Lakeland FM was a

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 ...

radio station based in

Taupō Taupō (), sometimes written Taupo, is a town located in the central North Island of New Zealand. It is situated on the edge of Lake Taupō, which is the largest freshwater lake in New Zealand. Taupō was constituted as a borough in 1953. It h ...

. The station was started by

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 ...

(which at the time was known as the National Broadcasting Service) in the 1960s as Radio Lakeland at 1500AM with the call sign 1ZA. Radio Lakeland also broadcast in Turangi on 1390AM with the call sign 1ZT. In 1978 after AM band in New Zealand was changed from 10 kHz spacing to 9 kHz spacing the Taupō station moved to 1494AM and the Turangi station moved to 1386AM. In 1988 the station began broadcasting on 96.7FM in Taupō with the AM frequency later being taken over by National Radio in 1989. In 1988 the station ceased broadcasting in Turangi but later returned on 89.6FM and then moved to 92.4FM. The station became known on air as Lakeland FM in 1989. 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 Lakeland FM. 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 ...

. In 1998 The Radio Network grouped all their local stations in smaller markets together to form the Community Radio Network. Lakeland FM became the host of the Community Radio Network, Lakeland FM and all other stations retained their local identity and ran a local breakfast show followed by networked programming from the Lakeland FM Taupō studios. In 2000, the relay to Turangi (92.4FM) was replaced with

Radio Hauraki Radio Hauraki is a New Zealand rock music station that started in 1966. It was the first private commercial radio station of the modern broadcasting era in New Zealand and operated illegally until 1970 to break the monopoly held by the state- ...

but listeners in Turangi could now tune to the Taupō frequency (96.7FM) to hear Lakeland FM and later that year the Community Radio Network was discontinued, and all stations became part of the

Classic Hits FM The Hits is a Hot adult contemporary music radio network, broadcasting to 26 markets across New Zealand. It was set up by Government broadcaster Radio New Zealand in 1993 by consolidating existing stations into a single brand and has been priva ...

network, as a result, Lakeland FM was rebranded as ''Classic Hits Lakeland FM''. The station continued to run a local breakfast but now outside of breakfast all programming originated from the Classic Hits studios in Auckland, as a result, the Taupō-based shows were discontinued. In 2010, the station adjusted its frequency to 96.8FM as part of the NZ Government's change of FM frequencies. The station became known as ''Classic Hits 96.8''. In 2014 all stations on the Classic Hits network were rebranded as The Hits. As a result, the station became known as ''The Hits 96.8.'' The rebranding of the station coincided with a change in the station lineup, including a networked breakfast presented by

Polly Gillespie Pauline "Polly" Gillespie is a New Zealand former radio presenter. She co-hosted '' The Polly and Grant Show'' on Saturday mornings from 6-10am and the All-Day Breakfast show on Rova with her ex-husband, Grant Kereama. Gillespie and Kereama h ...

and

Grant Kareama Grant Rodney Hokowhitu Kereama (born 30 May 1967) is a New Zealand radio host, formerly on ''The Polly and Grant Show'' on the ZM and More FM network. Kereama co-hosted his morning show with his ex-wife Polly Gillespie. Kereama began in radi ...

. Most regions had their former breakfast announcer move to a newly introduced local 9 am – 3 pm timeslot. For Taupō, the change meant the end of all local programming on the station as now between 9 am and 3 pm The Hits in Taupō shares the same programming as The Hits Rotorua with Paul Hickey presenting this show from Rotorua.

References

The Hits (radio station) Mass media in Taupō Defunct radio stations in New Zealand Radio stations established in 1960 Radio stations disestablished in 2014 {{NewZealand-radio-station-stub