From David’s Desk: Issue 16

In September 2007, 4KZ Innisfail 531 AM celebrates 40 years of service to Far North Queensland.

Manager Al Kirton is planning a souvenir brochure and a 40th reunion for former staff members. If you’ve got any memorabilia, photos, tape recordings, promotional items or want to share some memories about 4KZ, please contact us today.

Al tells us he’s been throwing stuff into a big old filing cabinet for years and even has the original 4KZ checkbook, and he’d love to hear from anyone involved with the station since 1967.

If your station is celebrating an anniversary, and you’d like publicity, help with memorabilia and to get the old gang together, contact us today.

I thought we’d take a tour around some of the islands, and look at some of the issues facing local broadcasters as we enter the brave new world of the internet, satellite radio, and converging technologies. We’ll also look at The Pacific Plan, and what kind of broadcasting future this has in store for us.  > read more

Imagine thick jungle, incessant rain, tropical heat, the continual roar of aircraft engines taking off and landing from hastily carved out runways, and the hustle and bustle of thousands of troops coming and going. You’ve then got some idea of the unlikely setting for the first introduction of radio broadcasting to many parts of the South West Pacific.

As American forces bolstered Australian units in New Guinea, they were soon looking for entertainment, and this was normally supplied from Tokyo Rose propaganda broadcasts, some coming from a transmitter in the occupied New Guinea port of Rabaul. Some unauthorized US stations began broadcasting from airbases [such as the cluster at Nadzab] and plans to establish official AFRS radio stations were hastily moved forward. > read more

It was on 30th March, 1936, that the first broadcasting Station to operate from Inverell, Northern New South Wales, went on the air, using the call-sign 2LV. Less than a year later the demand for the services of the new station was so insistent that an increase in power was granted, and the station became 2NZ, Northern New South Wales. > read more

Station 3BO Bendigo commenced operation on 4th June, 1931, and transmits on a wave length of 309 Metres, 970 K/C ‘s. Serving a wealthy area in Central Victoria, the Station has a complete coverage of Bendigo and District. > read more

The Cairns Station is the most northerly on the Australian Coast. It is owned and operated by Amalgamated Wireless (Australasia) Limited, and, as it gives trouble-free reception to listeners of Cairns and District , it is of particular value in that Area.

4CA operates on a Wave Length of 300 Metres (1000 K/Cs.). The Station commenced operations on May 16th, 1936, and over the last ten years has maintained an uninterrupted service to its listeners. > read more

Since the 1990’s, New Zealanders have been able to create their own low power FM radio stations and begin freely broadcasting on a narrow range of frequencies. Commonly called the ‘guardband’, these frequencies are at the top and bottom ends of the standard FM dial. The power is very low and coverage is usually 5-10km from the transmitter location.  > read more

One copy of the rare CD ‘A Fresh Pacific Wind’ compiled by David Miller to give away.

Just tell us the name of the ship that ‘pirate’ Radio Hauraki first broadcast from on Sunday, December 4, 1966.

Hint, simply visit the official ‘pirate’ Radio Hauraki pages and you find the answer. Yes, it begins with the letter ‘T’!

Send us an email, and include Pirate Radio Hauraki in the subject line, then your answer and your name and address in the body.

Competition open worldwide. One entry per person please.

Entries close August 31, 2006.

Your email address will be added to the Radio Heritage Foundation mailing list. Read our Privacy Statement.

In the 1980s, a band called The Sports wanted to know who listened to the radio.

Well, cows do – at least at Alan Braid’s West Kentish dairy farm they do.

Mr Braid knows a thing or two about radios and the 400 or so in his workshop span more than a century of airwave technology. All are Australian, all are functional, and Mr Braid has not lost the passion to sniff out more.  > read more

As the world traveling tourist knows, the island of Singapore is both ancient and modern. Its pre-history goes way back through the centuries into the unwritten eras of legendary events more than a thousand years ago, and yet it is these days a fast, modern and bustling city of international trade and commerce.  > read more

The official pirate Radio Hauraki site is coming here soon as part of our Virtual Archive program. In the meantime, visit the welcome page to sign up for newsletters and to stay in touch with celebrations and events planned for the 40th anniversary of the ship based Radio Hauraki.

Celebrated throughout the world as a true pirate and free radio operation in the late 1960’s, the events of those early days have etched themselves into Kiwi culture as pirate Radio Hauraki’s battle for freedom of the airwaves earned the free radio ‘1480 Good Guys’ iconic status.