What is happening at Kiwi FM?

Bryan Staff delves into why the radio station has gone from 100% local content to 60%.

When it was launched in 2005, Kiwi FM was hailed as the biggest thing to happen to local music radio since the days of the Hauraki pirates. Seven years later, it is mired in controversy after officials not only sanctioned, but encouraged, the station’s decision to drop its local content from 100% to 60% in a bid to boost audience numbers. According to its owner, MediaWorks, the station, which receives $300,000 a year from New Zealand on Air, never reached more than 0.4% of the listening audience and was at 0.1% – one listener in 1000 – before the decision was made to reduce its local ...

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