For decades radio 2ZA was a central part of Palmerston North. Founded in 1938 as part of a new and growing network of Government owned commercial stations, 2ZA did radical things like actually naming their announcers (who were anonymous in the non-commercial stations) and even building a personal brand around them in the 1950s. 

This slide continues this personality branding with a photo of 2ZA staff (presumably announcers) beside the station's logo. The 940KHZ frequency dates this slide to before 1978, and the 'Radio New Zealand' logo to after 1975. By the 1980s the 'call sign' frequencies of radio stations ('Z' for commercial, 'YC' for concert, 'YA' for Government non-commercial etc) were phased out in favour of today's numbered frequencies. Before then the lettered callsigns were often printed on radio tuning dials- which worked as long as the frequencies never changed! 

Radio New Zealand's commercial stations were privatized in 1996 and 2ZA (then known as 'Classic Hits') was no exception.  While not a Horowhenua based station, many locals will remember hearing the songs and voices of 2ZA, and the MAVtech Museum in Foxton has some 2ZA equipment on display. 

On the 30th of November 2022 Radio Foxton's station manager Xan and announcer Zeb installed a new aerial on the top of Coronation Hall. Thanks to the aerial (and brand new cable) the signal on 105.4FM can reach Tokomaru, Linton Camp and many other towns in the Manawatu-Horowhenua districts. The old aerial was felled by a storm and the temporary replacement had a much reduced range.

This photograph was taken by Foxton photographer Jacob Brookie. Jacob used a 1984 Praktica TL3, a solid camera built in what was then East Germany. Prakticas were no frills SLR cameras aimed at the amateur, and this one had a 28mm wide angle lens fitted. The photograph was taken at the back of Coronation Hall near the old Foxton jail.

Not many people in Horowhenua may have gone to Raumati to buy a radio- but some will remember the PYE PZ69! This model was on the market in 1954 and had luxurious sound quality provided by six valves. Most radios only had five and budget models had to make do with four! This PYE also had the versatility of eight wave bands.

It cost thirty nine pounds, seventeen shillings and sixpence- the equivalent of over $1000 in today's inflation adjusted money. On top of that the owner had to pay an annual licencing fee to listen to their radio. This remained in place until 1971. However, cheaper radios at less than half the price were also available. 

PYE only started selling their radios in New Zealand the year before the PZ69 went on sale. These early models were based off English radio sets- but before long PYE NZ was designing their own and were buying a large share in their local partner AKRAD radio (based in Waihi). PYE even started selling televisions here in 1959. A bold move- given that the first public station was still a year away!

Whites Radio Service was trading on Foxton's Main Street in 1960 and stayed in it's site as late as 1987 (and possibly later) according to Kete Horowhenua's Foxton Historical Society posts. 

There was an earlier radio shop, owned by a Mister R.Cull, on the same site in 1941. 

In 1960 there were just over 577,000 New Zealand radio licences in 1960 and this number was just under 700,000 a decade later so Foxton's radio shop must have been very busy indeed! Even when television arrived it was not portable so radio remained competitive. 

But this slide, played during cinema intermissions, was not advertising radios. Instead it was advertising records. With the very conservative stewardship of the New Zealand Broadcasting Service (later the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation) Kiwi airwaves didn't feature many of the most daring rock and pop tracks and none of the protest songs sung on university campuses. If you wanted to hear them you needed to buy a copy of your own!

Note the 'Disneyland' name on one of the pictured labels. Who said Foxton was missing out on overseas trends in music!

MAVtech, the keeper of this slide, is home to Radio Foxton which broadcasts on 105.4FM- FM radio wasn't an option in the 1960s.

Note: This slide has some damage- especially to it's top left hand corner.

In the dead of night, sometime in 1983/1984, two trainee radio technicians crept out of the staff hostel at the Himatangi Radio transmitting station and out into the darkness. Making their way to the main road they carefully (but not very quietly) removed the AA sign pointing towards the government communications station- stopping only to dive into the bushes every time a car drove past. Their mission complete, they snuck into the hostel and carefully hid the sign.

This AA sign remained a carefully guarded secret until 2016. The station had long gone- satellite communications led to it being obsolete and it was closed down in 1993, but a control panel and other equipment survived at the MAVtech Museum in Foxton. It now hangs from the ceiling and points the way to the radio exhibit. 

How many other road signs succumbed to pranks and hijinks in the decades the station operated? Nobody knows for sure- but given the stories we hear it probably wasn't just the one!

'Columbus' was the 'house brand' of the Radio Corporation of New Zealand Limited- a New Zealand company. Just as radio travels over waves so did the company's logo. Signs like this one would have been displayed by all retailers of Columbus radios. This radio range was sold from 1937 until 1961.

Radio Corporation of New Zealand Limited also founded TANZA- New Zealand's very first local record label in 1949. In fact, New Zealand made radios were popular right up until the late 1980s. But Columbus had set sail over the horizon by then.

You can see this sign in person at MAVtech- a technology museum located in Foxton's Coronation Hall. You'll also see lots of Columbus radios as well!

From 1953 to 1993 the Himatangi Radio Transmitting Station was one of our links to the outside world. Before it opened we could only radio as far as Australia and relied on Sydney technicians to patch us through to other locations. The opening of the Himatangi Station changed all that.

For much of it's life the station was a 24/7 operation with married staff living nearby in Post Office housing and single men living in hostels onsite. This duty logbook covers much of the 1980s and was the record of who was operating the station each shift. It is pictured with part of the station's control panel. By the 1980s much of the station was automated and the Warkworth Satellite Station (opened in 1971) had eclipsed Himatangi in importance. But keeping the station on air was still a big job. 

Parts of Himatangi's control panel and transmitters can be seen at the MAVtech Museum in Foxton's Coronation Hall. 

This is a page from the last log book of the Himatangi Transmitting Station. The station started it's career in 1953 with an early highlight being the transmission of the Queen's Christmas Message during her 1953 New Zealand tour. By 1993 satellite stations were replacing radio as the main means of international communication and the station shut down only a few weeks after these entries were made.

The station was government run and transmitted messages via radio- another station in Wellington acted as the receiver. Before undersea cables and satellites, these radio stations were our main link with the outside world.

Attack submarine motors were used as backup generators in the 1960s to ensure Himatangi never ran out of power. 

A control panel from the station, and many historical documents, can be viewed at the MAVtech Museum in Foxton's Coronation Hall.

 A portable transistor radio bought on the 13th of April 1962 from Woolworths in Oxford Street, Levin. With original box, user manual, warranty and sales card. Transistor radios were smaller and more reliable than the old valve radios and did not need a 'warm up time'. They first became popular in the mid 1950s and were soon the latest and greatest thing to have.

Autocrat made this model in New Zealand- but in the late 1950s these portable radios were hard to get. In fact, they were one of the most common items Customs found being smuggled into the country at the time! It wasn't the only illegal thing involving these little radios- teenagers would use them in their rooms to secretly listen to the 'pirate radio stations' of the 1960s.  

Black and white photograph.

Written on bottom of photo – Graeme Thompson. S/: Littah Jim Henders

Written on back – S/i Radio AMH 0209. congratulations page Foxton Radio Graeme Thompson Ian Little Jim Henderson

Written on blue paper attached to back – C M/H.

Radio Foxton studio with Graeme Thompson, Ian Little & Jim Henderson.

Black and white photograph.

Any use of this image must be accompanied by the credit “Foxton Historical Society”