National Radio moves to FM

By JAMES GARDINER

Radio New Zealand has made a great technological leap forward - to where most major broadcasters were 20 years ago.

A $1 million spendup has allowed RNZ to put National Radio onto high-quality FM. The so-called roll-out of FM aims to reach 65 per cent of the population by Christmas and eventually 90 per cent.

So far just over half of New Zealanders have access to National Radio in FM.

In the past fortnight it has gone to Rotorua, Hamilton, Tauranga, Palmerston North and Wellington.

Christchurch and Dunedin will receive it shortly and next year Hawkes Bay, Taranaki, Kapiti, Southland, Nelson, Northland and South Canterbury will follow.

The $1 million is an annual cost the Government agreed to fund to pay for transmission. Some of the money it will get back through additional profits of its company BCL, which owns most of the FM transmission sites.

Until this year, only Auckland, Taupo and Greymouth had National Radio in FM. All the broadcasts except Greymouth are on 101MHz or variations of that frequency.

RNZ broadcast infrastructure manager Matthew Finn said FM gave a better quality signal but AM travelled further so was still needed to reach rural areas and isolated provincial centres and pockets where FM would not reach.

"FM is what we call terrain-limited - it goes as far as the hill," Mr Finn said. "We're just trying to hit the biggest populations obviously with transmitters."

The third phase would include Gisborne, Masterton and Marlborough and spots on main highways that needed filling.

"The ideal will be that you can drive all the way from Auckland to Invercargill and get National Radio on FM."