Justine Murray finds out what was required to get Māori radio off the ground in the four-part series Aotearoa On Air.
Episode three - 'The Request Line' - explores the on-air programming of Māori radio promotions with Norman Rahiri, Trina Koroheke, Aubrey Hughes and Matutaera Herangi.
Topics include on-air faux pas, the influence of Mai FM and the commercial radio ratings war.
*The interviews featured in this series convey the personal views and experiences of each individual.
In order to encourage listenership, radio stations need to come up with a formula that works for the audience, it could range from engaging content, on-air personalities, the music format or simply to win prizes.
For Māori radio, the balance between meeting the needs of the listeners and promoting te reo Māori hasn't always been easy, according to Matutaera Herangi, content producer at Tainui Live in Ngaruawāhia.
“It’s always been one of the challenges…finding the balance of being musically appealing and still being able to maintain quality reo and kaupapa kōrero.”
Matutaera Herangi remembers the summer of 1989 and helping out in the early days of Te Reo Irirangi o Tainui Photo: RNZ/Justine Murray
Tainui Live as a name and brand is identifying the radio and digital platforms, according to Matutaera Herangi. Photo: Supplied.
From the mid-1990s, radio station Mai FM formerly owned by Ngāti Whatua had cemented itself in the Auckland market with its ‘cool to kōrero’ theme in addition to a Hip Hop and RnB music format.
Matutaera remembers the influence the station had at the time:
“They sort of started creating this urban rangatahi kind of vibe and we definitely started to jump on that waka..we promoted local Aotearoa musicians...and RnB and Hip hop, I think that’s when things started to shift and [there was] a more mainstream feel with reo Māori."
From the early 2000s, Matutaera remembers the 'height' of Radio Tainui (as it was called then) when it played mostly local music.
In addition to this, the station produced outside broadcasts for events like the Koroneihana, Poukai and in 2006 the tangihanga of the late Te Arikinui Dame Te Ataairangikaahu (1931-2006).
"The most difficult challenges we faced over the years of doing outside broadcasts is...we had an RF aerial that would connect to the radio transmitter back at the station across the other side of the river we had to elevate it up high...these days we can take a modem a phone and a little Comrex unit that receives the audio down and sends the audio out of it...allowing our whanau to be involved with that from their living rooms... they didn’t have to physically be at the marae to know what was going on."
Aubrey Hughes nō Ngāti Pōrou - worked at Tahu FM for 17 years. Photo: Aubrey Hughes
From 1996, Mai FM began to broadcast in Rotorua and the South Island and it wasn't long until Aubrey Hughes landed himself a job at Christchurch's Tahu FM after a couple of years working at Radio Ngāti Pōrou in Ruatorea.
“I did a couple of years at Ngati Pōrou and really loved radio, but I also realised that at some stage if you wanted to stick at it or make a career of it I should go off and get some sort of qualification which would allow me to work at other radio stations if I wanted to.”
Aubrey had set his sights on The New Zealand Broadcasting School but Tahu FM were on the cusp of launching Mai FM in the region, the then manager persuaded Aubrey to learn 'on the front lines' of a new commercial radio venture, he was offered the coveted breakfast host role and accepted it.
“So it was a big big challenge, and scary because the powers that be were listening in Auckland but it was cool” he says.
The Tahu FM crew at their 2016 reunion. Photo: Aubrey Hughes
Tahu FM would go head to head with commercial radio in the twice-yearly radio ratings surveys.
In comparison to Radio Ngāti Pōrou, Aubrey describes that time as a real ‘shift’.
“They [Mai FM] taught us delivery…and how to exist and survive in the commercial radio environment which is really tough, you’re on call 24/7 in a labelled jacket out there kissing babies and giving away bumper stickers….you just have to be crafty about it and be visible and active…and if you don’t’ rate well that can hurt...in commercial radio if you don’t rate you could lose your job,” he says.
The Mai FM and Tahu FM collaboration launched in 1996 and ended in 2001. Mai FM currently has ten network locations around the country. In 2008 it was bought out by Mediaworks New Zealand.
Aubrey would spend 17 years at Tahu FM and one of the toughest parts of his job was in September 2010 and February of 2011 when two powerful earthquakes occurred in Christchurch. The latter killed 185 people. Tahu FM was located in the central city and was relocated to Wigram.
“So we had one copy of whatever software we were using at the time… I think it was NexGen and I would take it home at night and do the scheduling and bring it back in the morning so the deejays could use it to go on air…”
After working in Māori radio for 30 years Aubrey has decided to hang up his headphones and try something new.
“Maybe I shouldn’t completely close the door on it…I am ready to go and give other things a try because after thirty years I define myself as a broadcaster,” he says.
Norman Rahiri with the crew and guest at The Heat 99.1FM in Rotorua Photo: Supplied
While commercial radio stations spend months planning their promotion campaigns with budgets to match, back in 2003 fledgling youth station Tahi FM 98.2 and its team of announcers had to come up with creative ways to pull in listeners with next to no money.
As a ‘roving reporter’ Norman Rahiri created an on-air persona called "The Afternoon Spoon" that featured on the drive show, it was whacky idea that turned out to be a popular daily feature with listeners.
As part of his character's personality, Norman decided to adopt a thick Indian accent and would surprise listeners on their birthday, deliver flowers and cakes and even went to KFC to find out the 'Colonels secret' 11 herbs and spices.
The Tahi Crew 2003 - Justine Murray pictured third from the left at the back and Norman Rahiri AKA The Afternoon Spoon, front row. Photo: Moana Radio
“Let’s put it into context we would never be able to get away with it now…the disappointment when people realised that The Afternoon Spoon wasn’t Indian and it was just a made-up person…It was still a great concept, people laughed…we actually made a dent in taking some of the market share,” he says.
Tahi FM 98.2FM launched in 2003 and closed in 2012.
In the mid-1990s, Norman started his career in his student days at Waikato University at The Edge, where he did 'cart splicing' and manned the odd sausage sizzle in between his studies.
He eventually pursued a career in radio, and in the last two decades, he was worked at several Māori radio stations including Sun FM in Whakatane, Mai FM in Rotorua, Tahu FM in Christchurch, Tainui Live in Waikato and Te Korimako o Taranaki. Today he is Programme Director at The Heat 99.1FM in Rotorua.
From 2003 Norman worked at Tahi FM operated under Moana Communications, and adapted an on-air persona called, The Afternoon Spoon. Photo: RNZ/Justine Murray
Back in the 1990s, Trina Koroheke’s station of choice was Triple M in Sydney until she came home to Ngaruawāhia and heard the breakfast show with ‘Womble and Blossom’ on Radio Tainui.
“I was just shocked because I had never heard anything like that before…coming home and hearing people just singing and joking and having some real hard case conversations I thought that was really cool,” she says.
Trina began working at the radio station when the then manager Kapoi Matheson was on the lookout for a receptionist, she took on the role and enjoyed interacting with the callers.
In her eighteen years at Tainui Live (formerly Radio Tainui), Trina has been on the year just two times with announcers, she says that part of the job is not her thing.
Today she is the manager of Tainui Live and understands the unique position of Māori radio.
“We’ve got the platform to help promote our language on the radio and finding cool ways to do that…and now we’ve integrated into the iwi [Waikato Tainui] we have more opportunities to work alongside our Matauranga Māori unit to create resources to use on the radio and online.”
An ongoing part of her job is the ensure announcers don't become complacent.
Tainui Live manager Trina Koroheke has worked in Māori radio for 18 years. Photo: Tainui Live website
"It's finding staff that are really passionate about this kind of mahi...they like the idea or being on the radio but I don't think a lot of them actually realise the reason that they are there is for the audience... it's just a handful of people that really get that and so will of their own initiative, develop their shows rather than it being groundhog day... our audience deserves more than that, they deserve better," she says.
