Former staff marked the 50th anniversary of Radio Avon's first broadcast by taking over community access radio station, Plains FM on Saturday morning for a special one-off radio programme.
Radio Avon was launched in Christchurch on August 4, 1973, and was the city's first private radio station.
It proved wildly popular, shaking up the establishment and forever changing the face of commercial radio.
Former announcer Morry Shanahan said it had been a long time since he had been behind the microphone.
"Radio Avon was arguably the most successful radio station in New Zealand history, in fact, maybe even in the world. At one stage we had over half of the whole population of Christchurch listening to us."
"We just gave the people what they wanted and it was new and it was exciting and it was fun and much simpler time back in 1973".
The introduction of Christchurch's first private radio station heralded a new era for the medium and began a massive shift away from government-owned stations that had dominated the airwaves.
Radio Avon was known for its top 40s music, crazy promotions and local news, keeping its Canterbury audience engaged and entertained.
Former copy writer Shaun Fay said they were doing stuff that no one had ever done before.
"We had all sorts of things, we had things like key mania. We would hide keys all round Christchurch, but then we'd forget sometimes where we'd had hidden the bloody thing, and there'd be people walking in the park with shovels looking for them so the local council wasn't happy with us".
The groundbreaking station remained on air for 17 years until the late 1980s, but as the radio market grew, it never quite regained the extraordinary success it enjoyed in the mid-1970s.
Around 40 former staff rekindled friendships and shared memories over the weekend, as they remembered the legacy the station had left... finishing the one-off nostalgic occasion with a celebratory Saturday night dinner.
By Geoff Sloan
- Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air
