Radio Hauraki
Encyclopedia
Radio Hauraki is a New Zealand
radio network
, specialising in album-oriented rock
and classic rock
. It was the first private commercial radio station of the modern broadcasting era in New Zealand and operated illegally from 1966-1970 to break the monopoly held by the government. Private commercial radio stations had operated from the earliest days of broadcasting, but the government began to close them down, the process accelerating after World War II. To break the state monopoly, Radio Hauraki was originally formed as a pirate station
in the Hauraki Gulf
, the only offshore radio
station ever to broadcast in the southern hemisphere
, in a famous and historic story that saw the loss of one life.
Radio Hauraki's head office and main studios are now located on the corner of Cook and Nelson Streets in Auckland City
, along with the other seven stations of The Radio Network
,
outside the 3-mile territorial waters limit, despite government efforts to stop it from sailing. The station broadcast on the frequency of 1480 kHz, which was well outside the range of frequencies used by the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation
. After testing the transmitter with a broadcast from pirate announcer Bob Leahy
, and having to replace the mast after winds of more than 30 knots knocked it down, Radio Hauraki officially started broadcasting on 4 December 1966. During the next 2 years, the crew on the Tiri would endure adverse weather conditions, fatigue, and continued efforts to shut down the station.
On 28 January 1968 disaster struck as the Tiri attempted to negotiate its way into Whangaparapara Harbour on Great Barrier Island
in foul weather. The ship ran aground on rocks, with Radio Hauraki disc jockey Derek King keeping listeners up-to-date with running commentary. The final broadcast from the Tiri was "Hauraki News: Hauraki crew is abandoning ship. This is Paul Lineham aboard the 'Tiri'. Good Night." followed by a station jingle, and then the sound of the ship's hull striking the rocks. The "Tiri" was later towed back to Auckland
and the broadcasting equipment was salvaged. However, the Tiri herself was beyond repair and was replaced four days later by the Kapuni, christened Tiri II by her new crew. A month after the loss of the Tiri, Radio Hauraki was back in international waters and broadcasting again.
In April of the same year Tiri II found herself beached again at Whangaparapara Harbour, a victim of the same storm that would result in the tragic Wahine disaster
. After repairs she was back at sea in five days. Between this time and June 1968, Tiri II would end up beached at Uretiti Beach and caught several times broadcasting from New Zealand waters by radio inspectors. Just before Christmas 1968, Radio Hauraki became New Zealand's first 24 hour broadcasting radio station.
Radio Hauraki was not live radio. The studios were land based and most programs were recorded on reel-to-reel tapes in 1/2 hour segments exactly one week prior to their broadcast. This meant that while contests, current top tunes, etc could be accommodated, news and weather were more of a challenge.
In mid-1970, the state monopoly on radio frequencies was broken, with the New Zealand Broadcasting Authority finally allowing Radio Hauraki to broadcast on land, legally. The Radio Hauraki crew had spent 1,111 days at sea. The final broadcast from the seabound Hauraki Pirates was a documentary on the station's history until that point, finishing at 10:00 pm when Tiri II turned and headed for Auckland playing "Born Free" continually. During their final voyage back to shore, announcer Rick Grant was lost overboard.
Radio Hauraki began FM transmission in 1990 on 99.0FM, and the 1480 kHz frequency was subsequently acquired by a local community group to broadcast the BBC World Service
.
During the late nineties Radio Hauraki was networked into other regions around the North Island of New Zealand and in 2003 Radio Hauraki was networked into the South Island in Christchurch, Dunedin and Invercargill.
Veteran pirate announcer Bob Leahy
remained a newsreader for The Radio Network
right up until 2009, which saw him remain on-air on Radio Hauraki some 40 years after he helped begin the station.
becoming a radio network
broadcasting across New Zealand. The station is now a far cry from its 1970s-1980s heyday. Reconfigured to the 25-50 male market, it plays mostly classic rock
, with some more recent modern rock
mixed in. A new on-air line-up was revealed in October 2010 including the addition of controversial host Stables
and former The Rock
morning presenter Nick Trott. The new format includes new branding as "Real Rock", and more new rock added to the playlist. Stables however never made it on air to Radio Hauraki as The Radio Network terminated his contract after Stables was involved in a fracas with a JetStar employee. He has since been replaced by former bFM
radio host Matt Heath, who will begin on the 31st January 2011.
"Radio Hauraki: Home of the good guys"
"Just great rock"
"Here to rock, not to shock"
"Classic rock that rocks"
"New Zealand's real rock station"
"Rocking the Boat for 40 years"
"Rock gone soft? Harden Up!"
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
radio network
Radio network
There are two types of radio networks currently in use around the world: the one-to-many broadcast type commonly used for public information and mass media entertainment; and the two-way type used more commonly for public safety and public services such as police, fire, taxicabs, and delivery...
, specialising in album-oriented rock
Album-oriented rock
Album-oriented rock is an American FM radio format focusing on album tracks by rock artists.-Music played:Most radio formats are based on a select, tight rotation of hit singles...
and classic rock
Classic rock
Classic rock is a radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format features music ranging generally from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, primarily focusing on the hard rock genre that peaked in popularity in the...
. It was the first private commercial radio station of the modern broadcasting era in New Zealand and operated illegally from 1966-1970 to break the monopoly held by the government. Private commercial radio stations had operated from the earliest days of broadcasting, but the government began to close them down, the process accelerating after World War II. To break the state monopoly, Radio Hauraki was originally formed as a pirate station
Pirate radio
Pirate radio is illegal or unregulated radio transmission. The term is most commonly used to describe illegal broadcasting for entertainment or political purposes, but is also sometimes used for illegal two-way radio operation...
in the Hauraki Gulf
Hauraki Gulf
The Hauraki Gulf is a coastal feature of the North Island of New Zealand. It has a total area of 4000 km², and lies between the Auckland Region, the Hauraki Plains, the Coromandel Peninsula and Great Barrier Island...
, the only offshore radio
Offshore radio
Offshore radio is radio broadcasting from ships or fixed maritime structures, usually in international waters. The claimed first wireless broadcast of music and speech for the purpose of entertainment was transmitted from a Royal Naval craft, the HMS Andromeda, in 1907...
station ever to broadcast in the southern hemisphere
Southern Hemisphere
The Southern Hemisphere is the part of Earth that lies south of the equator. The word hemisphere literally means 'half ball' or "half sphere"...
, in a famous and historic story that saw the loss of one life.
Radio Hauraki's head office and main studios are now located on the corner of Cook and Nelson Streets in Auckland City
Auckland City
Auckland City was the city and local authority covering the Auckland isthmus and most of the islands of the Hauraki Gulf, in the North Island of New Zealand. On 1 November 2010 it was amalgamated into the wider Auckland Region under the authority of the new Auckland Council...
, along with the other seven stations of The Radio Network
The Radio Network
The Radio Network is the wholly owned New Zealand division of radio company Australian Radio Network, a partnership of Clear Channel and APN News & Media. It is the owner and operator of the Newstalk ZB News service and nationwide Newstalk ZB, Classic Hits, ZM, Coast, Hauraki, Easy Mix, Flava and...
,
History
In late 1966, the Tiri, the boat chosen to carry the transmitter, anchored in the Hauraki GulfHauraki Gulf
The Hauraki Gulf is a coastal feature of the North Island of New Zealand. It has a total area of 4000 km², and lies between the Auckland Region, the Hauraki Plains, the Coromandel Peninsula and Great Barrier Island...
outside the 3-mile territorial waters limit, despite government efforts to stop it from sailing. The station broadcast on the frequency of 1480 kHz, which was well outside the range of frequencies used by the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation
New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation
The New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation was established by the New Zealand government in 1962. It was dissolved on 1 April 1975, and replaced by three separate organisations: Radio New Zealand, Television One, and Television Two, later known as South Pacific Television....
. After testing the transmitter with a broadcast from pirate announcer Bob Leahy
Bob Leahy (broadcaster)
Bob Leahy is a New Zealand radio and television broadcaster.He started broadcasting with pirate radio station Radio Hauraki, on its first day of transmission, in 1966, in a pocket of international water, within New Zealand's Hauraki Gulf....
, and having to replace the mast after winds of more than 30 knots knocked it down, Radio Hauraki officially started broadcasting on 4 December 1966. During the next 2 years, the crew on the Tiri would endure adverse weather conditions, fatigue, and continued efforts to shut down the station.
On 28 January 1968 disaster struck as the Tiri attempted to negotiate its way into Whangaparapara Harbour on Great Barrier Island
Great Barrier Island
Great Barrier Island is a large island of New Zealand, situated to the north-east of central Auckland in the outer Hauraki Gulf. With an area of it is the fourth-largest island of New Zealand's main chain of islands, with its highest point, Mount Hobson, rising...
in foul weather. The ship ran aground on rocks, with Radio Hauraki disc jockey Derek King keeping listeners up-to-date with running commentary. The final broadcast from the Tiri was "Hauraki News: Hauraki crew is abandoning ship. This is Paul Lineham aboard the 'Tiri'. Good Night." followed by a station jingle, and then the sound of the ship's hull striking the rocks. The "Tiri" was later towed back to Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
and the broadcasting equipment was salvaged. However, the Tiri herself was beyond repair and was replaced four days later by the Kapuni, christened Tiri II by her new crew. A month after the loss of the Tiri, Radio Hauraki was back in international waters and broadcasting again.
In April of the same year Tiri II found herself beached again at Whangaparapara Harbour, a victim of the same storm that would result in the tragic Wahine disaster
Wahine disaster
The Wahine disaster occurred on 10 April 1968 when the TEV Wahine, a New Zealand inter-island ferry of the Union Company, foundered on Barrett Reef at the entrance to Wellington Harbour and capsized near Steeple Rock...
. After repairs she was back at sea in five days. Between this time and June 1968, Tiri II would end up beached at Uretiti Beach and caught several times broadcasting from New Zealand waters by radio inspectors. Just before Christmas 1968, Radio Hauraki became New Zealand's first 24 hour broadcasting radio station.
Radio Hauraki was not live radio. The studios were land based and most programs were recorded on reel-to-reel tapes in 1/2 hour segments exactly one week prior to their broadcast. This meant that while contests, current top tunes, etc could be accommodated, news and weather were more of a challenge.
In mid-1970, the state monopoly on radio frequencies was broken, with the New Zealand Broadcasting Authority finally allowing Radio Hauraki to broadcast on land, legally. The Radio Hauraki crew had spent 1,111 days at sea. The final broadcast from the seabound Hauraki Pirates was a documentary on the station's history until that point, finishing at 10:00 pm when Tiri II turned and headed for Auckland playing "Born Free" continually. During their final voyage back to shore, announcer Rick Grant was lost overboard.
Radio Hauraki began FM transmission in 1990 on 99.0FM, and the 1480 kHz frequency was subsequently acquired by a local community group to broadcast the BBC World Service
BBC World Service
The BBC World Service is the world's largest international broadcaster, broadcasting in 27 languages to many parts of the world via analogue and digital shortwave, internet streaming and podcasting, satellite, FM and MW relays...
.
During the late nineties Radio Hauraki was networked into other regions around the North Island of New Zealand and in 2003 Radio Hauraki was networked into the South Island in Christchurch, Dunedin and Invercargill.
Veteran pirate announcer Bob Leahy
Bob Leahy (broadcaster)
Bob Leahy is a New Zealand radio and television broadcaster.He started broadcasting with pirate radio station Radio Hauraki, on its first day of transmission, in 1966, in a pocket of international water, within New Zealand's Hauraki Gulf....
remained a newsreader for The Radio Network
The Radio Network
The Radio Network is the wholly owned New Zealand division of radio company Australian Radio Network, a partnership of Clear Channel and APN News & Media. It is the owner and operator of the Newstalk ZB News service and nationwide Newstalk ZB, Classic Hits, ZM, Coast, Hauraki, Easy Mix, Flava and...
right up until 2009, which saw him remain on-air on Radio Hauraki some 40 years after he helped begin the station.
Radio Hauraki now
After several changes in ownership Radio Hauraki is now operated by The Radio NetworkThe Radio Network
The Radio Network is the wholly owned New Zealand division of radio company Australian Radio Network, a partnership of Clear Channel and APN News & Media. It is the owner and operator of the Newstalk ZB News service and nationwide Newstalk ZB, Classic Hits, ZM, Coast, Hauraki, Easy Mix, Flava and...
becoming a radio network
Radio network
There are two types of radio networks currently in use around the world: the one-to-many broadcast type commonly used for public information and mass media entertainment; and the two-way type used more commonly for public safety and public services such as police, fire, taxicabs, and delivery...
broadcasting across New Zealand. The station is now a far cry from its 1970s-1980s heyday. Reconfigured to the 25-50 male market, it plays mostly classic rock
Classic rock
Classic rock is a radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format features music ranging generally from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, primarily focusing on the hard rock genre that peaked in popularity in the...
, with some more recent modern rock
Modern rock
Modern rock is a rock format commonly found on commercial radio; the format consists primarily of the alternative rock genre...
mixed in. A new on-air line-up was revealed in October 2010 including the addition of controversial host Stables
Iain Stables
Iain Philip Stables is a New Zealand radio disc jockey. In the past Stables worked on various radio stations across New Zealand beginning his radio career on Radio Windy in Wellington at the age of 14...
and former The Rock
The Rock (New Zealand)
The Rock is a New Zealand rock music radio station. It currently holds the #1 ratings spot out of the music stations nationwide. The station is known to broadcast material of a controversial nature, and The Rock has in the past had some issues with the Broadcasting Standards Authority with a number...
morning presenter Nick Trott. The new format includes new branding as "Real Rock", and more new rock added to the playlist. Stables however never made it on air to Radio Hauraki as The Radio Network terminated his contract after Stables was involved in a fracas with a JetStar employee. He has since been replaced by former bFM
BFM
BFM may refer to: Big Flute Major, Corps of Drums Conductor*Bacterial Flagellar Motor* Burnt Face Man, an ongoing web cartoon by David Firth* Bachelors in Financial Markets* 2BFM, a community radio station in Bankstown, New South Wales...
radio host Matt Heath, who will begin on the 31st January 2011.
Taglines
"Radio Hauraki, Top of The Dial""Radio Hauraki: Home of the good guys"
"Just great rock"
"Here to rock, not to shock"
"Classic rock that rocks"
"New Zealand's real rock station"
"Rocking the Boat for 40 years"
"Rock gone soft? Harden Up!"
Schedule
| 06:00 | Dean Young, Nick Trott and Melanie Homer |
| 08:40 | Nik Brown |
| 14:40 | Matt Heath |
| 18:40 | Mike "Thrasher" Curry |
| 06:00 Saturday | Dean Young |
| 12:00 Saturday | Nik Brown |
| 06:00 Sunday | Mike Curry |
| 12:00 Sunday | Sarah McMullan |
Frequencies
- Kaitaia, Kaikohe & Whangarei - 93.2 MHz
- Auckland - 99.0 MHz
- Waikato - 96.2 MHz
- Tauranga - 91.0 MHz
- Rotorua - 94.3 MHz
- Gisborne - 105.3 MHz
- Taupo - 92.8 MHz
- Taranaki - 90.8 MHz
- Hawke's Bay - 99.9 MHz
- Manawatu - 105.8 MHz
- Wellington - 93.3 MHz
- Nelson - 90.4 MHz
- Blenheim - 94.5 MHz
- Christchurch - 106.5 MHz
- Sumner - 89.3 MHz
- Dunedin - 106.2 MHz
- Southland - 93.2 MHz