The Base FM – Te Aroha

Sounds from The Base soon to reach Te Aroha homes

By Jeremy Smith, Piako Post

As Ken Knight discusses his newest ambition, he is clearly beaming – and soon he’ll be beaming right into the living rooms of Te Aroha.

Well, at least his voice will be.

That’s because Ken is currently setting up an FM radio station to broadcast on 88.4.

It’s a dream he has had for a long time – he says he always saw himself working in radio.

“I’ve always been into radio – I first did a stint at Community Radio in Hamilton, the dream started from there.”

The 21-year-old has a CV of previous experience that would seem well beyond his years.

He has completed Radio School, worked at More FM and Paeroa’s Nga Iwi FM, been the night host on Coromandel FM and made the shortlist of candidates to be ZM’s newsreader.

Over the last couple of months, he has been hard at work laying the foundation for the station, which included buying a mixing desk, microphone and all associated technology required.

“I got a quote from a radio friend of mine and from there I just set my mind to go and do it,” he says.

“I’m calling it The Base, given we are at the base of Mount Te Aroha.”

To this point, the excitement of setting up has not yet sunk in but he is sure it soon will. He plans a very specific type of station.

“My target audience would be those aged between 10 and 29 and I want it to play top 40 music but also be something mums would be happy for their kids to listen to.

“We have the music sorted and now we are just working on getting the aerial extended three metres.

“It’s been on air previously with just continuous music but we are just getting it sorted for DJs.”

The first to feature will be Ken himself running the breakfast show.

“It will be called ‘Breakfast with Ken’ and run between 7am and 8am, which means I will have to get up really early,” he smiles.

His goal for having the station fully functioning is June 1 with a launch party.

While Ken says he is not letting himself get too excited yet, he has big ambitions for “The Base on 88.4.”

“It has been an exciting process getting going and I eventually hope to look for other DJs, sponsorship and advertisers,” he says.

“When it comes down to it, I love radio and I love talking, a perfect combination.”