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Charlie Fraser with the beginnings of the transmitter for the new Whitestone City Music radio station. Photo by Ben Guild.
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Video killed the radio star, according to the old song, but
in Oamaru, the reverse is true.
A new era of co-operation between radio and television is set
to benefit stations from both media in the town.
New radio station Whitestone City Music (WCM) is set to begin
transmitting this month through TV station 45 South's
transmitter pole at Cape Wanbrow.
In exchange, WCM has paid the local TV station $2000 for
additional bandwidth to help with the purchase of a digital
broadcasting licence.
The TV station became the first independent platform in New
Zealand to acquire a digital licence last month, and hopes to
begin broadcasting TV3, Trackside, QTV, Maori TV and
Parliament TV in the coming weeks.
It has been broadcasting since 2007, has no paid staff and is
funded by NZ on Air and donations.
45 South chairman Tony Reynolds said the granting of the
licence had given the station a future when there did not
appear to be one, and plans were being made to provide some
satellite channels not available on Freeview.
WCM founder Charlie Fraser, who runs programmes and tends to
equipment at Heritage Radio, which he established with wife
Eunice in 2001, said it had taken about six months to
research requirements, raise funds and obtain the licences.
The station was formed in response to inquiries about the
fate of defunct country music station 88.7, which had been
operated from South Hill, in Oamaru.
"The Government changed the rules, as governments often do,"
Mr Fraser said, before explaining how the floor frequency for
commercial radio had been shifted from 88.9 to 88.5, making
88.7 an illegal channel.
The new station will have a catalogue of about 10,000
country, jazz and rock songs "with a little nostalgia thrown
in".
It would provide easy-going, "middle-of-the-road music".
"If I haven't heard of it, we probably won't play it," Mr
Fraser said.
"The channel will be mostly automated because I don't really
intend to get out of bed at 6am to run the news."
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