Dunedin musician Lesley Paris will take up the position on October 6.
Ms Paris (46) has managed Otago University Students Association radio station Radio One for the past six years.
"As much as I loved Radio One, this offers a new challenge to develop a dynamic relationship with the wider community," she said this week.
"Access radio offers a huge scope for involvement with the different areas of the Dunedin community.
Dunedin is a multi-cultural city, but our diversity is, perhaps, more hidden and fragmented than many other cities.
"Toroa is a place to get all our different voices and stories out there.
"There are a lot of great programmes currently on Toroa and I want to promote them and encourage more involvement from potential programme makers.
"It's a medium for people who are under-represented in the commercial media, such as youth, women and minorities."
Ms Paris has been a Dunedin music stalwart since the 1980s, playing drums in bands Look Blue Go Purple, The Puddle and Olla, and still plays in Bad Horsey.
She also worked for Flying Nun Records from 1989-98 as sales and distribution manager, before taking over as New Zealand general manager when founder Roger Shepherd emigrated to England.
"Dunedin is a very creative city and a lot of creative people choose to live here.
"I think that's why access radio works so well here; because it's intimate, immediate and offers so many possibilities.
"There are no pictures, so people engage their imaginations. I love that about radio."
Hills AM Trust board chairman Pieter van de Klundert said Ms Paris' appointment would help usher in a new era as the station prepared to move to a FM frequency next year.
"She will bring a professionalism, energy and vision to Toroa Radio which will both engage, and provide a voice for, the wider Dunedin community," he said.
