Broadcast area | 25 markets in New Zealand |
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Slogan | "Todays Best Music Mix" |
Format | Adult contemporary music, Pop music |
Owner | MediaWorks Radio |
Webcast | MORE FM webcast |
Website | MORE FM website |
MORE FM is a New Zealand radio network playing adult contemporary music or Pop music. It is operated by MediaWorks New Zealand.
MORE FM broadcasts in 25 centres throughout New Zealand on 70 transmitters with a mix of local and network programming. The station targets a 25 to 49 year old audience and has the most local shows of any radio network in New Zealand. Currently there are 12 different breakfast shows and 15 day shows.
The MORE FM network has grown from a local Wellington station to a large Network brand developed through expansion, acquisitions and re-branding of local stations already owned by MediaWorks.
MORE FM first began in Wellington on 6 May 1991 as a local radio station. The very first station was started by Doug Gold and Craig Thompson; previously Doug Gold was the managing director of Wellington radio station Radio Windy. The very first song to play on the first MORE FM station was Rhythm of My Heart by Rod Stewart. In the early nineties MORE FM began broadcasting in Christchurch and Auckland, both as local stations separate from the Wellington station.
In the late nineties MORE FM's parent company The MORE FM Group was sold to CanWest Mediaworks who at the time were the owners of TV3 New Zealand; the sale also included The Breeze in Wellington and Channel Z. Programming was extended to Dunedin in 1997 as a local station but networked from Christchurch during breakfast and evenings. A fifth MORE FM station was started in the Waikato in 1999 as a totally local station.
In 2000 CanWest Mediaworks purchased RadioWorks which at that stage was operating 4 network brands across New Zealand and a local station in most markets across New Zealand. RadioWorks later became known as MediaWorks.
In 2004 MediaWorks began nationalising many of their local stations previously marketed as LocalWorks stations. Regions with just one local station had their station rebranded as MORE FM, regions with more than one local station typically had the station considered to be the flagship station in that area rebranded as MORE FM and secondary stations rebranded as The Breeze. Some markets had secondary local stations replaced with a network station run by MediaWorks. The changes saw MORE FM extended to more than 15 markets with all stations initially retaining their local announcers up to 7pm. The number of stations was later expanded to 24 after further station re-branding as well as MediaWorks purchasing other independent stations.