Radio station choice is Waimarino's

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 7, Issue 353, 11 September 1990, Page 1

Radio station choice is Waimarino's

Which radio station Waimarino listeners will call their own will be decided by the listeners themselves.

New Zealand On Air representative Brendon Smythe said it will ultimately be up to the majority of radio listeners whether River City Radio or King Country Ra-

dio is relayed to this area. NZ On Air has allocated funds to pay for Radio New Zealand to relay a signal to the area, which is one of 14 areas in the countrv not

currently served by a resident radio station. New Zealand On Air has the capacity to poll all broadcasting fee payers in the area to gauge local opinion, but this would be expensive. It has been suggested that the Ruapehu District Council would run a referendum but this was incorrect. General manager Cliff Houston said the referendum would be a poll run by New Zealand

On Air, not the council. After the money was allocated Radio New Zealand was asked to look at how it would be done and RNZ chief planning officer Ron

Davis said they assumed the Wanganui Station would be the choice. He said River City Radio was the better resourced station, with better Turnpage2

Radio station choice is Waimarino's

From page 1 equipment, more staff and more hours of local broadcasting. He said they had assumed Waimarino people had their strongest links with Wanganui. This area, in radio terms, is described as "inland Wanganui". But the Ruapehu District Council has asked if King Country Radio could be used. This would give a districtwide station which could be used for council broadcasts, and could help unify the district. Both New Zealand On Air and Radio New Zealand have said the choice will ultimately be

the listener's. "There's no use taking a radio station to an area if no-one is going to listen to it," said Mr Smythe. Mr Davis said there were no technical problems with either station being relayed here and that the cost would be about the same. He said quality of service was the issue. King Country Radio is a "micro-mini station" which broadcasts local content for up to 6.5 hours a day and the rest of the time rebroadcasts a Hamilton based station. River City Radio broadcasts for 12 hours a day, seven days a week,

with a nation-wide programme making up the rest of the time to 24 hours a day. RCR manager Dave Hill said his station would be far better for Waimarino listeners, mainly because of the better resources his station has to offer. He said they have 20 staff while King Country Radio has just four. His staff would be able to put more effort into providing local content, with some broadcasts from the Waimarino. His station had been looking at extending its broadcast to this area for about 10 years but he said costs so far had been prohibitive. "The cost in establishing a repeater is hellishly expensive," sai-d Mr Hill. He said the most likely signal would be FM, either in mono or stereo. He said his station aims at the 25-50 age groups, while the stations that some people What's on in southern Ruapehu Communitv events: Red Cross AGM 19 September Sheep drench seminar 14 September Gospel and Healing meeting 23 September NITELIFE: Track Video ski footage Sun, Mon, Thurs evenings- Margaritta's Cocktail night, Fridays at Ruapehu Hotel. Movies 11-16 Sept: Total Recall, Gremlins II The New Batch, White Magic, The Fabulous Baker Boys, WilL Johnny Rocket, Turoa Lodge. Check the ads and the classifieds for more details on many of these events. (Please note: To be sure your event appears in this diary ring the Bulletin (0658) ^SSTjTbirfOT^rida^^m^^^

can presently pick up cater for the younger end of the market. Mr Russell of KCR said a possibility was a hybrid system where KCR was broadcast in the morning and RCR would take over in the afternoon. Mr Davis said this would be possible but there was an extra cost of about $30,000 to do this, which would be for an extra Telecom link. The normal system would have just one Telecom link.

If the Ruapehu District Council was in favour of this system they could pay the extra, said Mr Davis. He said the other option woud be, if RCR was finally chosen, to send material to the Wanganui Station to be broadcast from there. Once the planning work for all 14 areas is done the work would commence,, said Mr Davis. This would be within the next two years.