Radio Cook Islands (630 AM) is a private national

Cook Islands The Cook Islands is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of 15 islands whose total land area is approximately . The Cook Islands' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covers of ocean. Avarua is its ...

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 ...

. Headquartered in

Avarua Avarua (meaning "Two Harbours" in Cook Islands Māori) is a town and district in the north of the island of Rarotonga, and is the national Capital city, capital of the Cook Islands. The town is served by Rarotonga International Airport (IATA ...

, the station

broadcasts Broadcasting is the distribution of audio audiovisual content to dispersed audiences via a electronic mass communications medium, typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting began with ...

throughout the country, including

Rarotonga Rarotonga is the largest and most populous of the Cook Islands. The island is volcanic, with an area of , and is home to almost 75% of the country's population, with 10,898 of a total population of 15,040. The Parliament of the Cook Islands, Coo ...

, the

Northern Cook Islands The Northern Cook Islands is one of the two chains of atolls which make up the Cook Islands. Lying in a horizontal band between 9° and 13°30' south of the Equator, the chain consists of the atolls of Manihiki, Nassau, Penrhyn, Pukapuka, Raka ...

, and the

Southern Cook Islands The Cook Islands can be divided into two groups: the Southern Cook Islands and the Northern Cook Islands. The country is located in Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean, about halfway between Hawaii and New Zealand. From December through to M ...

. 80% of its programming is broadcast in

Cook Islands Māori Cook Islands Māori is an Eastern Polynesian language that is the official language of the Cook Islands. Cook Islands Māori is closely related to, but distinct from, New Zealand Māori. Cook Islands Māori is called just Māori when there i ...

, with the remaining 20% in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

. Radio Cook Islands was established in the 1970s by the

Government of the Cook Islands The Cabinet of the Cook Islands is the policy and decision-making body of the executive branch of the Cook Islands Government. It consists of the Prime Minister and a number of other Ministers, who are collectively responsible to Parliament. Le ...

. The station was

privatized Privatization (rendered privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation w ...

in 1996, but reverted to government control in December 1998. In March 1999, Elijah Communications, a subsidiary of the Pitt Media Group, acquired the station from the government. Elijah Communications introduced new programming, as well as reformed the station's finances, by 2000. In 2019, the Cook Islands government asked the station to reactivate its backup AM transmitter over concerns that some parts of the country might lack a radio signal during cyclone season. The late broadcaster Tony Hakaoro hosted the popular afternoon talk show, "Karangaranga," on the station.

References

External links

Radio Cook Islands history"Radio Cook Islands - The Voice of the Nation" official Facebook
{{CookIslands-stub Radio stations in the Cook Islands Mass media in the Cook Islands