OFFICIAL WEBSITE: http://www.zmonline.co.nz/
TWITTER: ZM FM 91.0
YOUTUBE: ZM FM 91.0
ZM (pronounced zed-em) is a New Zealand contemporary hit radio network owned by The Radio Network. It broadcasts 19 markets throughout mainland New Zealand via terrestrial FM, and worldwide via the Internet. The network targets the 15–39 demographic specialises in a chart-music playlist of pop, rock, hip hop and dance music. It reaches approximately 378,700 listeners weekly, making it the fourth largest commercial radio station in New Zealand.
The ZM network as it is today was founded in the early 1970s as three separate commercial music stations owned by Radio New Zealand in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. The name is derived from the former callsigns of the stations: 1ZM, 2ZM and 3ZM – Z denoting a Radio New Zealand commercial station and M for Music. The stations were carved off to The Radio Network in 1996, and ZM spread across the country, originally as three separate networks before finally merging to form one nationwide network in 2009.
The network's head office and main studios are based in Auckland, where most of the programming is produced. The ZM Morning Crew breakfast show is a notable exception, being produced in Wellington. Each market produces its own advertisements and individual continuity.
ZM News Service
Like most radio stations in New Zealand ZM originally featured news on the hour every hour oringally news was provided by the Radio New Zealand News Service, following the sale of the Radio New Zealand commercial service this became The Radio Network News Service. In 1997 ZM stations began reducing news breaks to only play on the breakfast show, this was at time when some radio stations began increasing the amount of music played in an hour and reducing talk. In 2000 ZM started their own news service called ZM Newsbeat.
The Newsbeat service has a beat in the background followed by a local weather forecast prerecorded from the Auckland studio for each individual region. The bulletins are sourced from the Newstalk ZB newsroom, and air half-hourly between 6 am-9 am weekdays with an update at midday, hourly 4 pm-6 pm weekdays, and hourly 7 am-noon during the weekend and public holidays. An exclusive Wellington edition of ZM Newsbeat was aired during the Morning Crew's show up until early 2006, when it was dropped for the national edition.
Traffic reports are read out on air from The Radio Network Auckland studios for larger regions in New Zealand such as Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Hamilton, Tauranga and Dunedin. Other stations play advertisements during these times. Wellington originally ran their own local traffic reports until 2006.
Weather is read out on weekdays following news bulletons, and airs on the hour between 7 am-6 pm during weekends. Individual weather reports are pre-recorded for each region and updated with each show. Since the Morning Crew are based in Wellington, they read out the Wellington weather live during the breakfast show, while the pre-recorded reports by the newsreader air over the rest of the network.