Off the record Radio Radio

Rip It Up, Issue 44, 1 March 1981, Page 18

Off the record Radio Radio

If you were in Auckland over the last two weeks of February and the first two of March, and you had your radio on, I bet it was tuned a little down from Hauraki.

In what should be, but probably isn’t a foretaste of FM, the University radio station, Radio B, presented a genuine alternative programme. As far as I know, they didn’t give away a single sports car, and some of their DJs were more than a little tongue tied. Instead, they relied on playing what they knew a lot of people wanted to hear.

In their attempts to imitate the real thing, they did fall into the rut of playlisting (I would be quite happy never to hear 2.3 playing ‘All Time Low' again for one) but you could guarantee not to hear any of their listed songs on average ZM day. The biggest reason for that was their high proportion of local music. All the records and unreleased tapes which never get a look-in

on ‘proper radio’ were an unanswerable argument for needletime laws. After Radio B, it’s going to be awfully hard for station owners to claim a shortage of local material of sufficient quality.