Public Address | Cafe | Hard News: Radio Punks: So many stories

Barry

Fri, 21 Aug 2015 18:28:58 +1200

Perhaps rather than saying student radio had its glory days in the 1980's, that is when it hit its stride. My experience was with Radio One – I was on the OUSA exec, and it was about 1983 we finally had sufficient stability with our licence to justify a major…

Steve Barnes

Fri, 21 Aug 2015 17:33:36 +1200

I think people who are having problems with Sky Go are falling foul of its flakeiness.
I signed up quite a while ago and found it would tell me that I needed to be a "Premium" subscriber, then it would tell me I had no Sky Go account, then my…

Stupid

Fri, 21 Aug 2015 13:28:41 +1200

I just signed up for SkyGo (free) as suggested by RB, and you can indeed watch RADIO PUNKS there...

Stupid

Fri, 21 Aug 2015 13:10:45 +1200

Sorry I got the phone call mentioning "lawyers" so I had to take it down...

Nora Leggs

Fri, 21 Aug 2015 08:38:43 +1200

At one time there were at least 3 Andrews on the crew.

Two more makes 5 – Hawthorne and Dickens. And two Chris’s – Esther and Forster. Much easier when everyone has the same name.

(see belatedly that others have corrected the Andrew and Chris tally)

Simon Grigg

Fri, 21 Aug 2015 08:13:41 +1200

Anyway, I salute you Rick.

Lest we forget he was also the engineer wizard who worked with Alan Jansson on How Bizarre (for which he shared a Tui in 1996). The pair have been working together since.

Sacha

Thu, 20 Aug 2015 21:15:21 +1200

Also one of the nicest people I've ever met.

Sacha

Thu, 20 Aug 2015 21:14:45 +1200

It was just the genius of Rick.

Verily. I've told some of you about the late 80s news team's flash Nakamichi multi-pattern microphone which Rick re-engineered to run off standard AA batteries rather than the $40-each factory Li-ion ones. A third of the voltage, with no discernable loss of recording…

Sacha

Thu, 20 Aug 2015 21:10:51 +1200

Also, any time someone prompts you to play this wonderful track, is a good thing.

Astonishing live too.

Aaron Hutching

Thu, 20 Aug 2015 20:37:32 +1200

Fantastic, signing up now!

Russell Brown

Thu, 20 Aug 2015 19:20:46 +1200

Anyway, I salute you Rick. You always said hi, welcomed us grommies, and fixed our fuck-ups when we tipped our coffee into the desk.

Amen. The man is a legitimate legend.

One Rick story I told that didn’t make the cut. In one of the alternative rugby commentaries we did…

JacksonP

Thu, 20 Aug 2015 18:41:18 +1200

Andrews
There were a surfeit of Matthews, Chrises and Jonathans in the late 80s too, as I recall. :-)

Finally got to watch it through to the end. I had hoped that somehow they would work Rick Huntington into the main show, after seeing his section in the outtakes, but…

Jason Kemp

Thu, 20 Aug 2015 09:52:39 +1200

Of course – there were 5 Andrews – sorry guys. Unforgettable but 35 years is a long time.

st ephen

Thu, 20 Aug 2015 09:40:10 +1200

..radio jock voice...
Gotta say – my student radio listening started with RadioActive and Radio U in the 1980s, and even then it seemed that Auckland student radio was everything that was wrong with Auckland and Radio. For me it was always about great music (old and new), a bit…

Rich of Observationz

Thu, 20 Aug 2015 09:07:45 +1200

we had lots of other indie things but not much radio

There was all the pirate radio with transmitters on tops of tower blocks and TPTB trying to catch them and confiscate the gear, right?

Russell Brown

Thu, 20 Aug 2015 08:59:35 +1200

You don't need Sky to watch Prime shows on Sky Go – just sign up.

But for as long as it lasts, Radio Punks is on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/jAroO2a-xPM

Aaron Hutching

Thu, 20 Aug 2015 08:36:56 +1200

Sad I missed this and don't have Sky. Hope it re-screens!

Russell Brown

Thu, 20 Aug 2015 08:06:55 +1200

At one time there were at least 3 Andrews on the crew. Andrew Topping, Andrew Boak and Andrew Bishop.

There were four at one time – Andrew Dickins was the 4th. When we released the 1983 B compilation We’ll Do Our Best it was credited as ‘compiled by The Andrews’.…

Russell Brown

Thu, 20 Aug 2015 08:03:16 +1200

That WAS an excellent series from Yadana early this year. Just to refresh your memory RB as it is a while ago), bFM bought the ratings in 1999. Z were in the market then and b pasted them but George was still operating out of Thane’s garage in Grey Lynn.…

martin w

Thu, 20 Aug 2015 00:26:08 +1200

The music and culture of Contact changed my life. For the better. It might have taken all three years of my degree to shake that country boy music conservatism and embrace the weird and wonderful sounds but when it kicked in the epiphany was so sweet. And the culture, man,…

Glyn

Thu, 20 Aug 2015 00:02:29 +1200

Arrived from the UK in December 1994, bewildered. I'm a Brit musician and music wrangler, a bit of an activist. Moved into the mother-in-law's little place in Mt Wellington. There are grapefruit growing in the garden. I thought NZ was snow, mountains and sheep. Why does Big Fresh have singing…

Simon Grigg

Wed, 19 Aug 2015 23:37:51 +1200

At one time there were at least 3 Andrews on the crew. Andrew Topping, Andrew Boak and Andrew Bishop.

There were four at one time – Andrew Dickins was the 4th. When we released the 1983 B compilation We'll Do Our Best it was credited as 'compiled by The Andrews'.…

Suzanne McNicol

Wed, 19 Aug 2015 23:00:36 +1200

Richard Wain

Wed, 19 Aug 2015 22:18:08 +1200

a community radio station in Motueka called Harvest Radio, then called Fresh FM.

Ah yes, I spent a few hours playing tapes on the ol' Harvest Radio in the summer of 92 on the marae while on holidays picking fruit... now a fine community station run by a former student…

HORansome

Wed, 19 Aug 2015 21:49:55 +1200

I have had two regular segments on b. The first survived two changes of hosts, only to find the Sunday morning segment change when Rhys Darby and David Farrier came onboard (I like to think my conspiracy theory stuff was just too weird for Rhys, and that’s why I got…

Warren Clark

Wed, 19 Aug 2015 21:21:05 +1200

Many, many moons ago I was an (unpaid) worker on a community radio station in Motueka called Harvest Radio, then called Fresh FM.

It was run from initially the Motueka Rec center then a Marae, It was the first 'job' I ever had, and arguably the best.

Peter Johnston

Wed, 19 Aug 2015 21:02:55 +1200

At one time there were at least 3 Andrews on the crew. Andrew Topping, Andrew Boak and Andrew Bishop.
Ah all the Andrews! Had a very memorable night on the town courtesy of Mr Boak at the student radio conference one year. Now he really was a Radio Punk!

Murray Hewitt

Wed, 19 Aug 2015 18:17:43 +1200

always hated the Other Stations Are Shit line

Often misquoted as "All Other Radio Stations Are Shit" and I don't agree with that either. But, in its original form, it still stands.

Russell Brown

Wed, 19 Aug 2015 18:15:25 +1200

(Oh and Russell I do remember Fiona from Active, she was on air towards the end of my days there …)

Fiona has just pointed out to me that she has in fact been a DJ on three student radio stations: RDU, Active and bFM.

The Active show actually got…

matthew

Wed, 19 Aug 2015 17:45:11 +1200

I started listening to b in the late 80s because you stood a decent chance if winning smarties on the Saturday morning kids show. I'm 35 now and I don't listen to the kids show anymore but it's still the only station I listen to (honorable exception being live cricket…

Moz

Wed, 19 Aug 2015 17:29:19 +1200

Heh, I still treasure Dave playing the full outro to Roger Waters "Radio K.A.O.S." Sunset Strip that ends with "I don't care. Shut up. Play the record". And Carole Ray doing the station promo that was just her saying "RDU. It's a radio station".

That said, I never really got…

Jason Kemp

Wed, 19 Aug 2015 17:16:20 +1200

I suspect the real answer to when the best days in student radio is every day. Compared to every other station student radio is great and it still is. I seem to remember a bumper sticker saying something like that.

I was there in the early ’80’s at BFM and…

chris

Wed, 19 Aug 2015 16:51:42 +1200

We had no student radio in zombie town but a friend from Hamilton made a one side mixtape of Contact, the playlist: The Lemonheads, The 3ds, Straightjacket Fits, L7, Teenage Fanclub, Rollins Band, Screaming Trees, most of which I otherwise wouldn’t have heard for a couple of years. It concluded…

Joe Wylie

Wed, 19 Aug 2015 16:50:57 +1200

I don't know how long BFM's mid-80s Men's Show lasted, but it was memorable for its earnest good intentions bordering on unintentional self-parody. Along with issues of interest to men – stopping violence, being righteously non-sexist – men were encouraged to phone in, though I don't recall many responses.

One…

Emma Smith

Wed, 19 Aug 2015 16:39:52 +1200

H/T to Kirsten Johnstone too, who co-produced the Summer Music 101 Student Radio series.

Steve Barnes

Wed, 19 Aug 2015 16:15:23 +1200

Other radio stations are shit ;-)

I still have that sticker on my truck, yes had that truck since 95 (coincidence?)
Yes I still listen, online and due to modren technilities, in the truck through my phone.
Still regard my time doing voiceovers on the b as a high point…

SHG

Wed, 19 Aug 2015 16:11:10 +1200

Yep, Paul Martin's metal show was the highlight of Waikato radio for me in the early 90s.

Tristan

Wed, 19 Aug 2015 16:00:54 +1200

ill never forget the time Brown and Ralston were in the studio together. Bill said something about Russell stealing his voice. good times.

RaggedJoe

Wed, 19 Aug 2015 15:44:42 +1200

It's all in the variety. I have listened since I stumbled across the b in the late 80's. The one thing that keeps me coming back year after year is that you never know what is up next.

My kids are in their 20's and cant stand it. They simply…

Peter Johnston

Wed, 19 Aug 2015 15:17:56 +1200

Another vote for the 80s being the glory days, but hey, it was my time so of course I'd say that. (Oh and Russell I do remember Fiona from Active, she was on air towards the end of my days there ...)

But enough nostalgia, fact is 30-odd years on…

Russell Brown

Wed, 19 Aug 2015 15:05:31 +1200

Still, I spent a couple of years wondering why Bill Ralston was delivering news commentary on student radio. Didn’t seem right.

Ha!

Peter Cresswell

Wed, 19 Aug 2015 15:00:13 +1200

Remember late 70s just after “Bosom” became “B” (sorry, “b”) when the four weeks of short daily broadcasts over weak radio across orientation weeks was one of the few musical missionaries that made life in South Auckland bearable.
Libraries, of course, were another one (and Barry Jenkin, and Bryan Staff’s…

bob daktari

Wed, 19 Aug 2015 14:19:35 +1200

my guess is that almost all of them were over 30 – Ponsonby types who wanted to listen to dance music but not noisy guitar music.

from my experience at george the active listeners (texting and calling – who were more inclined to do both than B's listeners, I went…

Murray Hewitt

Wed, 19 Aug 2015 14:08:50 +1200

Do people still listen to student radio now that they are no longer students? Or do you just tune in for certain shows?

Hell yeah! There's only one station worth listening to, other radio stations are shit, etc, etc. I never was a full-time Uni student, and been listening to…

Russell Brown

Wed, 19 Aug 2015 14:08:06 +1200

But one thing that 1996 survey told us was that the bFM audience was a lot older than was frequently assumed – it didn't really taper off until you got to people over 60.

When we started to lose listeners to George FM, my guess is that almost all of…

Russell Brown

Wed, 19 Aug 2015 14:03:42 +1200

Do people still listen to student radio now that they are no longer students? Or do you just tune in for certain shows?

I still listen to b about as often each day as I listen to Radio NZ National.

Other radio stations are shit ;-)

Julian Melville

Wed, 19 Aug 2015 13:41:36 +1200

Yep, exactly. I only found it by accident one night, dialed the radio too far and hit the magic moment where a DJ was telling someone if they wanted to hear some Wham they could get fucked. 14 year old me had never heard anything like that on the air…

Lin Nah

Wed, 19 Aug 2015 13:39:11 +1200

Link removed. Missed seeing it in Russell’s 1st comment until I posted it. sorry.

Do people still listen to student radio now that they are no longer students? Or do you just tune in for certain shows?

Robyn Gallagher

Wed, 19 Aug 2015 13:37:09 +1200

Contact FM was my first experience with alternative Hamilton – the other side that wasn't obsessed with rugby and convenient parking. And with it came that mind-blowing idea that there was maybe actually more to life than just mainstream culture.

Julian Melville

Wed, 19 Aug 2015 13:28:17 +1200

My favourite moment on Contact was when I was doing the Opus classical show one Thursday night in O-Week, and they'd put big speakers down by the lake. Some guy came into the studio to tell me he'd been lying by the water listening to the show, really stoned, and…

Flash taylor

Wed, 19 Aug 2015 13:26:28 +1200

Nice one Russell. A fantastic post. From one ex pat Bfm-er any ideas when we can stream the doc internationally? (I'm sure a few of us are out here/there/anywhere). After the out takes and trailer It would be amazing to see the main event.

bob daktari

Wed, 19 Aug 2015 13:19:01 +1200

drunked fighting... I'm in

Russell Brown

Wed, 19 Aug 2015 12:54:58 +1200

The glory days of Student radio I would have to say was the 80’s

We're going to have to fight now. But let's do it properly and get drunk first.

long may the young of the nation fuck shit up!

Fuck yeah.

bob daktari

Wed, 19 Aug 2015 12:15:54 +1200

The WSU was making dumb decisions with regards to contact well before the sell off – one example, in my day they gave The Rock exclusive rights to be played in the student cafe, on gear bought and gifted to the cafe by Contact (way to go guys) amongst other…

Russell Brown

Wed, 19 Aug 2015 12:02:33 +1200

I really miss Contact FM here in the ’Tron. The student union really screwed up when they sold off the frequency back in the late 90s.

Yes, that episode really was a debacle.

Jeremy Andrew

Wed, 19 Aug 2015 12:00:45 +1200

I really miss Contact FM here in the 'Tron. The student union really screwed up when they sold off the frequency back in the late 90s.
A huge chunk of my musical education came from listening to contact in the late 80s/early 90s, everything from Paul Martin's Axe Attack (before…

Russell Brown

Wed, 19 Aug 2015 10:40:11 +1200

Note also Yadana's Saw's interiew with Paul Casserly for Radio New Zealand, and her excellent Radio NZ documentary series on student radio.

Public Address

Wed, 19 Aug 2015 10:40:11 +1200

Discussion from blog post.