KAOS 88.2 Blenheim
Rocker blasts music for whole town to hear
MATT BROWN
Aug 31 2018
From a spare bedroom in small-town New Zealand, a tiny independent rock radio station has made waves nationally.
Vineyard machinery operator Carwyn Henigan from Blenheim “just got on with the job,” of starting KAOS FM 88.2 and estimated his audience is up to around 6000 listeners.
An audio recording engineer for 20 years, Henigan started his station just over a year ago to give listeners the “full true-blue kiwi music experience.”
“It’s a real heart-driven thing,” he said.
A “local institution with the rockers”, Henigan built a strong, loyal Marlborough following and has started to attract a national audience through streaming and via a mobile phone app.
Photo: SCOTT HAMMOND/STUFF
Along with live shows at the weekend, the station played pop rock, modern rock, classic rock, Kiwi rock and exclusive rock music from overseas.
Henigan said community radio had an important role to play in showcasing new artists.
Last year, he gave band ‘His Master’s Voice’ airplay on KAOS FM. The band has since been picked up by The Rock radio station.
Henigan also claimed some of the credit for local band Atom Flight opening for I Am Giant in Nelson earlier this year.
“We picked up that band here in town,” Henigan said. “We’re quite influential.”
Transmitting from his central Blenheim house on the low-powered FM frequency 88.2, Henigan’s station runs 24/7.
Photo: SCOTT HAMMOND/STUFF
“The antenna is like a speaker, the key thing is height.
“If we were broadcasting from the top of the Wither Hills, the broadcast would go a lot further,” he said.
The station covers all of central Blenheim.
From a musical family, Henigan had made successful singles and produced independent radio shows distributed around the world.
His long-term plan was to take his station to a commercial channel, but there are no commercial frequencies available in Marlborough.
“In the meantime, we’ve expanded online,” he said.
So far, Henigan said he was happy with the number of people tuning in and the station’s increasing popularity around the country.
“Good rock music lasts,” he said.
– The Marlborough Express
© The Marlborough Express August 31st, 2018.
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