Iconic Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland student radio station 95bFM is relocating for the first time in almost six decades.
The station today announced it’s moving to Karangahape Road by Friday, July 31st, bringing to an end its time at the University of Auckland city campus.
The move to the city’s main artistic thoroughfare will “place the station close to many of the music, arts, media, nightlife, student, and creative communities it has championed since 1969.”
“95bFM has been part of Auckland’s creative culture for 60 years. This is a big moment for the station and for everyone who has contributed to its history,” 95bFM general manager Tom Tremewan says.
“95bFM has always been more than bricks and mortar. The station will continue to be the training ground for the next generation of broadcasters and rangatahi who want to learn about broadcasting, media, music, or journalism. It’s also one of the remaining refuges for those who simply want to find kinship in a creative community. Our purpose does not change because we are moving a ten-minute walk up the road.
“K’ Road is the logical next home for 95bFM. It keeps us close to the city, close to campus, and close to the musicians, artists, venues, listeners, and community who make up the cultural ecosystem that we exist to serve.”
“Our new home will deepen the station’s commitment to that ecosystem by placing 95bFM in the middle of one of Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland’s most important cultural streets,” he adds.
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According to a press release, 95bFM has “played an outsized role” in New Zealand’s musical and cultural landscape across nearly six decades.
Listed accomplishments include being an “early pioneer of online radio streaming” in New Zealand; providing early airport and support to future stars like Bic Runga, Fat Freddy’s Drop, Shihad, Marlon Williams, The Beths, Princess Chelsea, Scribe, Fazerdaze, Tiny Ruins, The Clean, The Chills, Vera Ellen, and many more; acting as a launchpad for generations of broadcasters, journalists, and public figures such as Charlotte Ryan, Chlöe Swarbrick, David Farrier, Tony Stamp, and Sarah Thomson.
Today’s press release states that the relocation “will be managed through a staged technical transition designed to protect broadcast continuity and minimise disruption.”
“Obviously this isn’t a simple ‘pack everything into boxes and plug it back in somewhere else’ kind of move,” Tremewan says. “Because we’re a live broadcast operation, the relocation has to happen in phases so we can protect our transmission, minimise downtime, and safely move 95bFM without breaking the station in the process.
“We have to work through the practical realities of moving six decades’ worth of radio history, broadcasting equipment, tattered office furniture, faded gig posters, dying pot plants, and spiritual residue. The plan is to manage the relocation in stages so we can keep broadcasting while the station is moved, rebuilt, tested, and settled into its new home.”
The technical transition is being led by Rick Huntington, aka Rick Breeze, who serves as the station’s long-standing technical director and engineer.
The physical relocation will not get in the way of 95bFM’s broadcasting as it continues to grow its digital platform.
“Our future is not digital instead of radio,” Tremewan says. “It is digital as well as radio. We’re committed to staying on-air, but we’re also building the digital infrastructure we need to reach new audiences, support local music, strengthen student radio’s public-interest role, and continue evolving as a modern independent media organisation.”
In other station news, 95bFM will host the Student Radio Network Aotearoa Alternative Awards at Auckland’s Hollywood Avondale this November.
Hosted in a different network station city each year, the awards bring together the five SRN stations — 95bFM, Radio Active, RDU, Radio One, and Radio Control — and recognise student radio’s long-standing role in supporting independent music before it reaches the mainstream.
