Radio New Zealand (Māori: Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa) is a New Zealand public service radio broadcaster and Crown entity formed by the Radio New Zealand Act 1995. It operates news, current affairs and arts network Radio New Zealand National and classical music and jazz network Radio New Zealand Concert with full government funding from New Zealand on Air. It is responsible for the Radio New Zealand International Pacific shortwave service and the Radio New Zealand Sound Archive. It has a statutory role under the Civil Defence Emergency Management Act 2002 to act as a lifeline utility in emergency situations. It provides cassette, compact disc and podcast recordings of programming through its Replay Radio service. It also broadcasts all sittings of the Parliament of New Zealand through its Parliament-funded AM Network.
The broadcaster is bound by the Charter and Operating Principles included in the Radio New Zealand Act, which is reviewed by the Parliament of New Zealand every five years and was amended in 2004. The broadcaster is required to provoke debate and critical thought, reflect New Zealand and Maori cultural diversity, cater for varied ages and interests, promote music and drama and create a sense of national identity. It must operate a news service, an international shortwave service and an archiving programme. It must also produce and commission high quality programming based on research of public needs, and balance mass appeal and minority appeal programming. In achieving these objectives, it must be socially and financially responsible.
Government-funded public service radio in New Zealand was historically provided by the Radio Broadcasting Company between 1925 and 1931, the New Zealand Broadcasting Board between 1931 and 1936, the National Broadcasting Service between 1936 and 1962, the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation between 1962 and 1975, and the Radio New Zealand state owned enterprise between 1975 and 1995. As part of the process of privatisation carried out by the fourth National government, the government's commercial radio operations were sold to private investors as The Radio Network and the government's non-commercial assets (known previously as New Zealand Public Radio) became the current Radio New Zealand Crown entity.
Famous quotes containing the words radio and/or zealand:
“A liberal is a socialist with a wife and two children.”
—Anonymous. BBC Radio 4 (April 8, 1990)
“Teasing is universal. Anthropologists have found the same fundamental patterns of teasing among New Zealand aborigine children and inner-city kids on the playgrounds of Philadelphia.”
—Lawrence Kutner (20th century)