Newstalk ZB
 | |
| Broadcast area | New Zealand |
|---|---|
| Frequency | List available below |
| Format | News and talk |
| Owner | The Radio Network |
| Webcast |
Auckland Wellington Christchurch |
| Website | www.newstalkzb.co.nz |
Newstalk ZB is a nationwide New Zealand talk radio network operated by The Radio Network of New Zealand (TRN). It is available in almost every radio market in the country, and has news reporters based in many of them. In addition to talkback, the network also broadcasts news, interviews, music, and sports (sometimes in partnership with its sister network Radio Sport).
Most of the network's programming is produced in Auckland, in the Radio Network building on the corner of Cook & Nelson Streets. Wellington and Christchurch produce some local programming and most markets produce their own local news and weather updates.
History
Newstalk ZB started in 1987 when Auckland's 1ZB changed to a talkback format and was originally known as Newstalk 1ZB. During the late eighties and early nineties Radio New Zealand switched many of their local heritage stations to FM but retained the AM frequency in each region running the same programme on both frequencies, however some stations ran separate programmes at certain times(such as talk shows) on the AM frequency. In 1993 and 1994 the local station in each region was rebranded with the Classic Hits name and the AM frequency was used to roll out Newstalk ZB across New Zealand. In Christchurch and Wellington local stations 2ZB and 3ZB changed to a talk format around 1991 and new local stations Goodtime Oldies B90 FM (Wellington) and Goodtime Oldies B98 FM were created. Around 1994 2ZB and 3ZB were rebranded as Newstalk ZB retaining local announcers at first but in recent years as local announcers have left shows have been replaced with network shows. Wellington and Christchurch still have a local show in the mornings between 9 am and 12 pm. In February 1993, in Auckland, Newstalk ZB began broadcasting on 89.4 FM as well as the original 1080 AM when local station 89X (formerly 89FM) ceased to operate, Radio New Zealand purchased this station a year earlier and chose to close it down and use the frequency for Newstalk ZB. The Newstalk ZB nationwide 0800 number (0800 80 10 80) actually comes from the original 1080AM frequency in Auckland that is still in use today.
In 1996 Radio New Zealand sold their commercial operation and Newstalk ZB, along with Classic Hits and ZM, became part of The Radio Network.
Programmes
Newstalk ZB's talk radio format has been established over a number of years, and its schedule has remained consistently successful, and hence fairly unchanged, since a major relaunch in 1987.
Breakfast
Breakfast on Newstalk ZB is presented by Mike Hosking. The show is made up of news, interviews, commentary, reports and occasionally talkback.
At other times, the show features interviews with the day's newsmakers, guests or Newstalk ZB reporters, as well as Hosking regularly providing comment on the day's issues or happenings.
The show provides news updates every half hour presented by Bernadine Oliver-Kerby and sports updates with Matt Brown. On the half hour, many local markets air a local news segment during a window between national news and sport, and each market broadcasts a local weather forecast. Larger towns also provide traffic reports during the show. Newstalk ZB's stations in Christchurch and Wellington both provide full local bulletins, instead of airing the network bulletins. In Christchurch, local news bulletins are presented by Jo Scott with sport from Brian Ashby, and Katrina Bennett and Jason Pine (sport) present local bulletins in Wellington.
Newstalk ZB's breakfast show has historically had a well-established reputation for news, and has been top-rating for a number of years. Mike Hosking took on the role of breakfast announcer at the start of 2009, taking over the reign of Paul Holmes who presented the show since 1987. The show has consistently remained the highest-rating breakfast programme on commercial radio in New Zealand. Paul Holmes remained with Newstalk ZB presenting Saturday mornings, but had to resign at the end of 2012 due to his ailing health after already taking an extended period of leave. From 12 January 2013 he will be replaced by TVNZ US Correspondent and popular journalist Jack Tame, who will broadcast the show from New York.
Until the end of 2008, Christchurch opted out of the nationwide breakfast show, presenting their own local breakfast with John Dunne and Ken Ellis, which topped the ratings regularly. Wellington also aired a local breakfast show, presented by Lindsay Yeo, however this was replaced with the network show in the mid-1990s.
Mornings
The morning slot on Newstalk ZB is primarily news-related talkback, with some interviews with newsmakers and regular guests. Most stations broadcast a talkback programme with host Leighton Smith.
During this timeslot Wellington broadcasts a programme with Tim Fookes, and Christchurch broadcasts a local talkback show hosted by Chris Lynch. The Christchurch show, then hosted by Ali Jones, was dropped at the end of 2009 and replaced with the network show. After much complaint from listeners and a major drop in listeners The Radio Network decided to bring back a local show to Christchurch. The new show was initially hosted by Yardley who had hosted the same show on the station in the past, but left in November 2012 and was replaced by former TVNZ Close Up producer Chris Lynch as of January 2013.[1]
Afternoons
During the afternoons, between 12:00 pm and 4:00 pm, Danny Watson presents a talkback programme that also includes regular special interest discussions with specialist journalists. Some regions opt out of this show between 12:00 pm and 1:00 pm and instead broadcast The Farming Show, which is produced by TRN's Dunedin studios. These regions are Alexandra, Gisborne, Oamaru, Queenstown, Tokoroa, Wairarapa and Wanaka.
Williams Drive
For three hours between 4:00 pm and 7:00 pm Larry Williams presents a programme on current affairs commentary. There are brief updates of news, local news, sports, weather and traffic every twenty minutes, with longer news updates every hour. Williams also interviews political editor Barry Soper, and offers personal commentary on news issues. Between 6pm and 7pm Larry Williams concentrates on Business matters. Williams political commentary leans to the right of the New Zealand political spectrum.
Evenings
The evening timeslot on Newstalk ZB is almost entirely dedicated to talkback. Between 7:00 pm and 8:00 pm, Sportstalk with Murray Deaker on Mondays & Tuesdays, and Mark Watson on Wednesday - Friday, presents an hour of sports-related talkback, simulcast live on Radio Sport. Between 8:00 pm and 12:00 am, the network broadcasts four hours of nationwide talkback, hosted by Kerre McIvor - nee Woodham from Monday to Thursday evenings. On Fridays from 8pm til midnight, a Friday Night edition of Tim Roxborogh and Pam Corkery's radio show 'The Two' airs. Previously Bruce Russell hosted a Friday night talkback show.
Overnight
The daily 00:00 to 0500 am timeslot features talkback on current affairs, music and hourly news, sports and weather updates. On Saturday the Super Sport Saturday programme airs. Sundays feature a garage sale programme, where listeners can phone in to advertise a possession for sale with a contact phone number. Both the 5½ hour talkback show and ½ hour Garage Sale programme have a heavy reliance on audience participation. The overnight radio programme is hosted by Bruce Russell, who is also a newsreader for The Radio Network, on Monday, Tuesday and Friday mornings; Tim Roxborogh hosts Wednesday, Thursday and Miles Davis hosts Saturdays; and Gary Denvir hosts Sunday. Previous hosts included Pat Brittenden, Alf Rose, John Peachey, Noelle McCarthy and James King. A new show hosted by Rachel Smalley airs from 5 to 6am every Monday to Friday morning excluding public holidays, sponsored by KPMG.
Weekends and Holidays
Weekend and public holiday programming on Newstalk ZB is based around lifestyle features, sports coverage and music.
The All Sports breakfast from 6:00 am till 9:00 am on Saturdays encompasses a Garage Sale segment for the first half hour, and then features on Local sport, sports panels, and interviews with Athletes and sports journalists. The All Sports Breakfast has local versions in many regions, the Auckland version with Nigel Yalden is simulcast in regions that do not have a local version. Christchurch's version is hosted by Leslie Murdoch & Craig Kerr, and the Dunedin version is hoted by Steve Davie.
From 6:00 am till 7:00 am on Sundays, a 'best of' show is played, with highlights of the Mike Hosking breakfast between 6:00 am and 6:30 am, and Highlights of the Leighton Smith show, or Local morning shows in Wellington and Christchurch, between 6:30 am and 7:00 am done by morning hosts during the week.
Between 7:00 am and 8:00 am on Sundays, Ruud Kleinpaste, presents an hour-long gardening talkback programme called Ruud's Awakening.
Between 8:00 am and 9:00 am on Sundays, Tony Veitch hosts The Sports Power Hour, which has his and others' commentary on the weekend sport so far.
Saturday and Sunday mornings are dominated by discussions on hobbies and personal life. Jack Tame presents the Saturday Morning Programme between 9:00 am and 12:00 pm throughout New Zealand, except Wellington which broadcasts 'Wellington on Saturday' sometimes known as 'The Great Weekender', The show had previously been hosted by Garry Ward for 26 years. The history of this show dates back to 1983 on Wellington's 2ZB and all this time had been hosted by Garry Ward, Ward died suddenly on 17 September 2009. His replacement was later announced as former Weekday Morning host in Wellington Justin du Fresne. Andrew Dickens presents a similar programme called Andrew Dickens' Sunday Café, at the same time on Sunday morning, all shows featuring interviews and sponsored regular guests segments.
Tony Veitch presents Vietchy on Saturday, a combination of live sports updates and commentary and sports-related talkback. The programme, which is usually simulcast on Radio Sport, includes interviews with major New Zealand sports people. Wellington breaks out for a local Scoreboard show hosted by Daniel McHardy, focussing on local sports issues like the Wellington Phoenix and local club sport updates. For over 40 years, Christchurch also broadcast a Scoreboard show for its region, hosted by Malcolm Ellis for over 15 years, however the Christchurch show was discontinued at the end of 2009 due to cost-cutting by The Radio Network and now takes Veitch's show with local breakouts three times an hour. Murray Deaker presents a show for the network on Sunday afternoons with a similar format to Saturday Scoreboard, called Deaker on Sunday. (Deaker hosted his last show - 22 December 2013 as he has retired)
On Saturday evenings, Bruce Russell hosts a music-and-memories show called In My Day from 6pm until midnight. Previously, Jim Sutton hosted Nostalgia, a show that showcased music from yesteryear. The Saturday Night Nostalgia show was retired on Saturday 13 April 2013.
During Sunday evenings, a new show hosted by Sam Bloore and Jax van Buure, Total Recall, airs from 6pm to 7.30pm. This is followed by John Cowan's 'Real Life' programme, featuring one well known/successful person each week being interviewed by Cowan about their lives. Tim Roxborogh and Pam Corkery host The Two from 8pm until 11pm. This is followed by Mike King's talkshow The Nutters Club, until 1am on Monday.
During the Christmas and New Year holiday season, the schedule changes, with a single nationwide breakfast show running from 6 am until 9 am, usually hosted by newsreader and fill-in host Tim Dower, followed by a morning shift from 9am until 1pm and an afternoon shift until 6pm. This is followed by a 6 hour evening shift until midnight. The mornings, afternoon and evening shifts during this time are devoted almost entirely to talkback.
On standalone public Holidays Such as ANZAC day, Queen's Birthday or Labour day a format similar to a normal weekend day is broadcast, with The All Sports Breakfast, a personal life/hobbies show usually hosted by Wendyl Nissen, either afternoon talkback or Scoreboard and Nostalgia with Jim Sutton in the evening.
Christchurch Earthquake programming
Following the Christchurch earthquake on 4 September 2010 and the major aftershock on 22 February 2011 programming in Christchurch was greatly affected. After both earthquakes the station broadcast in place of other radio stations in Christchurch operated by The Radio Network, the local studios located in Worcester Street in Christchurch were evacuated. Local news services in Christchurch were replaced temporarily with the network news feed which mostly contained news stories related to the quake heard by all of New Zealand. Local news readers reported news about the quake for all of New Zealand. The local morning show remained on the air but was broadcast from a temporary location and following the first earthquake this was at the Whitebait Studios in Christchurch and after the earthquake in February from a hotel in Christchurch. After the February 2011 earthquake The Radio Network Christchurch never returned to their Worcester Street premises and eventually setup in a new location. The building was taken down in August 2012 as the only ever known implosion of a building in New Zealand.
Hosts
Current Hosts
Mike Hosking Breakfast
- Mike Hosking
- Susan Wood (Substitute)
Mornings
- Leighton Smith (Auckland)
- Tim Fookes (Wellington)
- Chris Lynch (Canterbury)
- Mike Yardley (Substitute)
Danny Watson Afternoons
- Danny Watson
Larry Williams Drive
- Larry Williams
- Susan Wood (Substitute)
Sportstalk
- Mark Watson
- Peter Montgomery
Kerre McIvor Nights
- Kerre McIvor (Monday – Thursday)
- Tim Dower (Substitute)
- Carly Flynn (Substitute)
- Raybon Kan (Substitute)
Overnights/
- Bruce Russell (Monday, Tuesday, Friday)
- Tim Roxborogh (Wednesday – Thursday)
- Miles Davis (Saturday)
- Gary Denvir (Sunday)
- Craig Lord (Substitute)
- Peter Wolfkamp (Substitute)
- Tim Dower (Substitute)
All Sports Breakfast
- Nigel Yalden
Saturday Mornings
- Jack Tame
Veitch on Saturday
In My Day
- Bruce Russell
Sunday Breakfast
- Ruud Kleinpaste (Ruud's Awakening)
Sunday Café
- Andrew Dickens
- Wendyl Nissen (Substitute)
Deaker on Sunday
Total Recall
- Sam Bloore
- Jax van Buuren
Real Life
- John Cowan
The Two
- Pam Corkery
- Tim Roxborogh
The Nutters Club
Former Hosts
Breakfast
- Paul Holmes
Mornings
- Ali Jones (Christchurch, -2009)
- Sean Plunket (Wellington)
Afternoons
- Chris Carter
Overnights
- James King
- Noelle McCarthy
- Nick Robinson (-2010)
- John Peachey
- Pat Brittenden
- Alf Rose
Saturday Mornings
- Paul Holmes
- Justin du Fresne (Wellington)
Saturday Scoreboard
- Willie Lose
Deaker on Sunday
Murray Deaker (last show - 22 December 2013)
Nostalgia
Sunday Nights
- Oliver Driver (Almost Monday)
- Petra Bagust (Sunday Sunday)
- Pat Brittenden (Sunday Sunday, Pat Brittenden on Sunday Night)
Management
The manager of Newstalk ZB is Dallas Gurney. He is also the manager of sister station Radio Sport and as such is editor-in-chief of news and sport for The Radio Network.
Newstalk ZB News Centre
Newstalk ZB operates one of the largest news operations in New Zealand, with over 50 newsreaders, reporters and editors nationwide. The four main news hubs are in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Parliament, along with regional newsrooms in Whangarei, Hamilton, Tauranga, Rotorua, Taupo, New Plymouth, Napier, Palmerston North, Nelson, Dunedin and Invercargill.
The Auckland news centre produces live bulletins for the national Newstalk ZB network, as well as local Auckland bulletins at breakfast time. Welington and Christchurch both broadcast live local news bulletins during the breakfast show. The remainder of Newstalk ZB's markets air the live network bulletins, however the regional newsrooms around the country provide each station with local news segments during the breakfast show.
Network weekday newsreaders include Bernadine Oliver-Kerby (Breakfast), Malcolm Jordan (Mornings), Niva Retimanu (Afternoons), Rachel Jackson-Lees (Evenings/Overnights). Weekend and fill-in newsreaders include Joe Gilfillan, Tim Dower, Bruce Russell, Julie Moffat, Eric Young and Freda Wylie. Sports newsreaders include Matt Brown, Rikki Swannell, Andrew Alderson, Brenton Vannissleroy, Guy Heveldt, Andy Rowe and Elliott Smith.
The Newstalk ZB Affiliates Unit is based in the Auckland newsroom, and records a variety of hourly bulletins for other stations of The Radio Network and sells its bulletins to a number of external clients including Radio 1XX - One Double-X in Whakatane & The Eastern Bay Of Plenty. Nina Burton presents these bulletins during weekday mornings, with Rachel Jackson-Lees presenting drivetime bulletins. At all other times the main Newstalk ZB Network newsreader also records the Affiliates bulletins. On the internet, The Affiliates Unit also provides a continuously-updated wire service of text articles and streaming audio of Newstalk ZB's stories for websites such as XtraMSN, TelstraClear, NZ City and the New Zealand Rugby Union.
Newstalk ZB also supplies a news wire service to Prime TV, Sky TV and TVNZ.
Timesaver Traffic
Newstalk ZB also operates its own Timesaver Traffic Centre, which produces and records traffic information to all stations in The Radio Network. The centre in Auckland records reports for 6 different areas around the country - Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin. All of The Radio Network's stations in these markets air these reports every 15 minutes during peak times(breakfast & drive), with Newstalk ZB and Classic Hits airing reports hourly right throughout the day and weekends.
During weekends and public holidays, the Timesaver Traffic Team also record a 30-second "Weatherwatch" forecast for each of TRN's 26 markets across the country. Some markets choose to use these tracks for the local Newstalk ZB forecast, and other stations such as Easy Mix and Radio Sport use these forecasts and network them by satellite to play simultaneously in each market on the station.
Frequencies
- Kaitaia - 1026 AM
- Kaikohe - 1215 AM
- Whangarei - 1026 AM
- Auckland - 89.4 FM, 1080 AM
- Waikato - 97 FM, 1296 AM
- Tokoroa - 1413 AM
- Bay of Plenty - 90.2 FM, 1008 AM
- Rotorua - 747 AM
- Gisborne - 945 AM
- Taupo - 96.0 FM
- New Plymouth - 96.4 FM, 1053 AM
- Stratford/Hawera - 96.4 FM, 1323 AM
- Hawke's Bay - 90.3 FM, 1278 AM
- Wanganui - 1197 AM
- Manawatu - 100.2 FM, 927 AM
- Wairarapa - 846 AM
- Kapiti Coast - 89.5 FM
- Wellington - 89.3 FM, 1035 AM
- Blenheim - 92.1 FM
- Nelson - 1341 AM
- Westport - 1287 AM
- Greymouth - 98.7 FM
- Christchurch - 100.1 FM, 1098 AM
- Ashburton - 98.1 FM, 873 AM
- Timaru - 1152 AM
- Oamaru - 1395 AM
- Dunedin - 1044 AM
- Alexandra - 95.1 FM
- Queenstown - 89.6 FM
- Wanaka - 90.6 FM
- Southland - 864 AM
References
External links
- Newstalk ZB website
- Newstalk ZB's Facebook page
- Newstalk ZB's Twitter
- Radio Network's information site About Newstalk ZB
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