hamilton new zealand jump to navigation search association of community access broadcasters acab broadcast area new zealand frequency various first air date 1981 2010 format community radio owner 12 community trusts webcast accessradio.org streams various website acab.org.nz websites various the association of community access broadcasters also known as the access radio network is a group of twelve new zealand community radio stations . the stations were established between 1981 and 2010 and have received government funding since 1989 to broadcast community programming and provide facilities training and on air time for individuals and community groups to produce programming . in addition to government funding conditions the stations also have an individual and collective mandate to broadcast programmes for people of a wide range of particular religions cultures languages ages and sexualities . stations operate independently and locally with each station expected to make decisions on programming and scheduling by internal consensus . 1 in total they produce content in at least 40 different languages . 2 the member stations currently serve auckland waikato taranaki hawke s bay manawatu wairarapa kapiti wellington nelson canterbury otago and southland . some community stations have powerful frequencies while others are low power stations with a small local reach . 3 contents 1 history 1.1 establishment 1.2 funding 1.3 national operations 1.4 awards 2 programmes 2.1 music 2.2 arts 2.3 culture 2.4 religion 2.5 current affairs 2.6 special interests 2.7 health and welfare 3 stations 3.1 planet fm auckland 3.2 free fm hamilton 3.3 wellington access radio 3.4 plains fm canterbury 3.5 access radio taranaki 3.6 radio kidnappers 3.7 access manawatu 3.8 arrow fm wairarapa 3.9 coast access kapiti 3.10 fresh fm nelson 3.11 otago access radio 3.12 radio southland 4 external links 5 references history edit establishment edit the stations of the access radio network were established between 1981 and 2010 april 1981 wellington access radio 28 february 1988 plains fm canterbury 1990 otago access radio 1992 free fm hamilton 1994 fresh fm nelson 1995 radio kidnappers 2010 access radio taranaki the association was set up in the early 1990s following a meeting between community station managers and new zealand on air officials in wellington . it was the first opportunity many station managers had to meet each other and share the challenges each station had faced including operating on limited resources relying on volunteer support serving diverse communities or operating from remote locations . 4 funding edit in 1989 the broadcasting act set up the broadcasting commission known publicly as new zealand on air to fund new zealand content for both mainstream and minority audiences . funding of access radio has always been a part of that function and the ongoing funding of the association member stations remains a core component of the commission s community broadcasting strategy . a government funding pool of approximately 2 million is now allocated annually for the eleven stations to produce programming for women youth children ethnic and other minorities and people with disabilities in accordance with section 36 c of the broadcasting act . 5 6 individual station funding is allocated on a four tier system based on audience reach with each station receiving between 110 000 and 220 000 in annual contestable and publicly transparent funding rounds . auckland s planet fm is in the highest funded tier one ; and free fm hamilton wellington access radio and plans fm canterbury are tier two . radio kidnappers in hawke s bay access manawatu fresh fm in nelson otago access radio and radio southland are tier 3 ; and arrow fm in wairarapa and coast access fm in kapiti are on the lowest funded tier 4 . 3 national operations edit the association has established itself as the national lobbying and resourcing organisation of community radio stations and aims to promote develop foster and support the community access model . it is affiliated with and emulates the community broadcasting association of australia and the world association of community radio broadcasters but has no domestic affiliations . instead it has become a self support network allowing the stations to share resources and ideas . 4 each year the association holds an annual general meeting at a member station and appoints a chair secretary and treasury with each station allocated a single vote every year . the association has remained non profit and consensus driven with discussions taking place in face to face meetings teleconferences and via email . however while the association can introduce policies it can not dictate the content of individual community radio stations . 4 awards edit access stations received awards for their tributes to nelson mandela . community stations have picked up several awards at the annual new zealand radio awards since community radio stations were allowed into the event in 2002 . the first awards went to wellington access for terry shaw s songwriting show and john e. joyce s basically speaking and this is jazz usa . later winners have included viva latinoamerica fresh fm jazz bros coast access like minds like mine arrow fm six degrees music show fresh fm and candela community radio hamilton . 7 fresh fm music programme the world of leopold bloom the work of leopold bloom and matt budd has received more radio awards and finalist placings than other community radio show . in 2014 a leopold bloom tribute special on nelson mandela and the music of south africa won best community access programme and the south africa new zealand association mandela memorial programme on planet fm won best spoken programme . 8 edward swift won best new broadcaster in 2010 for his work on the morning show plains fm and has since gone on to work for newstalk zb and radio sport . plains fm has also picked up awards for sounds catholic a belch on sport japanese downunder joanna cobley s the museum detective tim s talk and janet secker s focus on arts . 9 10 a station staff member naoko kudo was recognised in 2008 by sister access station fresh fm at their fresh fm vox radio audio theatre award for aki s adventures downunder . 11 programmes edit most access radio network programmes are english language . however the metro stations broadcast many chinese hindi samoan tokeluan and tongan language programmes . nationally there are a handful of programmes in assyrian burmese chichewa gujarati indonesian japanese khmer korean nepali persian filipino sinhala somali tagalog tamil urdu and vietnamese languages mostly on planet fm . some pacific community programmes are broadcast in cook islands m ori niuean and fijian . there are also programmes for european migrants and language learners in croatian french german greek italian polish russian and spanish . 12 music edit the futurians got some of their first radio airplay on the access radio network . the stations broadcast a wide range of specialist scottish jazz blues metal brass hip hop latin and country music shows . free fm hamilton has shows for asian pop rock bluegrass electronic vocal reggae and garage punk . otago access radio has experimental pop indie vinyl afrocaribbean jazz stage and screen m ori german and women s music programmes and a show dedicated to the work of michael jackson . 13 otago s less signal programme is an hour of experimental music noise free improvisation drone and musique concr te ; talking with local practitioners aficionados and promoters and highlighting performances and releases . the band the futurians claim the show was one of the first to interview them and play their music . 14 15 arts edit some programmes review arts books film poetry and visual arts while others focus on local artists in southland otago canterbury the kapiti coast hawke s bay and waikato . nelson arts festival nelson evolve festival nelson village theatre dunedin botanic gardens dunedin public libraries the globe theatre palmerston north and meeanee earthcare gardenshare also have their own radio shows . 16 crime writer vanda symon hosts a writing show on otago access radio sponsored by the otago branch of the new zealand society of authors . it has featured interviews with local authors like fiona farrell and philip temple through to international authors like diana gabaldon and annie proulx . former workers party of new zealand candidate don franks presents a show of his original music and commentary on access radio wellington . 16 culture edit otago girls high school has its own community radio show . members of otago s chinese italian samoan and japanese communities canterbury s english community wellington s japanese and jewish communities manawatu s irish russian and bhutanese communities and hawke s bay s dutch community host shows . 17 access radio wellington coast access radio access manawatu and free fm hamilton have shows on gay lesbian and transgender issues while plains fm canterbury has a shown about men s issues . 18 otago access radio features of a raft of local youth shows about comedy online personalities multiculturalism children s stories music and leaving school . aoraki polytechnic otago university otago girls high school kaikorai valley college queens high school kapiti college and several primary schools have their own shows . several young people also host programmes about news celebrities social justice sports health teen issues worker rights and motherhood . 19 the great big kids show with suzy cato airs at various times on free fm access radio taranaki fresh fm plains fm otago access radio and radio southland . 20 religion edit the access radio network has eckankar bahai buddhist spiritualism new age spirituality meditation and interfaith programmes and shows dedicated to maitreya sai baba and ching hai . 21 with rhema media reaching evangelical christian audiences and radio new zealand concert featuring traditional christian hymns access stations serve other christian audiences through specialist catholic chinese christian christian science reformed church gospel music greek orthodox hindi christian samoan baptist wesley methodist bible and ecumenical programmes . 22 radio kidnappers volunteer charles herb peterson has received a hastings civic honour award for his sunday night christian programme at close of day . broadcasting since april 1995 and partially sponsored by the salvation army the show includes contemporary and alternative music christian commentary and devotional messages . 23 current affairs edit iain lees galloway is one of many politicians who host shows or segments on community radio . parliament today programmes like today in parliament and a week in parliament are fully funded by the new zealand parliament and available for access radio stations to broadcast free of charge . many others purchase broadcast rights to bbc world service women s international newsgathering service and democracy now programmes through community sponsorship . 24 free fm radio kidnappers access manawatu coast access radio and otago access radio have programmes dedicated to parliamentary and council politics and otago access radio and access radio wellington have weekly shows on women s issues . there are local shows for nawton hutt city golden bay and north east dunedin . 25 several politicians like labour mp iain lees galloway new zealand first mp darroch ball palmerston north mayor grant smith and palmerston north city councillor vaughan dennison host their own shows . access manawatu has a show about setting up start ups free fm has a men s rights programme otago access radio has a show about creating homes without domestic violence and massey university academic cat pause presents a show about fat feminism and acceptance . 26 special interests edit otago access radio broadcasts sustainable lens resilience on radio a programme about sustainable living hosted by samuel mann and shane gallagher and sponsored by otago polytechnic . most episodes feature experts from the likes of the university of otago aut university falmouth university blekinge institute of technology university of cambridge university of plymouth university of nottingham aarhus university greenpeace new zealand and kermadec initiative . some politicians like michael woodhouse jan logie and grant robertson have also appeared on the show .