A History of Student Radio

From the illegal homemade AM transmitters run for limited weeks of the university term, campus radio stations rapidly evolved into a beacon for music-lovers. A four-part journey through 45 years of student radio in New Zealand.

Broadcasters who would go on to become household names recall their youthful antics, and all sorts of politics.

Student radio stations tap into the 'youth market' to generate advertising revenue; the 'alternative' becomes mainstream; and we hear about some of the non-musical exploits of student radio, including dubious news gathering practises, the art of making a student radio advertisment, and 95Bfm's 'Dad's Tips'.

We pull focus to the years following 2000 and zoom in on those to come, considering the place of alternative independent radio in the ever-changing modern media landscape.