| Broadcast area | 20 markets in New Zealand |
|---|---|
| Slogan | Today's Hit Music |
| First air date | c.1973 |
| Format | Hit Music |
| Owner | The Radio Network |
| Webcast | Auckland Wellington Christchurch |
| Website | zmonline.com |
ZM (pronounced zed-em) is a New Zealand contemporary hit radio network owned by The Radio Network. It broadcasts 19 markets throughout mainland New Zealand via terrestrial FM, and worldwide via the Internet. The network targets the 15–39 demographic specialises in a chart-music playlist of pop, rock, hip hop and dance music. It reaches approximately 378,700 listeners weekly, making it the fourth largest commercial radio station in New Zealand.[1]
The ZM network as it is today was founded in the early 1970s as three separate commercial music stations owned by Radio New Zealand in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. The name is derived from the former callsigns of the stations: 1ZM, 2ZM and 3ZM – Z denoting a Radio New Zealand commercial station and M for Music. The stations were carved off to The Radio Network in 1996, and ZM spread across the country, originally as three separate networks before finally merging to form one nationwide network in 2009.
The network's head office and main studios are based in Auckland, where most of the programming is produced. The ZM Morning Crew breakfast show is a notable exception, being produced in Wellington. Each market produces its own advertisements and individual continuity.
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 over to 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 callsigns 1ZM was renamed, 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 rebranding the three YD stations in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch back to ZM and promoting them under the brand ZM Maxi Music.
| Market | Transmitter(s) | Frequency (MHz) |
|---|---|---|
| Whangarei | Parahaki | 94.8 |
| Auckland | Sky Tower | 91.0 |
| Waikato | Te Aroha | 89.8 |
| Bay of Plenty | Kopukairua | 89.4 |
| Rotorua | Pukepoto | 98.3 |
| Gisborne | Gisborne | 107.4[A] 107.7[A] |
| Taranaki | Mount Taranaki | 98.8 |
| Hawke's Bay | Mount Erin | 95.9 |
| Wanganui | Bastia Hill | 96.8 |
| Manawatu | Wharite | 90.6 |
| Wairarapa | Otahoua | 94.3 |
| Kapiti Coast | Forest Heights | 91.1 |
| Wellington | Kaukau Towai |
90.9 |
| Marlborough | Blenheim | 90.5 |
| Nelson | Grampians | 96.8 |
| Christchurch | Sugarloaf | 91.3 |
| Sumner[A] | 90.9[A] | |
| South Canterbury | Cave Hill | 96.3 |
| Dunedin | Mount Cargill | 95.8 |
| Southland | Hedgehope | 95.6 |
| A low-power station | ||
ZM made a return to the Auckland market in February 1997 as a local station broadcasting on 91.0 MHz. This move was made by The Radio Network after purchasing stations in Auckland and the Waikato owned by Prospect Media. TRN closed down Auckland station The Breeze on 91 and replaced this station with 91ZM. A similar move was made in the Waikato.
Today 91ZM is the hub of the ZM network with all programming except the breakfast show originating from these studios. Programming during the breakfast show is actually routed through the Auckland studios from Wellington to the rest of New Zealand. During 10am–3 pm the announcer will produce a localised show for Auckland with local voice breaks and then separate voice breaks for the rest of New Zealand. At other times all of New Zealand hears the same programming.
ZM was first started in 1969 after 2YD changed callsign to 2ZM. The first breakfast DJ (6 am to 9 am) was Stewart Macpherson, who had just returned from broadcasting in the UK with both the BBC and Radio Luxembourg. Using the show title 'Macphersonland', his innovations included introducing News Bulletins onto the station (despite management opposition), and a weekly published Top 40 chart available at leading music stores. The history of the original station 2YD dates back to 1937 and all this time both 2YD and 2ZM broadcast on 1130 kHz from Broadcasting House on Bowen Street in Wellington. In 1978 2ZM moved to 1161 kHz after the AM band spacing in New Zealand was adjusted from 10 kHz to 9 kHz.
Wellington's 2ZM was the first ZM station to broadcast on 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 to the Hutt Valley. Its AM frequency (1161 kHz) was reallocated to Maori station Te Upoko o Te Ika. During the late eighties ZMFM relocated its studio from Broadcasting House to Alder House (on the corner of Vivian and Victoria streets in Wellington).
In 1994 ZMFM Wellington became known as 91ZM sharing the same name that had been used in Christchurch, and the studios were relocated their current location on the corner of Taranaki and Abel Smith streets in Wellington. In March 2007, ZM altered its Hutt Valley frequency from 93.5 to 90.9, to form a synchronous transmission with the signal from Mt. Kaukau, also on 90.9. This meant that commuters no longer had to switch their radio dials between the two frequencies when driving between Wellington and the Hutt Valley. In June 2008, Easy Mix was networked on ZM's old 93.5 frequency.
During the 1980s announcers Pauline Gillespie, Grant Kereama and Nick Tansley all joined ZMFM Wellington, all three announcers were teamed up in the early nineties to present the breakfast show. This show was very successful and has been a number 1 rating show in Wellington since the nineties. In 2001 the Wellington breakfast show became the new nationwide breakfast, originally Wellington ran their own local news breaks on the half hour while the rest of the country used the Auckland based ZM Newsbeat Service. For the first year the ZM Morning Crew show ran from 6 am to 10 am in Wellington but finished an hour earlier in the rest of New Zealand this was so Polly, Nick and Grant could present the final hour of their show to a Wellington only audience. Outside breakfast programming remained local but between 2003 and 2009 local content was reduced to a point where now the breakfast show is the only show to come out of Wellington. Wellington did run their own local news service until 2006 when this was replaced with the networked Newsbeat.
ZM launched in Christchurch in 1973 on 1400 kHz as 3ZM. In a bid to compete against local Christchurch station Radio Avon 3ZM was rebranded as Radio Nova (coincidentally 'Avon' spelt backwards) playing an Easy Listening format similar to that of Radio i in Auckland. Listener interest was strong at first but later ratings dropped and the station was reverted back to 3ZM playing the same music format as that of 1ZM and 2ZM.[4] 3ZM later moved to 1323 kHz in 1978 after the AM band in New Zealand was changed from 10 kHz spacing to 9 kHz spacing.
3ZM switched to FM in 1986 broadcasting on 91.3 MHz and ceased broadcasting on AM 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 in the region. Originally when ZM in Christchurch was switching to FM they believed they would be broadcasting on 92.9 MHz and printed stickers with this frequency on it. They missed out on this frequency and broadcast on 91.3 MHz instead with 92.9 MHz being allocated to C93FM. The switch to FM saw the station branded as ZMFM using the same logo as ZMFM Wellington but in 1989 the name was changed to 91 Stereo ZM followed by 91ZM, Wellington kept the ZMFM name until 1994. A second frequency for 91ZM Christchurch was established in Sumner on 89.2 MHz, in 2009 this was adjusted to 90.9 MHz. Today the station is referred to as Canterbury's 91-3ZM.
ZM in Christchurch was originally a fully local station. The programme was also networked from Christchurch to Dunedin and Southland between 1996 and 2000. James Daniels and Ken Ellis were the breakfast hosts for much of the late eighties and until 1992 when both announcers were offered a large sum of money to work on new rival station 92 More FM. James and Ken's replacement was Simon Barnett and Phil Gifford this show also rated very well but after James and Ken left More FM both Si and Phil were offered a large sum of money to present the breakfast show on More FM. Simon Barnett remains with 92 More FM today. Si and Phils replacement was Rik Van Dijk, Katrina Smith and Chuckie Shearer. Unfortunately this show did not rate well enough for the management at ZM to justify keeping on the air when in 2001 a decision was made to close down the Christchurch studios and replace all local programming with networked shows. Local programming was reintroduced in 2005 but was limited to a local daytime show between 10 am and 3 pm and the show was dropped again in 2009.
93ZM started around 1995 as a totally local station broadcasting on 93.1 MHz. 93ZM became a network station after ZM made a return to Auckland with local voice breaks prerecorded in Auckland minutes earlier, however the breakfast show on 93ZM was networked from 89.8ZM in Hamilton between 1998 and 1999. In 2005 93ZM moved from 93.1 to 93.2 MHz and in 2006 93ZM traded places on the Northland radio dial with Radio Hauraki 93ZM shifted to 95.1 MHz and Hauraki took over ZM's vacated 93.2 MHz frequency. In 2010 ZM in Whangarei moved to 94.8 MHz as part of the government move to re-align radio frequencies around New Zealand.
ZM originally commenced transmission to Manawatu on 9 March 1987 on 90.6 MHz. 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 1997 when Classic Rock Q91FM (formerly 2 Double Q) reverted back to ZM (as 91ZM). The new ZM programme created in 1997 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.
96ZM Dunedin was the very first networked ZM station, the station began broadcasting on 95.8 MHz in June 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 95.6 MHz 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 sync. With the high amount of talk on the breakfast show breakfast was kept to a single show mostly tailored to the Christchurch audience.
ZM began broadcasting in the Waikato region around 1997 when The Radio Network acquired the 89.8 MHz 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 an 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. Originally 89.8ZM broadcast from Mt. Te Aroha with coverage reaching all of the Waikato and the Bay of Plenty, in the early 2000s this was changed to broadcasting from two separate transmitters allowing the Bay of Plenty listeners to hear local advertising and local information such as weather separate from the Waikato listeners but both stations remained on 89.8 MHz. In 2010 ZM in the Bay of Plenty moved to 89.4 MHz while Waikato remained on 89.8 MHz.
All other programming has always been networked from Auckland
ZM began broadcasting in Rotorua around 1998 on 98.3 MHz. This frequency had previously been used by a local rock station called Classic Rock 98.3FM. It was believed that programming on this station was originally local but later replaced with Auckland based programming.
ZM started in 1999 in the Hawke's Bay region on the frequency previously used by Greatest Hits FM96, Better Music 96FM, Classic Rock 96FM and later Radio Hauraki. The origins of this frequency date back to 1989 when a former local station 77ZK, converted to FM. 77ZK originally broadcast on 765 kHz and began life in 1977 as Apple Radio. 77ZK, FM96 and later Classic Rock 96FM all broadcast from studios in Hastings until the mid 1990s when operations were moved to Radio New Zealand's site in Napier. Classic Rock 96FM was rebranded as Radio Hauraki in July 1998, but after less than a year on air, Hauraki was replaced with 96ZM in March 1999. Radio Hauraki was eventually relaunched three months later on 99.9. 95.9ZM Hawkes Bay has always been based from Auckland, and until Dec 2010 had a relay station on 99.7 MHz in Wairoa which had been on air since 1989. On 1 Jan 2011, this transmitter switched to the Hawke's Bay Classic Hits FM programme.
ZM came to Taranaki in the late nineties broadcasting on 98.8 MHz 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.
ZM began broadcasting in Gisborne in 2002 and was operated under a franchise agreement between The Radio Network and local operator Gisborne Media Centre which at the time operated local stations 89FM and Gisborne City 96FM. Gisborne Media Centre was sold to RadioWorks (which ironically is the largest opposition to The Radio Network) and ZM continued to broadcast under the existing franchise agreement under 2006 when the agreement expired. At this time RadioWorks immediately took ZM off the air and put their competing station The Edge on this frequency. In order to keep ZM on the air in Gisborne The Radio Network relaunched the station on two low powered FM guard band frequencies (107.4 MHz and 107.7 MHz) due to no other frequencies being available in the region.
ZM came to Nelson in 2004 replacing a local station owned by The Radio Network The Planet 97FM. Originally The Planet was an independently owned station playing Hot AC music. In 2002 The Radio Network took over The Planet FM and changed the format to match that of ZM and even took on the ZM slogan Today's Hit Music and used similar jingles to ZM. In April 2004 The Planet 97FM became 97ZM with all content coming from the ZM network and The Planet shutting down completely.
ZM began broadcasting in Wanganui during the middle of 2004 and in Timaru in September 2004. Both stations are provided in these regions by the Community Radio Network.
ZM began broadcasting on its own frequency in the Kapiti region in 2004. The current 'Top of the Hour Station id' actually mentions the Wellington 90.9 frequency despite the two stations running different programmes during the day and different commercials on both stations. The strong signal of Wellington's 90.9 ZM can be picked up in southern parts of the Kapiti Coast.
The ZM Network began broadcasting in the Marlborough region in January 2007.
The ZM Network began broadcasting in the Wairarapa region in 2010.
In early December 2010, ZM relaunched its online stream as a new station, rather than relaying an existing station as it had done previously. It became the 20th ZM station to connect to the network in the same way regional markets do. This gave ZMonline its own imaging & commercial options.
Local ads, weather and traffic are removed from the online station (as these will be available on demand for every market inside the upcoming ZM iPhone app). At the moment through every second commercial break the station plays a song.
ZM have hinted that in the future they may have podcasts or unique content within the commercial breaks on the online stream.
Like most radio stations in New Zealand ZM originally featured news on the hour every hour oringally news was provided by the Radio New Zealand News Service, following the sale of the Radio New Zealand commercial service this became The Radio Network News Service. In 1997 ZM stations began reducing news breaks to only play on the breakfast show, this was at time when some radio stations began increasing the amount of music played in an hour and reducing talk. In 2000 ZM started their own news service called ZM Newsbeat.
The Newsbeat service has a beat in the background followed by a local weather forecast prerecorded from the Auckland studio for each individual region. The bulletins are sourced from the Newstalk ZB newsroom, and air half-hourly between 6 am-9 am weekdays with an update at midday, hourly 4 pm-6 pm weekdays, and hourly 7 am-noon during the weekend and public holidays. An exclusive Wellington edition of ZM Newsbeat was aired during the Morning Crew's show up until early 2006, when it was dropped for the national edition.
Traffic reports are read out on air from The Radio Network Auckland studios for larger regions in New Zealand such as Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Hamilton, Tauranga and Dunedin. Other stations play advertisements during these times. Wellington originally ran their own local traffic reports until 2006.
Weather is read out on weekdays following news bulletons, and airs on the hour between 7 am-6 pm during weekends. Individual weather reports are pre-recorded for each region and updated with each show. Since the Morning Crew are based in Wellington, they read out the Wellington weather live during the breakfast show, while the pre-recorded reports by the newsreader air over the rest of the network.
ZM and ZM announcers have won the following awards in recent years:
ZM has used the following slogans in the past:
c1985–c1988:
c1988–c1988:
c1988–c1990:
c1988–c1990:
1991–1994:
1991–1994:
1994–1997:
1997–present:
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