Active support saves station - for now
It has been saved from death’s door, but now is the time for the resurrection of Radio Active.
An $88,000 fundraising drive starts this week for the Wellington radio station that launched and nurtured the careers of some of the capital’s most successful bands.
After 40 years - during which time it was instrumental in the early careers of Wellington bands such as Fat Freddy’s Drop, Phoenix Foundation, and Trinity Roots, as well as broadcaster John Campbell - it was announced earlier this year that the end was nigh for the station.
Company director Nicholas Bagnall, who had been using his own money to prop the station up, in February said the station had a month to find backers or it would go silent.
And Wellington rallied with businesses, bands, and people including San Fran Bath House, Havana Coffee Works, Southern Cross Bar, Havana Bar, Good Fortune Coffee, Mayor Justin Lester and Wellington City Council, Fat Freddy’s Drop, Rocket Fuel - and private donors pledging support.
That money meant the looming mid-March closure was avoided and the station was given a threemonth reprieve, chairman of the Radio Active Charitable Trust, set up to save the station, Ross Steele says.
‘‘We have three months to find our way from running at a loss to financial stability.
‘‘Radio Active’s listeners can help us by donating to secure the station’s future as a vibrant voice in Wellington radio.’’
The ‘‘ambitious’’ $88,600 fundraising drive would be used to keep key staff, pay rent, upgrade some of the studio’s ageing equipment, and hire a ‘‘muchneeded’’ advertising representative - a position the station has not had for about two years.
‘‘A lot of [the equipment] is pretty ancient. It is certainly not state-of-the-art.
‘‘It is not quite held together by Band-Aids but getting close,’’ Steele says.
Radio Active began as a Victoria University station in 1977 before being bought out by shareholders in the early 1990s.
For more information and to donate visit givealittle.co.nz/ cause/radioactive