Radio New Zealand
From Open Encyclopedia
Radio New Zealand Limited is New Zealand's public service radio broadcaster. It is a Crown Entity incorporated under the Companies Act 1993 and a designated lifeline utility under the Civil Defence Emergency Management Act 2002, Schedule A.
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History
Radio New Zealand was established in 1975. Until that year, radio services were provided by the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation (NZBC), and, before 1962, the New Zealand Broadcasting Service (NZBS). It became part of the Broadcasting Corporation of New Zealand (BCNZ) in 1978.
Following the dissolution of BCNZ in 1988, Radio New Zealand became a separate State-Owned Enterprise along with Television New Zealand. In 1995, the Radio New Zealand Commercial (RNZC) networks were privatised (legal basis being the Radio New Zealand Act (No 2) 1995 (1995 No 53)) as The Radio Company Limited.
The non-commercial New Zealand Public Radio (NZPR) were then known simply as 'Radio New Zealand' (RNZ). The changes also resulted in RNZ's removal (both its former commercial arm and the remaining public radio arm) from the State-Owned Enterprises Act 1986 and it being made a Crown Entity. [1] [2]
Today, Radio New Zealand Limited is a Crown Entity, governed by the Radio New Zealand Act 1995 (1995 No 52) (amended 2004), sometimes occasionally referred to as the 1995 Broadcasting Act, and the Section 60 and Schedule A of the Civil Defence Emergency Management Act 2002 (2002 No 30). Sections 7(1) and 7(2) of the RNZ Act 1995 combined is the company's Charter and Principles, which Parliament is mandated to review every five years.
Networks
RNZ has two main national networks, National Radio, which carries news, current affairs, and arts, and Concert FM, which is dedicated to classical music and jazz. National Radio generally broadcasts on AM, but is now increasingly available on FM in major cities. RNZ's third network, AM Network, is leased to a private Christian broadcaster while it is not broadcasting parliamentary debates in the House.
Radio New Zealand International broadcasts on shortwave to neighbouring countries in the Pacific from a transmitter in the North Island.
Call Signs
Until the 1980s, RNZ stations used a series of call signs, consisting of a single digit and two letters. The digits 1 to 4 identified the region in which the station was broadcasting:
- 1 = North Island as far south as the Bay of Plenty.
- 2 = the rest of North Island and Nelson Province in the South Island
- 3 = South Island down to Timaru
- 4 = the rest of South Island
1YA, 2YK, 3AQ, 4YA were the first stations operating in the country's four main cities. The commercial station 1ZB kept its call sign, after the practice was discontinued by other RNZ stations, and following its sell-off, became known as Newstalk ZB.
