25 Jun 2000

Public vs Private: The broad picture 1970 - 1996

From the collecton Resounding Radio

Free enterprise and deregulation see the expansion of private radio and public radio is threatened.

This audio is not downloadable due to copyright restrictions.

Programme contents

0' 00" Actuality: 2ZB Wellington breakfast session 1972. Lindsay Yeo

0' 40" Wellington's Broadcasting House has state of art Toshiba equipment.

1' 20" Broadcasting House first fully transistorised broadcasting centre in world. Eleven on-air suites and five studios. Demolition in 1997 is act of vandalism by politicians.

2' 30" 1973 demonstration of sophisticated control of sound using latest portable tape recorders and microphones. David Delaney

3' 50" Portable technology gives birth to long-running Spectrum documentary series about people places and events in New Zealand. Alwyn Owen

4' 30" Actuality: Excerpts from early Spectrum episodes. George Davies, Jack Perkins

5' 35" Actuality: Wayne Mowat jingle for commercial Tonight Show later 1970s.

5' 45" Tonight Show network created mid-1970s in response to private radio and to cut costs. Wayne Mowat

5' 35" 1973 legislation creates a stand-alone Radio New Zealand (RNZ) with flexibility to compete with private radio.

8' 05" Learning how to make money in private radio. Impact of personalised advertising. Big money in Auckland market in early 1970s. Tim Bickerstaff

10' 05" Stand-alone status of RNZ ended by mid-1970s. Radio under new umbrella of Broadcasting Corporation of New Zealand (BCNZ), alongside TV. Private radio licences now allocated by Broadcasting Tribunal.

10' 50" Battle joined in Tribunal between privates wanting more stations and Public radio disputing the need. Derek Lowe

11' 35" Public radio competes well but privates claim that public radio is using licence fee money to prop up its commercial stations. Privates also argue that State has no place in commercial radio. Beverley Wakem

12' 25" Privates see need to allow free market to work and therefore no need for tax-funded state radio. Tribunal process slow. Some wait two years for licence. Derek Lowe

13' 10" Changes on non-commercial side also: Report programmes start in 1975. YCs extend hours and rename Concert Programme.

13' 30" All Things Considered morning show with Peter Latham begins personality radio on non-commercial side. Announcers no longer rostered on rotation; personality slots instead. Beverley Wakem

14' 00" Sharon Crosbie takes over from Peter Latham on All Things Considered. Sharon Crosbie

15' 00" Actuality: All Things Considered with Sharon Crosbie. Sharon Crosbie

16' 05" Audience complaints about Crosbie but show soon settles down and flourishes. Peter Downes

17' 15" Cuts to public radio funding have severe effects on programme budgets. Peter Downes

18' 00" Prime Minister Muldoon refuses to increase licence fee 1975 to 1984 through years when inflation highest in history. Licence fee funding drops from 50 percent of total funding in 1975 to 18 percent in 1984. Therefore revenue from commercial sources greatly emphasised. Patrick Day

18' 45" 1980s see challenge to commercial public radio and financial pressure. Privates more adaptive and better commercial operators there.

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