Hokonui (radio network)

Hokonui

Broadcast area	Southland/Mid-Canterbury/South Taranaki
Slogan	"One Great Song After The Other" & "The Sound of The South"
Frequency	94.8 FM Southland, 91.3 FM South Otago, 92.5 & 96.5 FM Ashburton, 1485 AM Twizel, 1557 AM Hawera
First air date	1994
Format	Adult Contemporary
Callsign meaning	4ZG
Owner	Independent but operated by NZME

Hokonui (previously known as Hokonui Gold) is an Adult Contemporary radio station that is based in Gore, New Zealand and broadcasting across Southland, South Otago, Mid Canterbury and South Taranaki. It is the host broadcaster of The Farming Show with Jamie McKay.

History

The station was formerly known as 4ZG or Radio Hokonui, which broadcast on 558 AM and was operated by Radio New Zealand. 4ZG was first started in 1981 and the station was used in the evenings to broadcast the Concert Programme until 1990 when Concert FM began broadcasting on its own frequency in Southland. Overnight during the 1980s the station carried the ZM All Nighter from the 1ZM studios in Auckland. In 1992 4ZG was reduced to just 4 hours a day of programming and outside this time a simulcast of 4ZA was played. In the eyes of many this change seemed the station was dying of a slow and painful death so as a result two locals purchased the station. In 1994 4ZG became Hokonui Gold and reverted to being live and local.

In 1996 Hokonui Gold made the move to FM when it began broadcasting on 92.4 (Forest Hill) and 94.8 (High Peak) but with a lack of FM Stereo sound found on most FM Stations. The 558 AM frequency was taken over by The Radio Network and was first used as a second frequency for Classic Hits ZAFM but later this frequency was used for Radio Sport. Over the years Hokonui Gold continued to operate independently and competed well against many new network stations that arrived in Southland during the late 1990s. Hokonui Gold prided themselves on being a local station and once published advertisements stating We believe Auckland radio should stay in Auckland and Our bosses don't live in Canada or Ireland, emphasizing the fact the station is locally owned and operated.

In 2004 the station was leased back to The Radio Network, the successor to Radio New Zealand's commercial operations. Despite this change Hokonui Gold still remained live and local but now uses Newstalk ZB news service and The Radio Network advertising. One of the most popular shows on Hokonui Gold is The Farming Show and this show is now played on Newstalk ZB in rural areas and across all of New Zealand on Radio Sport the show is now produced from the Radio Network studios in Dunedin. In 2005 both frequencies were moved to Hedgehope and the 92.4 FM frequency reassigned to Coast. In 2006 spot coverage to West Otago was established on 95.2 FM High Peak.

Station Line Up

All other times the station plays non stop music (No announcer). The station still has news on the hour including evenings and pre-recorded weather forecasts, one each for the Southland, South Otago & Mid Canterbury stations fed through from Newstalk ZB.

Stations

Southland

Hokonui (Gold) secured a major coup picking up popular Southland radio broadcaster Carl Mills (or "Millsy") as their new breakfast host from Southland's 89.2 More FM, after he was dumped from his timeslot of 2-7pm in favour of a network show and moved into production and occasional announcing. His tenure as breakfast host began on 18 January 2010, however ended in January 2012 for personal reasons. He was replaced by well-known Invercargill personality and former afternoon host Craig "Wal" Waddell. Millsy continued on the station as the host of the pre-recorded afternoon show from Invercargill, however left altogether after Brad Richards replaced Craig "Wal" Waddell as breakfast host, and Wal returned to his afternoon slot.

In May 2012 Hokonui Gold simply became Hokonui. This was part of a rebrand exercise which included new station imaging, logo along with a shift to a contemporary country music format. The format change was not well received by many listeners and by July the format was reverted to an adult contemporary format.^[1]

South Otago

As part of the changes Hokonui Gold's sister station Radio Clutha was also rebranded to Hokonui 91.3 but retained its breakfast show. Radio Clutha itself used to receive its programming outside of breakfast from Hokonui Gold but retained its own continuity and commercials. The station today continues to produce its own local continuity, commercials and weather forecasts are fed through from either Newstalk ZB Dunedin or Newstalk ZB Auckland. In 2013 the South Otago breakfast was dropped and simply replaced with the Gore based breakfast show.

Ashburton

Hokonui was expanded into Ashburton in July 2014 broadcasting on 92.5FM and 96.5FM. These frequencies were previously used by recently re-branded TRN station The Hits 92.5 (formally Classic Hits 92.5) however listener demand and the loss of a local breakfast show prompted the decision to expand the Hokonui brand into the market. Phil Hooper at the time the day announcer for The Hits and the previous breakfast host of Classic Hits was reinstated in the breakfast slot for Hokonui in Ashburton.

External links

• Hokonui Website
• Hokonui Farming Show

References

1. ↑ http://www.facebook.com/Hokonui