Also known as: Radio Active 89FM, RadioActive.fm, 2XA
Frequency: 88.6FM (formerly 89FM; originally 1500 AM / call sign 2XA)
Coverage: Wellington city and surrounds
Location: Taranaki Street, Wellington (current); formerly 75 Ghuznee Street; formerly World Trade Centre, Wellington Central; formerly Victoria University of Wellington Student Union building
Format: Independent / alternative — specialist shows, community music programming
Founded: 1976 (first planning meeting July 6, 1976; first broadcasts Orientation week 1977)
Active: 1977–present
Website: radioactive.fm
History
Radio Active began with a planning meeting on July 6, 1976, when commerce student Gary Lewis gathered a small group of Victoria University of Wellington enthusiasts to talk about building a campus radio station. The founding group — Lewis, Ron Bellman, Mike Stretton (an NZ Post Office engineer who built the transmitter), physics student John Futter, Kingi Morgan, and Roy Torlesse — stuffed a 100-watt transmitter into the roof cavity of the Student Union building and began transmitting on 1500 AM (call sign 2XA) during Orientation week in early 1977. By contrast, commercial rival Radio Windy was broadcasting at 5000 watts. The equipment was humble — often decommissioned government surplus — but the ambition was not.
The station’s name was chosen as a direct political act. In 1977, the American nuclear warship USS Truxton visited Wellington Harbour, provoking significant public protest in a country that would go on to declare itself nuclear-free in 1984. The students named their new station Radio Active in protest against that visit — a provocative choice that set the tone for the station’s independent, community-first identity.
Early broadcasting was severely constrained. The station required Broadcasting Tribunal warrants for each period it wanted to air, with 20–30 page application forms submitted at least two months in advance — and any of Wellington’s fully licensed commercial stations could object and delay the process. Warrants explicitly prohibited Radio Active from airing religious, political, trade union or other controversial content, and the station was barred from playing music that other stations were already playing. Despite these restrictions, Radio Active found a crucial niche: when Elvis Presley died on August 16, 1977, the station broke the news to Wellington while state broadcaster 2ZM waited for its scheduled bulletin. By 1979, Radio Active was broadcasting for six weeks a year in limited daily sessions. When Martin Fowler became station manager in 1980, the organisation had already grown to around 100 volunteers and staff, with the punk and new wave of the era replacing earlier safe playlists — record companies desperate to get new sounds on air were supplying Active with material the commercial stations refused to touch.
In 1981, Radio Active was granted New Zealand’s first FM radio licence. At 7pm on February 22, 1982, it became the first Wellington station — and the second station in New Zealand — to broadcast legally on FM, transmitting at 89MHz. That inaugural FM broadcast featured an outside broadcast in FM stereo from an orientation show headlined by Blam Blam Blam, the Newmatics, and Naked Spots Dance. Early FM sessions also captured live recordings of The Fall, The Birthday Party, and New Order. By 1985, Radio Active was essentially full-time: on air Monday to Sunday from 7am to 1am, February through December. The transmitter and aerial were relocated to Tinakori Hill (now Te Ahumairangi Hill) with directional lobes targeting the city centre, the south, and the Hutt Valley.
The station’s commitment to local music was already setting it apart from Wellington’s three commercial stations. As station technician Mark Roxburgh later observed: “There were three commercial radio stations in Wellington, and none of them were interested in local original music. Active was the only station that would play local bands’ demo tapes and recordings and promote their shows on air.” This extended to supporting artists the commercial stations actively dismissed — Herbs‘ “French Letter” and Toots & The Maytals’ “Beautiful Woman” were playlisted on Active while 2ZM and Radio Windy declined, with a Radio Windy spokesperson citing their target audience as “white collar” and “adult.”
In 1983, Mark Cubey launched what is widely recognised as New Zealand’s first hip-hop radio show, initially called Uncut Funk (later The Wednesday Night Jam). Now one of the world’s longest-running hip-hop shows, it has remained on Radio Active for over four decades. Cubey would later serve as station manager (1996–1998), launching the station’s “@” logo (designed in collaboration with DJ Jimmy Future) and driving a push toward greater professionalism. Also in the 1980s, the station nurtured Wellington’s DJ and club culture through the Uncut Funk show, which showcased the talents of Tee Pee, Rhys B, and Clinton Smiley at different points across the decade.
In 1987, DJ Gerald Dwyer founded and hosted The Wild Wild Rock Show on Radio Active. Dwyer went on to manage both Shihad and Head Like A Hole — and Radio Active was the first station to play both bands, promoting their early live shows and giving them their initial radio exposure in a city that would become one of New Zealand’s most fertile rock scenes. Around the same time, John Campbell hosted an alternative rugby commentary show called Sparky Plug — one of several on-air personalities who would go on to wider New Zealand prominence. Long-running shows from this era include Roy’s Time Machine, presented by founding member Roy Torlesse from 1985 (still broadcasting on Saturdays 7–10am), and The Session, a Thursday night programme that began in 1986 with Pete May and Andy Miers.
The station’s relationship with Victoria University of Wellington Students’ Association was tested repeatedly. In 1987, VUWSA president Andrew Little (later leader of the Labour Party) moved to defund the station, arguing it did not serve the association’s objectives — the motion was voted down unanimously. A more serious crisis came in August 1992 when the station was evicted from the Student Union building amid financial difficulties. TV3 news coverage of the eviction prompted negotiations, and the standoff was resolved by the formation of Radio Active Ltd, with 19 shareholders investing $2,000 each. The station was now independent — though the transition was not painless. In 1993–1994, an office manager embezzled nearly $40,000 from the organisation.
Through the 1990s, Radio Active became a crucial hub for Wellington’s emerging alternative and reggae scenes. The station championed The Black Seeds — who originally formed as a loose collective called The Active Assassins for a Marmalade Audio Christmas party, with founding members including Barnaby Weir, Rich Christie, Shannon Williams, and a young Bret McKenzie (later of Flight of the Conchords). The late-1990s bass and reggae scene was championed through the Homebass show and shows like Roots & Culture, hosted by John Pell, Danny Lemon, and Chris Faiumu. In 1997, Radio Active became one of New Zealand’s first stations to broadcast online with 24/7 streaming.
The Radio Active label produced two early recordings that would prove historically significant. In 1998–1999, the station released a compilation featuring a track called “Hope” by the group that would become Fat Freddy’s Drop — one of the earliest documented recordings of the band. A second Radio Active label release followed in 2000. Journalist Martyn Pepperell has noted that Radio Active “were a platform that helped make Fat Freddy’s and TrinityRoots what they are now.” In January 1998, the station relocated from its university origins to the World Trade Centre building in Wellington Central (which staff nicknamed “Active Towers”), sharing the space with Marmalade Audio. The station’s 21st birthday was celebrated on December 21, 1998 at Wellington Town Hall.
The early 2000s marked a golden era. Radio Active’s Waitangi Day festival, One Love, had begun as a modest beach event; when it relocated to The Dell in Wellington’s Botanic Gardens in 2001, around 5,000 people attended. By 2002, the event had moved to the Wellington Velodrome and drew over 12,000 people; by 2006 nearly 15,000 were attending annually. Headliners across this era included Fat Freddy’s Drop, The Black Seeds, and Trinity Roots. The station also ran the Handle the Jandal annual music video competition and awards night at The Embassy Theatre, running until 2009.
By 2011, difficulties were accumulating. One Love was cancelled and never returned. A regulatory requirement for equal frequency spacing on the FM band forced the station to shift from 89FM — the frequency it had used since 1982, long embedded in its branding — to 88.6FM, at significant cost. The station was evicted from Victoria Street and relocated to 75 Ghuznee Street. Infrastructure deteriorated, a transmitter failed, and one studio had to be moved into the kitchen due to acoustic problems. The station rebranded as RadioActive.fm to reflect its growing online presence.
In February 2017, a Stuff headline read “Days numbered for Wellington’s Radio Active.” Director Nicholas Bagnall had been personally financing the station’s losses and issued a public plea: unless someone stepped in by March 15, the dial would go quiet at 88.6FM. The response from Wellington’s creative community was swift. A Radio Active Charitable Trust was established, with Ross Steele as chairman and support from Cuba Street businesses, Wellington Mayor Justin Lester, and Fat Freddy’s Drop. A Givealittle campaign targeting $88,600 (a neat nod to the frequency) raised $91,010. A benefit gig was organised by Loop Records’ Mikee Tucker. The station was rescued, relocated to new premises on Taranaki Street with a new Airence broadcasting desk and a dedicated live-to-air performance room.
Today Radio Active operates as RadioActive.FM, owned by the Radio Active Charitable Trust, with a weekly listenership of approximately 45,000. The station is part of the Student Radio Network alongside 95bFM, Radio Control, RDU, and Radio One. With more than 100 volunteer DJs — some of whom have been with the station for over 40 years — it remains New Zealand’s longest-serving FM broadcaster, still championing the independent and alternative sounds that have defined it since 1977.
There were three commercial radio stations in Wellington, and none of them were interested in local original music. Active was the only station that would play local bands’ demo tapes and recordings and promote their shows on air.
Mark Roxburgh, station technician, AudioCulture