Ara’s Broadcasting School Radio Station Reaches ‘Fever’ Pitch

From Monday the 3rd of May, groovy disco tunes entered Christchurch’s airwaves courtesy of Ara’s New Zealand Broadcasting School’s student station for 2021: Fever FM.

In April, the cohort of second-year broadcasting students pitched their radio station ideas to an expert panel of tutors and industry members, each team hoping that their idea would be chosen for a new station on 96.1FM.

Three teams went head-to-head: ‘Nox’ - a pop punk themed station came third place, in second-place ‘The Kickback’- a mix of cruisy dub and hip hop music, and 70’s inspired station Fever, which took out the top spot.

Each team has been crafting their concept for the last few months and presented on all aspects of radio station development including audience demographics and psychographics, market competition, promotional strategies, pricing and sales, and programming.

Laura White, Fever FM Promotions Manager said of the pitch process, "We really wanted to convey our idea to the industry and for them to love it as much as we did. Overall, the experience was a huge learning curve for us as it helped us to understand every aspect that goes on behind the scenes of radio and what makes a successful radio station."

Now that Fever has been chosen as this year’s station, all 24 second year students will be working on it over the next eight weeks while it’s on air, and the class of first year students will shadow them to learn the ropes.

"Fever FM is exciting as we are focussing solely on disco and all that disco encompasses. We want to bring the disco back to our audience and make them feel excited and the way they did in their disco days," says White. "Listeners can expect a fun, light-hearted, upbeat radio station that will make them get up and groove!"

The Fever FM team are currently in the process of planning their launch event which will be a disco-themed quiz night promoted via their website, Facebook and Instagram.

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