Radio 4XO was a local

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 ...

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...

, New Zealand, which began on 20 November 1971 as one of the first privately owned commercial radio stations in the country. The station was originally known as "

Radio Otago Radio Otago was a radio company that operated a group of local radio stations in radio markets around New Zealand from the 1970s to the late 1990s. Radio Otago was started in 1971 when Dunedin station 4XO was started, 4XO was originally branded ...

4XO" and was always involved in local events and was one of Dunedin's most well-known and popular stations. Music played was from the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s & 2000s with all announcers and voice overs local.

History

Radio 4XO broadcast first on 1210 AM (shifting to 1206 AM in 1978 when the AM frequencies in New Zealand were adjusted to 9 kHz spacing). In 1989, it was granted a warrant to convert to FM and began a stereo broadcast on 97.4 MHz in 1990. It broadcast throughout the 1970s and 1980s, mainly from studios in Radio House in Lower Stuart Street (central Dunedin). In the mid-90s the station moved to the Radio Otago House Building. 4XO could be heard throughout Otago. During the early '90s, 4XO broadcast a network show at night across other stations in the Radio Otago group, including Radio Central in Alexandra/Cromwell and

Resort Radio Resort Radio (99FM) was a radio station in Queenstown on 99.2FM, 100.0FM and 1359AM. Originally this station was owned by Radio Otago, until Radio Otago was sold to RadioWorks in 1999. During the nineties, programming during the evenings and ...

in Wānaka and Queenstown. In the mid-1990s, Resort Radio changed to networking

Foveaux FM Foveaux FM was a local radio station in Invercargill, New Zealand that began operating in May 1981. The station was named after Foveaux Strait which runs between the South Island of New Zealand and Stewart Island. The station was originally star ...

in the evenings. The station's final slogan was "Otago's Music Choice 4XO" & another voice over said "From Oamaru in the North, to Balclutha in the South, this is Otago's Music Choice". The station was closely involved with the website seenindunedin.co.nz which provided 4XO with a website page. However, During the 1990s, 4XO became 4XO Gold and reverted to playing a "Solid Gold" mix of music. For a number of years, 4XO struggled to maintain a stable, well-rating breakfast show. In 1994

started a new radio station in

Mosgiel Mosgiel () is an urban satellite of Dunedin in Otago, New Zealand, fifteen kilometres west of the city's centre. Since the re-organisation of New Zealand local government in 1989 it has been inside the Dunedin City Council area. Mosgiel has a p ...

called Mosgiel FM. Broadcasting on 95.4 MHz, its purpose was to air 4XO programming with a local breakfast show opt-out for Mosgiel and the

Taieri Plains The Taieri Plain (also referred to in the plural as the Taieri Plains) is an area of fertile agricultural land to the southwest of Dunedin, in Otago, New Zealand. The plain covers an area of some 300 square kilometres, with a maximum extent o ...

. The local operation was shut down in 1997, with the transmitter used to broadcast 4XO at all times. Mark Bunting joined the station in 1997, and the format was changed to be that of an adult contemporary station, similar to 98 More FM at the time. This was shortly prior to

being sold to

RadioWorks MediaWorks New Zealand is a New Zealand-based company specialising in radio, outdoor advertising and interactive media, interactive mass media, media. It is owned by Australian out-of-home advertising company QMS. It operates eight national rad ...

. Bunting left after around two years, seemingly frustrated with the management's decision to aim for an older audience to avoid direct competition with 98

More FM More FM is a New Zealand radio network that plays hot adult contemporary music. It is operated by MediaWorks New Zealand. More FM broadcasts in 25 centres throughout New Zealand on 81 transmitters with a mix of local and network programming. ...

. Eventually, Damian Newell was brought in to host breakfast with Charlotte Butler - "Damian and the Butler". The breakfast show was renamed "The Blue & Gold Brekky Show" when Breffni O'Rourke joined as his co-host with Elvis the Pigeon. The final breakfast team before 4XO became 97.4 More FM was Damian Newell, Breffni O'Rourke and Grant McLean.

Conversion to More FM

It was publicly announced in November 2004 that RadioWorks was to rebrand 4XO as part of the

network. Damian Newell continued to host the More FM breakfast show until April 2015, when he moved to 98.2 The Breeze.

Frequencies

*97.4 FM Covered most of Otago (Official Frequency). This frequency is today

. *1206 AM Dunedin Area (Official Frequency) Note - started on 1210 AM and then moved to 1206 kHz in 1978. This frequency now broadcasts SENZ. *95.4 FM Unofficial frequency for Mosgiel, used initially by

Mosgiel FM More FM is a New Zealand radio network that plays hot adult contemporary music. It is operated by MediaWorks New Zealand. More FM broadcasts in 25 centres throughout New Zealand on 81 transmitters with a mix of local and network programming. ...

. *93.7 FM Operated from Balclutha as

Big River Radio Big River Radio was a local radio station in Balclutha, New Zealand broadcasting a local breakfast show. The 92.9 FM frequency covered central Balclutha, while the 93.7 FM frequency could be heard throughout the South Otago and Northern Southlan ...

from 6:00 AM till 12:00 PM, today this is More FM Balclutha.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:4xo Radio stations in Dunedin Defunct radio stations in New Zealand Radio stations established in 1971 Radio stations disestablished in 2004