Raglan Community Radio (RCR) has been running its morning show for 6 months now and the new show with host Aaron Mooar is proving popular with both the audience and the guests.
“The new show means that the station is now actively involved in sparking debate and getting Raglan people to tell their stories.” said Chairperson Sean Reid.
“With the Morning Show all people have to do is be available for a 20 minute phone call” said Sean. So now the likes of Mike Moss from Waitetuna can come into his house from milking, have a 20 minute chat with Aaron and then be straight back to work after that . “Mike is very active in organic farming and has a lot to say but there’s no way he would ever have the time to produce his own show.”
Station Manager and morning DJ Aaron Mooar said “We want to be discussing the issues relevant to Raglan, aside from the occasional town meeting there is nowhere else that people hear debate around the things that are important to our community.”
He added, “We also hope listeners will hear about things that will make them proud to be a part of our unique community. This is a fascinating community to be involved in and I really enjoy getting to interview all the different people that can be found in and around Raglan. If I was just playing music for people to wake up to every day I’d probably get bored pretty quickly.”
And RCR is getting positive feedback on the new show with Rck Thorpe from Xtreme Waste saying, “Xtreme Waste has benefited from having a more structured programme that has increased listener numbers. We have also benefited from having an active programmer who is constantly interviewing and researching information on behalf of the community”.
And Bexie Towle from the Environment Centre adding, “Maui Dolphin Day had a record number of attendees, making it the biggest community event in Raglan in the last 12 months. Raglan Community Radio made it possible for us to communicate our message leading into and after the event; that our community cares about Maui’s Dolphin and our unique environment.”
In 2010 Raglan Community Radio conducted a phone survey to see what listeners were wanting from the station. According to Chairperson Sean Reid: “The overwhelming message from people in Raglan was that they wanted to hear more about their community”. From there the committee started a process of reviewing the station and brainstorming for possibilities. After a fortuitous visit to another community station in the South Island by then Chairperson Genny McLeod and some advice from FreeFM General Manager Phil Grey, Raglan Community Radio came up with the plan to employ someone to manage the station and run a daily morning show dedicated to all things Raglan.
There was a lot of work involved in drafting a strategy and setting structures in place to become an employer but finally on 3rd September 2012 a very tired committee was able to put their feet up and let the new Station Manager take over.
Station Manager and morning DJ Aaron Mooar first became involved in the station in 2003 when he was responsible for the popular but somewhat opinionated Under the Radar show. Having been off-air for a few years he is very happy to be back using the interview skills developed on that show. “If people don’t like what you do on the radio they just switch off rather than tell you about it but I gather Under the Radar wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea” says Aaron. “With the new show the point of it is to have as many different people involved as possible so I’m taking a different approach, but the show isn’t an opinion free zone either, we want people to be able to express themselves on air. “
Aaron also says that although they have yet to do another survey there has been plenty of positive comments. “As a DJ you sit in a room by yourself and usually don’t get a lot of feedback, but with the morning show we’ve had heaps of people saying they like what we’re doing – way more than for anything else I’ve done at the station. You don’t normally get to demand a conversation with a complete stranger but one of the joys of hosting this show is that I get to do just that.”
Raglan Community Radio is still settling into its pro-active approach to serving the community and there will be more changes coming, including the ability to report live from community events simply by using a smart phone and some clever software, so stay tuned to 98.1FM. The live signal can also be picked up from the station website www.raglanradio.com
