Media Insider: 95bFM on the move from Auckland University campus after almost 60 years
95bFM alumni Jeremy Wells and Mikey Havoc. Photo / Glenn Jeffrey, file
Student radio station 95bFM is parting ways with Auckland University - physically - for a new home.
The student radio station that helped launch the careers of top broadcasters such as Matt Heath, Jeremy Wells, Mikey Havoc, Charlotte Ryan, Marcus Lush and Noelle McCarthy is moving from Auckland University’s campus for the first time in almost six decades.
95bFM – which only three years ago was selling part of its international vinyl collection to help keep it afloat – has announced today it is relocating to Karangahape Rd by the end of next month.
The station says the move has come after a “long search”, and that its new home is a logical location that keeps it close to the city, campus and its cultural community of students, listeners and musicians.
“95bFM has been part of Auckland’s creative culture for 60 years,” general manager Tom Tremewan said in a statement.
“This is a big moment for the station and for everyone who has contributed to its history.”
Tremewan told the Herald: “I can’t comment on anything from the university’s perspective, but we think K Rd is the most suitable alternative for us ... we see K Rd as a natural, new home.”
The station is owned by the Auckland University Students Association (Ausa) and is run through a trust. The station leases its current space from the association.
In a joint statement on Wednesday afternoon, Ausa, the university and 95bFM said: “The existing 1960s Student Union buildings, in which bFM is located, are no longer suitable and a joint decision has been made to move ... The new location is close to campus and in the heart of one of Auckland’s most important cultural areas. The relocation will be managed by bFM in stages to ensure broadcast continuity.”
95bFM launched on an AM frequency in 1969 as a capping stunt – it was originally broadcast from a boat on the Hauraki Gulf, playing its content illegally on speakers around the university.
According to the latest GFK radio survey, it has 36,700 listeners in Auckland.
It has been the breeding ground for many of New Zealand’s top broadcasters and media personalities, including Heath, Wells, Havoc, Ryan, Lush, McCarthy, Graeme Hill, Wallace Chapman, Russell Brown, Rhys Darby, Jaquie Brown, Gemma Gracewood, Paul Casserly and Rebecca Wright.
Tremewan said 95bFM had played “an outsized role in Aotearoa New Zealand’s musical and cultural landscape”.
“The station has long been a first point of airplay and support for emerging local artists, with AudioCulture noting that 95bFM was the first station to play Sister Underground’s In The Neighbourhood, OMC’s We R The OMC, The Hard Way’s Hip Hop Holiday, and tracks by Dam Native, Sulata, Urban Disturbance, Ermehn and Grace.”
And, he said: “On 95bFM’s airwaves and the wider Student Radio Network, early airplay and support has helped build audiences for artists who would go on to become some of our most important musical voices, such as Fat Freddy’s Drop, Bic Runga, Shihad, Marlon Williams, Aldous Harding, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, The Beths, Princess Chelsea, Scribe, Fazerdaze, Home Brew, Tiny Ruins, The Clean, Reb Fountain, The Chills, Vera Ellen, Troy Kingi, The Mint Chicks, Chris Knox, Delaney Davidson, Dimmer, Team Dynamite and many, many more.”
In 2023, the station sold some of its international record collection.
At the time, Tremewan said the decision was made due to a “number of significant financial reasons”.
“To continue to last a bit longer into the future, we have little choice.”
Tremewan said in a statement today that 95bFM remained committed to broadcasting its FM frequency, while continuing to grow its digital platform.
“Our future is not digital instead of radio,” he said.
“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.”
He said 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 10-minute walk up the road.”
Tremewan said the move would be carefully planned.
The specific location on K Rd has yet to be announced – but there would be a public-facing aspect, Tremewan said.
“Obviously, this isn’t a simple ‘pack everything into boxes and plug it back in somewhere else’ kind of move,” he said.
“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.
“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 was being led by Rick Huntington – better known to generations of 95bFM listeners as Rick Breeze – the station’s long-serving technical director and engineer, and a 42-year veteran of the station.
“Other student radio stations, including RDU and Radio Active, have already been through major station moves and have come out the other end bigger, better, stronger, and more resilient,” he said.
“It can be done, and it will be done. 95bFM has moved through every possible version of media chaos over the last 60 years. This is another big one, but it is not bigger than us.”
Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand’s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME.