History of Radio in New Zealand Essay

Radio started in 1921 when a man named Robert Jake, from Otago University made the very first broadcast in New Zealand. Robert first broadcasted from Dunedin to Christchurch, but within 10 years of the first broadcast it went from a novelty item to an every day event. He even broadcasted the arrival of Jean Batten in New Zealand after her solo flight over the Atlantic Ocean. In the 1930’s a Reverent Colin Scriminger, began to broadcast on the wireless. This man also questioned government policies on air and this scared the politicians a bit. Professor James Shelley was the Director of Broadcasting for this period of time and as he came from a high cultured background, he wanted the radio to broadcast high cultured thing such as ‘worthy talks on worthy subjects’. The year of 1936 saw a woman radio announcer take the microphone. Aunt Daisy was her name and she had a morning time slot from 9 – 10am. This was the time that the ‘housewives’ were at home and listening to the radio, so Aunt Daisy would give house hold tips about, cooking, cleaning and the general running of the woman’s side of the household. Aunt Daisy did this show for 27 years. When the government elections of 1945 came along, the government jammed Scriminger’s radio station -1 ZB -. The government took this action because of worries over what Scriminger was going to say about politicians or the government. During the 1940’s the BBC started broadcasting on New Zealand radio. Up until now the only news bulletins that had been allowed, to be aired were the ones that were OKed by the Prime Minister, Michael Joseph Savage. The BBC told every detail of news and to the people of New Zealand it was frightening to hear all the casualties of the war that was going on. The 1950’s and 60’s, the radio was used by the government to broadcast national propaganda. It was also the start of the Rock ‘N’ Roll era and it was nothing like any of the music before this time. The music produced at this time had a lot to do with the war that was going on in Vietnam as well. The television was bought out in 1960 and brought with it a stand-alone news service which radio could also use for news broadcasting. Radio piracy started in the late 1960’s by a station called radio Hauraki. They did pirated broadcasts because they did not want to obey the radio broadcasting rules that were in place, at this time in history. The morning report on National Radio started in 1975, and this was to take place instead of having a national newspaper for New Zealand. Over the years radio has had many more advantages such as being able to report things faster than television when they happen and recording live while out reporting. Talkback has also changed radio by letting people have their say and not just listening to the announcers opinions on certain topics. With radio you don’t have to sit in one place for a whole hour while you listen to the news but can move freely and visualise it for yourself while the announcer tells you what is going on in the country/world. I think this is the main reason why radio has survived over 80 years in New Zealand, and will continue to change and develop over another 80 years.