Radio Waitomo 1ZW was a

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

that broadcast on 1170 kHz on the AM band in

Te Kūiti Te Kūiti is a town in the north of the King Country region of the North Island of New Zealand. It lies at the junction of New Zealand State Highway 3, State Highways 3 and New Zealand State Highway 30, 30 and on the North Island Main Trunk rail ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. The station was started on 15 March 1985 by the

Radio New Zealand Radio New Zealand (), commonly known as RNZ or Radio NZ, is a New Zealand public service broadcaster and Crown entity. Established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995, it operates news and current affairs station, RNZ National, and a classi ...

Commercial network. Local content was limited to just a few hours per day, programming was shared with King Country Radio at other times and on air at these times branded as ''King Country Radio and Radio Waitomo''. In July 1996 the

New Zealand Government The New Zealand Government () is the central government through which political authority is exercised in New Zealand. As in most other parliamentary democracies, the term "Government" refers chiefly to the executive branch, and more specifica ...

sold off the commercial arm of

, the sale included Radio Waitomo. The new owner was

The Radio Network New Zealand Media and Entertainment (abbreviated NZME) is a New Zealand newspaper, radio and digital media business. It was launched in 2014 as the merger of APN New Zealand (a division of APN News & Media), the Radio Network (formerly part of ...

, a subsidiary of

APN News & Media ARN Media Ltd., formerly Here, There & Everywhere and APN News & Media, is an Australian media company. Divisions include broadcast radio and Out-of-home advertising. The company previously had assets in New Zealand, and previously owned Adsh ...

and

Clear Channel Communications iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc., formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc., a company founded by ...

, which operated as a division of the

Australian Radio Network ARN Media Ltd., formerly Here, There & Everywhere and APN News & Media, is an Australian media company. Divisions include broadcast radio and Out-of-home advertising. The company previously had assets in New Zealand, and previously owned Adsh ...

. Local content was limited to just a few hours per day. At other times the station took a feed from King Country Radio or 1ZH (Hamilton) or National Radio. In June 1998, Radio Waitomo joined the newly established Community Radio Network. As a result, the station continued to run a local breakfast show between 6-10am, but outside of these times the station carried the network feed from Taupo. On 1 December 2000, the Taupo-based Community Radio Network was replaced with the Classic Hits network programme from Auckland. Radio Waitomo was subsequently re-branded as Classic Hits Radio Waitomo. In November 2003, due to dwindling listenership and rising costs, The Radio Network decided to close the station. The following year, The Voice Of Waikato/Waitomo Trust arranged a lease of the station and the frequency and it was re-launched as The Voice Of Waitomo. In July that year, the station reverted to its original name: Radio Waitomo 1ZW. Less than a year later, Radio Waitomo closed down permanently due to poor management and lack of local support.

References

Radio stations in New Zealand Defunct radio stations in New Zealand Radio stations established in 1985 Radio stations disestablished in 2005 {{NewZealand-radio-station-stub