Radio Ruatoria ‘best thing in 100 years’

Press, 13 May 1987, Page 55

Radio Ruatoria ‘best thing in 100 years’

PA Hamilton Radio Ruatoria's brief stint on the airwaves was the best thing to happen to the troubled town for 100 years, says the principal of the town’s Ngata Memorial College.

“It has motivated Us to get our own radio station,” said Mr Amster Reedy. “It has welded the community together and been the talk of the town. It is the most positive thing to happen here in 100 years.”

He said the three weeks of broadcasts by the station has been “a great fillip for (Maori) language and culture.”

"Everyone has been listening from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. We will be sad to see them go.” Mr Reedy said the radio’s talkback format

had helped people to talk about the town’s problems which include a two-year spate of arsons. Hamilton’s Independent Broadcasting Company, which runs Radio Waikato and Waikato-Bay of Plenty FM station 89.8 FM, obtained a short term warrant from the Broadcasting Tribunal to run the non-commercial station from Easter until May 10.

The aim was to act as a catalyst, push the positive side of the town and get people talking to one another, said the 1.8. C. public relations officer, Mr Arch King There had been good feedback from all parts of the community, he said. The town’s hospitality had been warm with people taking in flowers,

food and cash donations to the studio which is situated in a vacant supermarket. Concerns aired on a talkback with the host, Margaret Evans, included lack of youth facilities, housing and health. Discussion on the arsons had not been predominant, he said. The station had also provided work experience for young people who had acted as receptionists, journalists, made dedication calls over the air, and taken telephone calls. Station staff who had been housed in a former forestry house, furnished by donation, had enjoyed the experience, but it had been very tiring, Mr King said.