From tomorrow, Otago Access Radio, or OAR105.4FM, will be the name for the station that has broadcast as Toroa Radio and, before that, Hills AM.
Station manager Lesley Paris said yesterday the FM frequency had been given to the station by the Ministry of Culture and Heritage.
The station's main funder was New Zealand on Air, but the change to FM meant two years of fundraising from trusts and the Dunedin City Council to buy the technical equipment for the change.
With most of the other 12 community access stations in New Zealand on FM, and with the frequency providing a stronger, clearer signal, "we weren't going to turn down the opportunity".
As well, the AM frequency was not on all radios nowadays, Ms Paris said. "A lot of kids don't know what AM is."
The station, in its 21st year, was designed to provide for the interests of sectors including women, youth, children, minorities and people with disabilities.
Broadcasters at the station, Ms Paris said, covered the range of ages from "9 to 80-something", with input from organisations ranging from budget and citizens advice to spiritual groups.
There had been some opposition to the change from regular listeners, but Ms Paris said the station would keep transmitting on AM, as well as FM, for as long as it could afford to do so.
The station has planned a launch event on Saturday from 11am outside its Dunedin Community House home in Moray Pl.
