C93FM was a

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radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission 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 radi ...

based in

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. C93FM broadcast on 92.9 FM and, after it merged with Radio Avon, also broadcast on 1260 AM. C93FM has had several music formats during its time on the air. In 1989 the station was rebranded as ''93FM Gold'' and in 1990 ''93FM Classic Hits.'' Then in 1991 the station reverted to C93FM with a new logo and playing

classic rock Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, prim ...

and continued to play classic rock until 1999 when the station was changed to an

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet ...

music format. Originally C93FM was an independent station operated by a company of the same name, C93FM Limited. The company also operated a second station Easy Listening i94.5 until 1997.

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made two attempts to purchase C93FM Limited, in March and May 1997; both were rejected by the Commerce Commission on the basis that they would give the company a dominant position in the Christchurch radio market. Instead, C93FM and Easy Listening I were sold to

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 as ...

. Easy Listening i94 became Lite FM in 1998. Following the sale of C93FM Limited to Radio Otago, C93FM was started in Dunedin by rebranding local rock station 93Rox as C93FM. The Dunedin-based C93FM was then networked to Invercargill on 90.8FM and was originally branded as C91FM. On air the announcers simply called the station "Classic Rock." Later in 1998 C91FM in Invercargill became known as C93FM. In 1999 Radio Otago was sold to the

Radioworks MediaWorks New Zealand is a New Zealand-based company specialising in radio, outdoor advertising and interactive media. It is jointly owned by U.S. company Oaktree Capital Management and out-of-home advertising company QMS. It operates nin ...

and in Invercargill and Dunedin C93FM was replaced with network station The Rock. The Rock was also networked into Christchurch at the same time broadcasting on 93.7FM and as a result the format of C93FM was changed to an

format. Also, the original 1260AM frequency used by C93 was replaced with Solid Gold as there were no other FM frequencies for Solid Gold to broadcast on at the time. The changes made to C93FM were not popular, and the station failed to attract new listeners as a result. C93FM went off the air in April 2001 and the 92.9FM frequency was taken over by Solid Gold, which later became The Sound in 2012, changing back to a classic rock format. Solid Gold also kept the 1260AM frequency until 2005 when it was used by

Radio Pacific TAB Trackside is a New Zealand horse racing and sports broadcast network, incorporating two pay TV channels. The TV channels are available on Sky channels and the Spark Sport streaming service. The radio station broadcasts on 14 AM radio and 16 ...

Sources

Decision No. 294

Commerce Commission The Commerce Commission ( mi, Te Komihana Tauhokohoko) is a New Zealand government agency with responsibility for enforcing legislation that relates to competition in the country's markets, fair trading and consumer credit contracts, and regul ...

, Wellington, New Zealand, 1997. Radio stations in Christchurch Defunct radio stations in New Zealand {{NewZealand-radio-station-stub