Radio Forestland was a

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 ...

Tokoroa, New Zealand Tokoroa ( mi, Te Kaokaoroa o Pātetere) is the fifth-largest town in the Waikato region of the North Island of New Zealand and largest settlement in the South Waikato District. Located 30 km southwest of Rotorua, close to the foot of the ...

. The station was started by

Radio New Zealand Radio New Zealand ( mi, Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa), commonly known as Radio NZ or simply RNZ, is a New Zealand public-service radio broadcaster and Crown entity that was established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995. It operates news and cu ...

as Radio Forestland, broadcasting on 1420AM with the call sign 1ZO. The station was started in the mid 1970s and in 1978 moved to 1413AM after the frequency spacing on the AM band in New Zealand was changed from 10 kHz to 9 kHz. Local content on the station was limited to mornings only, and outside this time the station broadcast the

1ZH 1ZH was a New Zealand radio station based in Hamilton, New Zealand. The station was originally known as 1XH which was the stations original callsign. 1XH was started by Radio New Zealand (which at the time was known as the National Broadcasting ...

Hamilton programme. In July 1996 the

New Zealand Government , background_color = #012169 , image = New Zealand Government wordmark.svg , image_size=250px , date_established = , country = New Zealand , leader_title = Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern , appointed = Governor-General , main_organ = , ...

sold off the commercial arm of

, the sale included Radio Forestland. 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 formal merger of the New Zealand division of APN News & Media, APN New Zealand; The Radio Net ...

, a subsidiary of

APN News & Media Here, There & Everywhere (HT&E), formerly known as 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 Adshel ...

and

Clear Channel Communications iHeartMedia, Inc., formerly 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 fou ...

, which operated as a division of the

Australian Radio Network ARN is a group of commercial radio stations around Australia. It includes the Pure Gold, KIIS Network, CADA, ARN Regional and iHeartRadio brands. The company operates the ARN News service in Australia, which uses international correspondent ...

. In 1998, Radio Forestland became part of the Community Radio Network with all programming outside of the breakfast show being fed from a central studio originally based in Taupo. In 2001 all Community Radio Network 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 with programming outside of the breakfast show based from Auckland. At this point the station became known as ''Classic Hits Radio Forestland.'' In 2013 the local breakfast was replaced with a feed of the breakfast show from Classic Hits in Hamilton. On April 28, 2014, all stations part of the Classic Hits network were rebranded as

The Hits The Hits was a music video channel broadcast in the United Kingdom and Ireland, owned by Box Television. On 15 August 2008 it was rebranded as 4Music. Overview and availability The channel showcased a range of pop centred on chart hits and cur ...

. A networked breakfast presented by

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

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 ra ...

was introduced to almost all The Hits stations with the former breakfast announcer moved to present a 6-hour show between 9am and 3pm. The Hits in South Waikato contains the same local programming as Hamilton.

References

South Waikato South Waikato District is a local government district in the Waikato Region of the North Island of New Zealand. It is located between the cities of Hamilton to the north, Rotorua to the east, Taupo to the south and Ruapehu District to the west. ...

Mass media in Tokoroa Defunct radio stations in New Zealand Radio stations established in 1975 Radio stations disestablished in 2014 {{NewZealand-radio-station-stub