95 BOP FM was a radio station in

Tauranga, New Zealand Tauranga (, Māori language for "resting place," or "safe anchorage") is a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty Region and the fifth-most populous city of New Zealand, with an urban population of or roughly 3% of the national population. It was ...

. 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 was then known as the National Broadcasting Service) in 1961. The station was originally branded as it is callsign 1ZD and broadcasts on 1000AM. In 1978, the AM band in New Zealand was changed from 10 kHz spacing to 9 kHz spacing as a result 1ZD moved to 1008AM. In the 1980s, 1ZD became known as ''Radio BOP'' and relocated to the Bay Savings Bank building on Devonport Road in Tauranga. In the late 1980s, the station was known as ''Hits & Memories BOP'' In 1990, the station began broadcasting on 95.0FM and became known as ''95 BOP FM'', the AM frequency was now used to broadcast an easy listening format as ''Easy BOP AM''. The same year 95 BOP FM relocated to Harrington House on Harrington Street In 1993, Radio New Zealand rebranded many of their heritage stations as Classic Hits. For 95 BOP FM the station became known as ''Classic Hits 95 BOP FM''. In the early nineties, Radio New Zealand also began rolling

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 ...

out across the country. The 1008AM frequency was replaced with Newstalk ZB. 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 95 BOP FM 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 and local weekend programming was removed. On 28 April 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 moved to present a 6-hour show between 9:00 am and 3:00 pm. The daytime show on The Hits Bay of Plenty is hosted by Will Johnston.

References

{{Radio in New Zealand

Bay of Plenty The Bay of Plenty () is a large bight (geography), bight along the northern coast of New Zealand's North Island. It stretches from the Coromandel Peninsula in the west to Cape Runaway in the east. Called ''Te Moana-a-Toitehuatahi'' (the Ocean ...

Mass media in Tauranga Defunct radio stations in New Zealand Radio stations established in 1961 Radio stations disestablished in 2014