Radio Northland was a radio station based in Whangārei, New Zealand. 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 New Zealand Broadcasting Service) in 1949. The original callsign was 1XN and the station was originally known by this name, the callsign was later changed to 1ZN. The station originally broadcast on 970AM in Whangārei (callsign 1ZN), Kaikohe on 1220AM (callsign 1ZE) and Kaitaia on 1440AM (callsign 1ZK). On air the station later became known as Radio Northland. The station is located on Bank Street, Whangārei. In 1978 after the AM band in New Zealand was changed from 10 kHz spacing to 9 kHz spacing the Whangārei and Kaitaia stations moved to 1026AM and the Kaikohe station moved to 1215AM. In 1993 Radio New Zealand rebranded many of their heritage stations as Classic Hits. For Radio Northland the station became known as ''Classic Hits Radio Northland''. The station was later renamed to ''Classic Hits Northland.'' 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

, which included, among other things, the Classic Hits branded stations. 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, Classic Hits Northland was reduced to just 4 hours of local programming between 6 and 10 am 7 days a week. Outside this time nationwide shows based from Auckland took over, and the network announcers simply called the station Classic Hits. The breakfast show was shortened to a 3-hour show in 2012 on all Classic Hits stations. In 2001 Classic Hits Northland began broadcasting on 96.0FM in Whangārei in addition to the original AM frequencies. The 1026AM frequency in Whangārei was later replaced with network station

Newstalk ZB Newstalk ZB is a nationwide New Zealand talk radio, talk-radio network operated by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, NZME Radio. It is available in almost every media market, radio market area in New Zealand, and has news reporters based in m ...

, however the AM frequencies in Kaikohe and Kaitaia continued to broadcast Classic Hits Northland. In 2005 FM broadcasting of Classic Hits Northland was extended to Dargaville on 96.0FM, Kaikohe on 97.2FM, Kaitaia on 97.6FM and in 2006 broadcasting was extended to the Bay of Islands on 96.8FM. The remaining AM frequencies were now used to broadcast

into Kaikohe and Kaitaia. The station frequencies were adjusted in 2010 after an alignment of FM frequencies around New Zealand. Whangārei moved to 95.6FM, Kaikohe to 96.4FM, Kaitaia also to 96.4FM and the Bay of Islands to 106.1FM. Programming was also extended to Doubtless Bay on 105.9FM. On April 28, 2014, all stations part of the Classic Hits network were rebranded as

The Hits The Hits was a music video Television channel, channel broadcast in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland, owned by Box Television. On 15 August 2008 it was rebranded as 4Music. Overview and availability The channel showcased a ra ...

. 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 ...

was introduced to almost all The Hits stations with the former breakfast announcer Mike Plant moved to present a 6-hour show between 9 am and 3 pm. Today the local daytime show is presented by Charmaine Soljak.

References

{{Radio in New Zealand Northland Mass media in Whangārei Defunct radio stations in New Zealand Radio stations established in 1949 Radio stations disestablished in 2014