Richard Liddicoat – 9/7/99
A pilot Christchurch radio station will be the first in the country to showcase New Zealand music as its primary format.
Aimed at youth and with a strong emphasis on radio education, The Switch 96 will also host programmes and broadcasts put together by schools and other youth-oriented organisations around Canterbury for a sixteen week trial period starting June 10 at midday.
Plains FM takes its mobile studio to schools in the community and broadcasts from the schools themselves. Between these broadcasts, The Switch 96 will feature 100% New Zealand content.
A broad base of styles of music together with local programming will make for an exciting and invigorating station sound where local content wins.
Schools and other programme makers have editorial control of their programmes, and may play music from outside New Zealand. Their content will remain strongly New Zealand focused however as they deal with issues and concerns faced by young people and are programmes made and presented by young people.
An Award winning documentary on youth suicide and other New Zealand produced, NZ on Air funded programmes such as Rampage Radio and Te Puutake will also be part of the NZ programming mix at the station.
KidsRadio (formerly Kids FM), the official radio station of the TV2 KidsFest, will also broadcast during the next school holidays from Science Alive! on Moorhouse Ave. Beckenham School are the host school this year and will provide the announcers and be the bright sparks of the broadcast.
“All in all this will result in a strong mixture of well presented local content, and will give the young people of Canterbury more access to their airwaves,” says Richard Liddicoat, Marketing & Development Co-ordinator at Plains FM and project co-ordinator.
The 96.1 frequency is leased from the New Zealand Broadcasting School at the Christchurch Polytechnic.
Contact: Richard Liddicoat Marketing & Development Co-ordinator Plains FM 96.9 3657-997 9am – 5pm Fax 3400967 E: liddicoatr@chchpoly.ac.nz