Foveaux FM

Foveaux FM was a local radio station in Invercargill New Zealand that began operating in around 1981. The station was started by a group of investors as 4XF Foveaux Radio, the station began broadcasting on 1224 AM. In the late eighties the station was sold to Radio Otago and in 1991 Foveaux made the switch to FM when it began broadcasting on 89.2 FM and retained the AM frequency.

During the early nineties Foveaux was a popular choice for younger listeners playing the latest music and shows such as the Top 9 at 9, Foveaux also catered to older listeners by playing music from the 70's and 80's. Foveaux FM's main competitor was 4ZA, now branded as Classic Hits 98.8 ZAFM but with many network stations coming to Invercargill Foveaux was forced to adapt to a changing market. In 1997 Foveaux moved some of their talk shows such as Talkback with John Husband and Sports Comment and Opinion to play exclusively on the AM band while playing music on FM, this was in response to the arrival of ZM to Invercargill. These shows were axed years later. The AM frequency was also used in 2000 to broadcast coverage of Rugby games played by the Southland Stags NPC Rugby Team, while Foveaux could continue to play music to listeners on FM.

Foveaux was always a live and local station 24 hours a day however some specialist nationwide shows were played on the station over the years these included:

• The Other Top 40 (was on-air Saturdays in 1988)
• Coke Shake 30 Countdown (Saturday Afternoons 1992 – 1995)
• Power Jam Countdown (Saturday Afternoons 1995 – 1997)
• Keeping it Kiwi (Sunday 5PM 1994 – 2001)
• Counting the Beat (Sunday 10PM 1994 – 1997)
• Rock Your Radio (Sunday 11PM Kiwi Music Show) (1994–1997)
• Rick Dees Weekly Top 40 (Sunday Afternoon 2002)

The Foveaux FM night show, during the late nineties, was actually simulcast on Resort Radio in Queenstown. Resort Radio reverted back their own local programming during evenings around 1999.

Up until 1999 Foveaux was owned by Radio Otago this was until Radio Otago was sold to RadioWorks. In 2000 Foveaux changed its music format to an Adult Contemporary format this was after RadioWorks networked The Edge FM into Invercargill. The Top 9 at 9 was replaced by The Eighties at 8.

In November 2004 Canwest RadioWorks decided to rebrand many of their local heritage stations with the well known More FM brand name and then on the 15th January 2005 Foveaux FM became Southlands 89.2 More FM. The change also saw the station reduced to 13 hours a day of local programming when More FM introduced a networked night show and overnight show.

In October 2007 the original Foveaux Radio 1224AM frequency that had been continued to be used for the rebranded More FM station was reassigned to BSport. While BSport was launched as a rebranding of Radio Pacific the old Radio Pacific frequency was used to launch The Breeze into Southland.

Local programming on the rebranded More FM station was reduced further in 2007 with the weekend afternoon shows networked from 2pm. In 2009 the local drive show was replaced with a newly established networked drive show, this change affected most More FM stations across New Zealand. In April 2011 local programming was reduced again to 7 hours a day with most More FM stations taking a networked 1pm - 4pm show followed by a networked 4pm - 7pm show followed by the evening and overnight show.

Breakfast is hosted by Gretchen Blomfield and James McRobie as it has been since 2004, and former fill-in and Saturday morning host Daryl Shuttleworth now hosts the 10am-2pm show. Weekend schedules change weekly, and some of the hosts include Gretchen, James & Daryl, along with station manager Bruce Stewart, Tom Frankish, Kendall Smith and Jules Parker.

Announcers

Other early names include Jeff Nuth (Day 1 Brekky announcer) Lloyd Keown, Brian Neilson, Luke Terry, Chris Diack, Alan Davis, Mark Stallard, Geoff Baraclough, Juanita Rae, Larissa Kellet, Grant Millman, Malcolm Jordan, Karen Scott, Peter Wells, Rob Caig, John MacDonald, Jason MacDonald, Warren Filer, Dave Mahoney, Jim Healy, Mike Rehu