By LOUISA CLEAVE
As the Government ponders spending millions of dollars on a youth radio network, a group of radio enthusiasts have reached the airwaves on a shoestring budget.
Fledgling station The Mulcher can be heard in only a small pocket of Auckland and in Kaikohe, but the ultimate aim is
to build a network of regional stations.
Owner Tony Katavich, aged 21, wants to recruit youth in communities around the country to run their own local versions of The Mulcher.
He operates the station out of a shoebox office-cum-studio in Blockhouse Bay with a team of student volunteers keen to gain broadcasting experience.
All volunteers are aged between 17 and 24 and the station has more than 20 "correspondents" scattered throughout New Zealand. Mr Katavich said he wanted to focus mainly on small towns, and he has been investigating setting up the third Mulcher station in Marton.
"We want to get out of Auckland and into the regions where they need a voice.
"Kaikohe is a classic one. Until The Mulcher started they didn't have a local station and all the rest of the stuff was piped in from Whangarei, Auckland or anywhere else. It's completely irrelevant, so we've become the local voice."
Mr Katavich, who works in information technology, pays the station's running costs and says they are kept to a minimum. He will not reveal how much he is spending on the project. The Mulcher broadcasts on low-power community frequencies, restricting its coverage in Auckland [on 88.1fm] to an area bordered by Green Bay, Titirangi, Lynfield and Mt Roskill.
Mr Katavich said he paid a set annual fee to the recording industry body APRA for music rights.
The Mulcher's playlist is an eclectic mix of heavy-rock, jazz, mainstream music and old tunes.
Mr Katavich says he wants The Mulcher to remain independent and he's not interested in Government financing to help to build the network.
He believes a state-funded network would patronise the country's youth audience and only make people flock to alternative stations such as The Mulcher.
