM disc-jockeys have included controversial broadcaster Paul Holmes. The network has developed from the original three AM radio stations in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch (1ZM, 2ZM and 3ZM) to a nationwide radio station covering 17 markets. Since 1996 ZM has been owned by The Radio Network when the government sold the Radio New Zealand commercial operation.

91ZM Auckland
ZM started in Auckland in 1973 broadcasting on 1251 AM as 1ZM. In 1983, with the approval by the Broadcasting Tribunal to allow two new private radio stations to be the first fully commercial FM stations in Auckland, 1ZM was forced to change its format to be an alternative commercial free station, largely to allow the new private stations (Magic 91FM and Stereo 89 FM) to compete successfully for the mainstream contemporary hit radio audience. This was successful, as within 2-3 years 1ZM's market share dropped significantly as young listeners were attracted by the higher quality sound of the FM stations, despite the absence of commercials on 1ZM. 1ZM changed format in 1987 to "Classic Hits" to try to recover audience, but was still costing Radio NZ over $1 million per annum to operate as it was the only "commercial station" legally required to run no commercials! The change to the Classic Hits format saw 1ZM drop the ZM name and become Classic Hits Twelve Fifty One. The change in name marked the birth of the Classic Hits Network we know today however the Classic Hits brands was not rolled out to the rest of New Zealand until 1993. Subsequent liberalisation of the broadcasting warrant system (which was ultimately abolished in 1989/1990) saw Radio NZ win a licence to broadcast the station on 97.4FM in Auckland and broadcast commercials, with the 1251kHz AM frequency reverting to Christian broadcaster Radio Rhema. The move to FM saw the station change branding to Classic Hit 97FM. The name change from ZM to Classic Hits saw an absence of the ZM brand in Auckland from 1987 to 1996 when ZM made a return to Auckland as 91ZM taking over the 91.0FM frequency previously used by Magic 91FM and The Breeze 91FM.

ZMFM Wellington
Wellington's 2ZM was the first ZM network station to broadcast in FM from December 21 1985 as ZMFM 91 (90.9), but did not cease to broadcast on AM until 1986 with the introduction of a second frequency on 93.5 to provide adequate FM coverage of the hilly Wellington region. Its AM frequency (1161 kHz) was reallocated to Maori station Te Upoko o Te Ika. Around 1996 ZMFM Wellington became known as 91ZM sharing the same name that had been used in Christchurch and the re-established ZM station in Auckland.

91ZM Christchurch
Christchurch's 3ZM switched to FM in 1986 and ceasing AM broadcasting several months later. The 1323 kHz frequency was used for Maori broadcasting by Aotearoa Radio in the early 1990s, then by Radio Liberty in the mid 1990s. It is no longer in use by any station.

91ZM Manawatu

ZM commenced transmission to Manawatu on the 9th of March 1987 on 90.6FM. The program was a relay of the Wellington ZMFM station with local commercial breaks and station identification. ZMFM Manawatu also ran its own breakfast show - "Jackson and The Morning Crew" featuring Pete Jackson. In 1989, 90.6 ZMFM re-branded as 2 Double Q, subsequently dropping the relay of ZMFM Wellington and beginning a seven year absence of the ZM name in Manawatu. The ZM brand did not return to the Manawatu market until 1996 when Classic Rock Q91FM (formerly 2 Double Q) reverted back to ZM (as 91ZM). The new ZM programme created in 1996 used a computerised automation system to provide a local programme recorded minutes before from the Wellington studio, this system remained in place until 2000 when ZM switched to a single network.

93ZM Whangarei
93ZM started around 1995 as a totally local station separate from the rest of the ZM stations. 93ZM became a network station after ZM made a return to Auckland with local content prerecorded in Auckland minutes earlier however the Breakfast show remained local until 1999.

89.8 ZM Waikato and Bay of Plenty
ZM began broadcasting in the Waikato region around 1996 when The Radio Network aquired the 89.8FM frequency that had been previously been used by local station 898FM or Kiwi FM (no connection to the Kiwi FM stations in operation today) and later The Breeze 89.8FM. 89.8ZM Waikato was networked from Auckland using the same automated computer system to provide a local programme recorded from Auckland minutes earlier. Waikato had its own local breakfast show between 1998 and 1999 but this ceased before 2000 and the Auckland breakfast show took the shows place.

96ZM Hawkes Bay
ZM started around 1999 in the Hawkes Bay region replacing the frequency previously used by Classic Rock 96FM and later Radio Hauraki. Radio Hauraki moved to 99.9FM. 96ZM Hawkes Bay has always been based from Auckland.

96ZM Dunedin and Invercargill
ZM began broadcasting on 95.8FM in 1996 with a local programme being produced for the Dunedin region by an announcer in the Christchurch studio. A year later ZM came to Invercargill broadcasting on 95.6FM also based from the Christchurch studio with announcers now prerecording 3 individual voice breaks tailored to each region. While the same songs were played the 3 stations were often out of syncc. With the high amount of talk on the breakfast show breakfast was kept to a single show mostly tailored to the Christchurch audience.

98.8ZM Taranaki ZM came to Taranaki in the late nineties broadcasting on 98.8FM and originally like other ZM stations all local content was recorded minutes earlier from the Wellington studio until 2000 when ZM switched to a single network with all content coming from Auckland.

97ZM Nelson
One of the most recent ZM stations ZM came to Nelson in 2004 replacing a local station owned by The Radio Network The Planet 97FM. The Planet played similar music to ZM but the change to ZM saw The Planet shut down completely. The Planet FM website redirected to the ZM website until the domain planetfm.co.nz expired and was not renewed.

96-8ZM Wanganui and 96-3ZM South Canterbury
The most recent additions to the ZM network in 2004 both stations are provided in these regions by the Community Radio Network.

The ZM Network
ZM began networking as early as the 1980's between Midnight and 6AM with the ZM All-Nighter based from the 1ZM Auckland studio and played on 2ZM Wellington and 3ZM Christchurch. The ZM All-Nighter was dropped around 1989 when all stations operated their own local overnight show.

While ZM operated 3 separate networks during the late nineties some shows were played during this time across all ZM stations based from the Auckland studios. ZM operated an afternoon countdown show called the ZM Essential 30 between 1996 and 1999 based from Auckland and featured some of the best bits of each Breakfast show as well as the weekly countdown. ZM also ran the Sample G Club Mix between 1997 and 2003 on Saturday nights based from Auckland. A nationwide night show based from Auckland was started in 1999.

In 2000 ZM changed to a single network format, all ZM stations in smaller regions became part of this network based from Auckland the only regions not originally affected were Christchurch and Wellington where these stations remained local except during the evenings and overnight where ZM ran a nationwide night show. ZM branding also changed where the station was simply branded as ZM instead of including the frequency number in the branding such as 91ZM, 96ZM, 98ZM. ZM introduced the Newsbeat news service, this was designed as a quick news report with a beat in the background this was followed by an undetailed weather report for the whole country. Wellington and Christchurch kept their existing news service. These changes were not popular with the listeners and many listeners voted with their radio dials choosing to listen to alternative stations and causing a huge drop in ratings for ZM.

In 2001 more changes were made and this time saw Christchurch and Wellington integrated into the network. The Christchurch studio was closed all together with some announcers being moved to Auckland to produce a nationwide show for all of New Zealand. Wellington ZM remained local but the local breakfast show went nationwide broadcast from Wellington, at first some breakfast show content in Wellington varied to the rest of the country but by 2002 the ZM Morning Crew was a single show. The breakfast show on ZM still comes from the Wellington studio today.

In 2002 branding was once again changed to include the local frequency but now the whole frequency instead of just the first two numbers, so in Dunedin ZM was now known as 95-8ZM and in Christchurch ZM was known as 91-3ZM. Auckland was known as 91-0ZM for a while but later called 91ZM once again. Announcers still address the station as ZM except when a local programme is being produced. Local weather forecasts were bought back to ZM, prerecorded in the Auckland or Wellington studio and fed individually to each region, most network stations read out the weather for the whole country and this is often very undetailed like just a top temperature for each region. ZM also extended their Newsbeat News service outside of the breakfast show and Newsbeat was added into the Wellington region. In 2003 the amount of local content on ZM in Wellington was reduced to just during the week and after Drive-Time announcer Julian Burn left ZM Wellington he was not replaced but instead Stables show was networked into Wellington.

In 2005 the ZM Christchurch studio was reopened and now ZM is local in Christchurch during the Daytime (10am - 3pm) show. The Daytime announcer in Auckland produces two separate shows simultaneously, one for Auckland and another for the rest of the ZM Network. In some cases nationwide shows are produced from the Wellington or Christchurch studio for the entire country. This is often the case during weekends or holidays when announcers in these regions are asked to work, or if the announcer is in this region for a particular event. Today all ZM stations play the same songs in the same sequence even when a local show is being played in Christchurch and Wellington.

[edit] ZM Online Website

The ZM Online website was finally launched in March 2002 3 years after the zmonline.co.nz and zmonline.com domains were registered, previously going to these sites would display a notice saying a new site would be here in a week for over a year, this followed by a page with details of competitions. Announcers have had email addresses using the zmonline.com domain since 1999. 91ZM Wellington ran their own website at 91zm.co.nz prior to this but this domain pointed to the ZM Online site after 2002. 96ZM Dunedin also ran their own site at 96zm.co.nz between 1998 and 1999.

[edit] Slogans

ZM has used the following slogans in the past:

c1985 - c1988:

• Hit Radio ZMFM (Wellington, Christchurch and Manawatu)

c1988 - c1988:

• More Music ZMFM (Manawatu only)

c1988 - c1990:

• The Music Leader ZMFM (Wellington and Manawatu only)

c1988 - c1990:

• 91 Stereo ZM (Christchurch only)

1991 - 1994:

• Rock of the Nineties ZMFM (Wellington only)

1991 - 1994:

• Rock of the Nineties 91ZM (Christchurch only)

1994 - 1997:

• Just Great Music of the 80's and 90's

1997 - Present:

• Today's Hit Music

[edit] ZM Music

ZM plays mostly pop, rock, dance music in the current Top 40. In 2003 ZM added to its playlist older (mainly 1990's) popular rock, pop and dance music tracks, in the form of the High School Hit. This being done to cater for a more diverse demographic. Also every day at midday ZM switches onto Shuffle and 10 random songs in a row from the 1990's (and at times 1980's) as well as newer music is played. In the past many listeners have had the perception of ZM being a Teeny Bopper station playing only pop music young teenage listeners would enjoy, this mainly from listeners of The Rock, however today ZM regularly plays certain tracks from very popular rock bands such as AC/DC, Metallica, Pearl Jam, Guns N' Roses, Nirvana, Bon Jovi and many more. Rival station The Edge plays similar Top 40 music but has more hip hop on their playlist where ZM has more dance music on their playlist and The Edge does not play the selection of older music that is played on ZM.

[edit] ZM Schedule

• Breakfast (6am - 10am)
• Hosts: Polly & Grant & "New hot Guy"

• Workday (10am - 3pm)
  • Hosts: Sarah Gandy (Auckland & Network Regions)
  • Simon O'Neill (Wellington)
  • Bridget Howard (Christchurch)

• Drive (3pm - 7pm)
  • Stables

• Nights (7pm - 12am)
  • The Control 20 Countdown with:
  • Stu Tolan
  • Jacqui Jensen

• Overnights (12am - 6am)
  • Paul Stenhouse
  • Jamie Valentine

• Friday Nights (10pm - 2:30am)
  • General Lee mix show with DJ General Lee

• Saturday Afternoons (2pm - 5pm)
  • The Stables Rump 30 countdown:
  • Stables

• Saturday Nights (6pm - 6am)
  • 200 songs commercial free and the General Lee mix show (10pm - 3am).

[edit] Previous Announcers

Announcer	Show	Duration	Reason for leaving	Last known station
Sandy Antipas	93ZM Whangarei Breakfast co-hosted by Jaala Dyer	1995 - 1999	Show axed when 93ZM Whangarei was replaced with network product in 2000
Simon Barnett	91ZM Christchurch Breakfast co-hosted by Phil Gifford	Until 1997	Both Simon and Phil Gifford were offered a large sum of money to work on More FM Christchurch	More FM Christchurch Breakfast show
Julian Burn	91ZM Wellington Drivetime show	Until 2003	Moved overseas show was replaced with network show.	Breakfast on More FM Hawkes Bay
Lana Coc-kroft	91ZM Auckland and ZM Network Daytime Show co-host with Nicki Sunderland	Until 2002	Show dropped as Lipstick Lunch rated poorly.	Now unemployed was involved in the Celebrity Drug Scandal in 2005 along with Marc Ellis
James Daniels	91ZM Christchurch Breakfast co-hosted by Ken Ellis		Both James and Ken Ellis were offered a large sum of money to work on More FM Christchurch	Managing TRN's Flava Radio Network
Jaala Dyer	93ZM Whangarei Breakfast co-hosted by Sandy Antipas	1995 - 1999	Show axed when 93ZM Whangarei was replaced with network product in 2000
Ken Ellis	91ZM Christchurch Breakfast co-hosted by James Daniels		Both Ken and James Daniels were offered a large sum of money to work on More FM Christchurch	Left More FM to work for Newstalk ZB
Phil Gifford	91ZM Christchurch Breakfast co-hosted by Simon Barnett	Until 1997	Both Phil and Simon Barnett were offered a large sum of money to work on More FM Christchurch	Left More FM in 2003 and worked on Radio Sport for some time following this.
Dallas Gurney	93ZM Whangarei Nights (1995-1996), 91ZM Wellington Nights (1996-1998), 91ZM Christchurch Drivetime (1998)	Until 1998	Left Christchurch to take a programming position at ZM in Auckland. Still filled in at weekends.	Classic Hits AKL PD and OPs Mgr til 2006, now TRN Talent Manager.
Aroha Hathaway	91ZM Wellington Daytime (until 2003) and ZM Network Daytime (2003-05)	Until 2005	Left to go to Māori Television	Still fills in at weekends.
Mark Hewlett	The Fear Factor Champion was an extra on ZM working alongside Polly and Grant.	2004
Melanie Homer	91ZM Auckland Nightshow and later Drivetime show	1998 - 1999
Tim Homer	91ZM Auckland and ZM Network Drivetime	Until 2000	Show axed due to restructuring, Jason Royal was moved to Auckland to take over this show.	Programming More FM Auckland
Marcus Lush	91ZM Auckland Breakfast and ZM Network Breakfast	1996 - 2001	Made redundant after the Wellington Breakfast show was made the network breakfast show	Breakfast on Foveaux FM Southland until 2004 and Radio Live from 2005.
Mike McClung	91ZM Auckland and ZM Network Drivetime	Until 2000	Show axed due to restructuring, Jason Royal was moved to Auckland to take over this show.	Working for NZ On Air
Willy MacAlister	91ZM Christchurch Night show and ZM Nationwide Nightshow	Until 1999	Moved to Channel Z when it was still local in Christchurch and later to Sydney.	Programming Nova 969
Breffni O'Rourke	91ZM Christchurch Daytime	1998 - 2001	Made redundant after ZM Christchurch studio was closed in 2001.	Breakfast show on More FM Nelson
Justin Rae	91ZM Wellington day announcer (until 2000), ZM Network fill-in announcer (after 2000)	1996 - 2004	Moved back to Wellington	More FM Wellington Breakfast show
Val Robinson	91ZM Christchurch Daytime	Until 1998
Jason Royal	91ZM Christchurch Drivetime (1997 - 2001), extra on Christchurch Breakfast show in 1998 and ZM Network Drivetime (2001 - 2003)	1997 - 2003	Moved back to Christchurch to work on More FM	Daytime show on More FM Christchurch
Jason Reeves	Presented his own Saturday breakfast show with Andrew Mulligan and filled in for other announcers.	2005 - 2006	Moved to Classic Hits	Drivetime show on Classic Hits Network
Chuckie Shearer	91ZM Christchurch Breakfast working with Rik and Katrina	1997 - 1998	Moved to Classic Hits Christchurch
Dave Smart	93ZM Whangarei Drive, then breakfast, later Network Announcer	1996 - 2004	Moved to Classic Hits Network Nights	Breakfast Host on Classic Hits Wellington from April 2007
Katrina Smith	91ZM Christchurch Breakfast co-hosted by Rik van Dyke	1997 - 2001	Made redundant after the Wellington Breakfast show was networked in Christchurch	Daytime show on Nelson's Fifeshire FM (now More FM).
Geoff Stagg	ZM Network Nightshow	1999 - 2002		Drive announcer on More FM Wellington
Nicky Sunderland	91ZM Auckland Daytime and ZM Network Daytime	Until 2002	Went on maternity leave for six months only to find her job had been taken over by Stables. Was offered a shift on Easy Listening i but turned it down.	Night time Love Songs show on The Breeze Auckland
Nick Tansley	91ZM Wellington Breakfast and ZM Network Breakfast with Polly and Grant.	Until 2003	Contract not renewed due to show restructuring	More FM Wellington Breakfast show
Rik van Dyke	91ZM Christchurch Breakfast co-hosted by Katrina Smith	1997 - 2001	Made redundant after the Wellington Breakfast show was networked in Christchurch	Classic Hits 97.7 Christchurch Breakfast show until 2006 and now Program Director for The Breeze Christchurch.

[edit] ZM Frequencies

City/Town	Frequency
Whangarei	95.1FM
Auckland	91.0FM
Waikato	89.8FM
Bay of Plenty	89.8FM
Rotorua	98.3FM
Gisborne	107.4 & 107.7FM
Taranaki	98.8FM
Hawke's Bay	95.9FM & 99.7FM
Wanganui	96.8FM
Manawatu	90.6FM
Kapiti Coast	91.1FM
Wellington	90.9FM & 93.5FM
Blenheim	90.5FM
Nelson	97.0FM
Christchurch/Canterbury	91.3FM & 89.2FM
South Canterbury	96.3FM
Dunedin	95.8FM
Southland	95.6FM

[edit] External links

• ZM Online
• Radio Network's Bio