OUR WONDERFUL VOLUNTEERS PAST AND PRESENT

The 15th to 21st June is NZ National Volunteer Week. Approx 53% of New Zealanders Volunteer. Volunteers do 231 millions hours, value 6.4 billion dollars in value. This is according to Stats NZ.   At Tauranga Village Radio we have 30 great Volunteers. Also the past Volunteers that have helped us stay on air for 41 years.  We broadcast approx 64 hours per week. An average week we need 21 announcers and 4-5 panel operators.  Each announcer does a 3 to 5 hour broadcast but add to that the program preparation time of 2-3 hours.   The hours being 7 days per week, the only day we do not do a live broadcast is Christmas Day, but a Volunteer does go into the studio so that a pre-recorded playlist can be aired.    Our broadcast hours :- 8-00am to 10-00am, 10-00am to 1-00pm 1-00pm to 5-00pm   We also have a librarian, web support, technicians, a Committee of 9, who are made up of the Volunteers, they all work as Volunteers behind the scences.   The satisfaction of all our Volunteers is knowing that they can bring enjoyable, varied, musical programmes and a friendly voice into the homes of our listeners.

VILLAGE RADIO WELCOMES CHINESE VISITORS

Saturday 7th June we had the pleasure of giving a tour of Village Radio to a group of about 30 from the Auckland Eastern Chinese Society. The group was organised by Mimi Hung who does a regular broadcast every month on Village Radio.The photo is of Grace whose birthday it was and our announcer, Penny Vaughan played a "Happy Birthday" record for her. For further photos check out our website www.villageradio.co.nz under Photo Gallery.

BACK LIVE STREAMING

     Thanks to our wonderful Tech Volunteers we are back to "Live" Streaming.     We had some great feedback that our Streaming had been missed. which we are pleased to say was for a short time only.

STREAMING PROBLEMS

We would like to apologise to our many listeners that use our Live Streaming App. We are having technical difficulties at present but hope to have it rectified shortly.

HISTORIC BROADCAST

This Sunday the 13th of April our 41st Birthday, Village Radio will be broadcasting on the historic vintage “High Fidelity” Collins 1 kw transmitter, that was donated by the NZ Broadcasting Service . The old transmitter was one of four identical units that were purchased by the Government, for the newly formed Commercial Broadcasting Service, in 1936. Our transmitter was originally broadcasting the programmes from the Auckland studios of 1ZB. It was later moved to the Bay of Plenty transmission complex that was situated at Paengaroa, near Te Puke, where it had been a “standby” emergency transmitter. From research and correspondence with the Collins Collectors Society in the USA it is believed that our transmitter, known as the Model 20C, may be the last one of its type still In perfect working condition, in the World.   Photo George Stewart with the historic Collins Transmitter.

GARETH WALLIS OF TAURANGA CITY COUNCIL INTERVIEWED

George Stewart’s studio guest on Monday afternoon was the General Manager of City Partnerships and Development, Gareth Wallis. He told our listeners about growing up in Tauranga, attending Tauranga Boy’s College before heading off overseas and playing in various bands.  Back in New Zealand he found work in a number of city councils before being appointed to lead the Tauranga Civic Precinct, Te Manawataki – o- Te papa...one of the largest transformational programmes ever undertaken by a local authority in New Zealand.    The buildings are pre-fabricated from treated pinus radiata in Nelson before being shipped to Tauranga to be assembled like a giant lego kit set...which speeds up the construction considerably. The Library and Community Hub are the first to be completed, followed by a Civic Whare (Meeting House) a museum and an exhibition gallery.