"The Voice of The Kaipara"

Big River FM is a Dargaville based Radio Station transmitting throughout the Kaipara region, from the Waipoua Forest in the North to Warkworth in the South, and also into the fringes of the Helensville and Whangarei areas. Dargaville is a small town on the Kauri Coast of Northland, New Zealand.  

The station first went to air on 14^th February 1997 and has been broadcasting continuously since then, we are the longest running community owned and based  radio station in New Zealand. Operated and controlled by the Northern Wairoa Community Radio Trust we broadcast from well equipped studios situated on the corner of Station and Hokianga roads in Dargaville

We are run as a Charitable Trust with the object of providing information and entertainment to the public. We have been on air since February 1996, and in that time, have become an integral part of the community.

Big River FM has a potential listening audience of twenty five thousand plus. And unlike most radio stations, we have the luxury of catering to all music tastes, targeting specific age groups at different times of the day and night.

The DJ’s are all strong supporters of Kiwi music and will give Kiwi artists as much airplay as possible. The station is run by sheer hard work and passion, which is provided by an eclectic team of volunteers. This eclectic mix finds particular favour with visitors, who see and hear us as refreshingly different. But the Kaipara locals love to listen to BIG RIVER FM as it informs them about what’s going on locally.

A very high standard of professionalism is maintained by our pride in our radio, and we always endeavor to look at ways of improving ourselves through brainstorming sessions.

A recent survey shows that our target audience is Female 30-50yrs of age and currently we are structuring MON-FRI 6am – 6pm shows, around this particular target audience. We are starting to see the results from this approach already. We feel current clients are more than ever realising the effectiveness, that advertising with Big River FM is a great marketing campaign investment

This is the "Engine Room" of Big River FM, we have been fortunate over the years to secure funding from a number of agencies which has enabled us to install some hi tech equipment. Unfortunately, with advances in technology moving so fast they almost become out of date by the time they are installed. Our ‘on air’ automation system is operated by Simian software and those of a technical nature can find details here (http://www.bsiusa.com/software/simian/simian.php) The main control desk a "Klotz Paradigm" , (details can be found here http://mixguides.com/consoles/new_products/klotz-digital-new-consoles/ ) controls all the inputs from 3 studio microphones 2 CD players a cassette tape player and a record player (yes we do still play vynil). We also have inputs for our Auto on air program, outside broadcast unit and are able to put callers to our studio number directly on air through a telephone hybrid. There are numerous other access points that can be used for a variety of audio inputs including mini disc and MP3 players.

Monday-Friday Hourly (6am - 6pm): Saturday 6am-11am  News, Sport, Weather

Click here for a full list of shows

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