4ZA
 |
|
| City | Invercargill |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Southland |
| Frequency |
98.8 MHz 90.4 MHz Te Anau 864 KHz (until 1994) |
| First air date | 1956 |
| Format | Adult contemporary |
| Language(s) | English language |
| Transmitter coordinates | 46°24′38″S 168°21′14″E / 46.4105°S 168.3540°ECoordinates: 46°24′38″S 168°21′14″E / 46.4105°S 168.3540°E |
| Owner |
Radio New Zealand until 1996 The Radio Network after 1996 |
| Webcast | Livestream |
| Website | Official website |
4ZA (now known as The Hits Southland 98.8) was an adult contemporary radio station in Southland, New Zealand.
4ZA began broadcasting in Southland on 820 AM in 1956 as a commercial station operated by the Radio New Zealand (which at the time was known as the National Broadcasting Service). With the change in band frequency spacing in late 1978, 4ZA moved to 864 AM. Before 1989 radio stations in New Zealand were assigned call signs; 4ZA was branded as its call sign name 4ZA until 1993, when it became Classic Hits ZAFM.
In 1979 John "Boggy" Mcdowall joined the station and took on the role as the breakfast show host. Despite all the changes made to the station, Boggy remained the station's breakfast host until the end of 2012. For a time Boggy was also the station's Programme Director.
In 1991 when it began broadcasting on 98.8 FM, 4ZA was the first commercial station in Southland to broadcast on FM. Years later 4ZA also switched to FM in Te Anau, broadcasting on 90.4FM. Between 1991 and 1993 4ZA ran a country music show on the AM frequency on Sunday mornings and a Classic Hits show at the same time on the FM frequency; the same was done weekday mornings where Talkback would run on the AM frequency. It was at this time that announcers started calling the station Classic Hits 4ZA-FM. From 7 pm to 6 am the station carried RNZ Community Network programming in simulated stereo.
In 1993 Radio New Zealand rebranded many of their heritage stations as Classic Hits, but some of the stations maintained part of the heritage name into the branding. For 4ZA the station became known as Classic Hits ZAFM. For most locals the change was seamless, as if the announcers had simply started calling the station ZA-FM instead of 4ZA-FM. The 7pm to 6am show was replaced with a stereo feed from Auckland branded Classic Hits, originally with Auckland advertising.
In the early nineties Radio New Zealand began rolling Newstalk ZB out across the country. In 1994 the 864AM frequency originally used for 4ZA was reassigned to Newstalk ZB with some local news content on the Newstalk ZB station read out by a Classic Hits ZAFM newsreader.
The station branding under the Classic Hits brand changed slightly from Classic Hits ZAFM to Classic Hits 98.8 ZAFM in 2001 and Classic Hits 98.8 in 2005.
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