The Hits (radio station)
radio station in New Zealand
The Hits is an adult contemporary hit music radio network, broadcasting to 26 markets across New Zealand. It was set up by the government broadcaster Radio New Zealand in 1993 by consolidating existing stations into a single brand and has been privately owned since 1996. The Hits has had the broadest broadcast reach of any radio network in the country since 1996, and is now available on 40 full-power FM frequencies and 18 iHeartRadio streams.
Most of the individual stations started out as local AM stations owned by state broadcaster Radio New Zealand. Many have given a platform to broadcasting names like Selwyn Toogood, Paul Holmes, Peter Sinclair, Jenny-May Clarkson (née Coffin) and Jason Gunn. John "Boggy" McDowell was an announcer on the Southland station for 33 years. Despite a major reduction in local programmes since 1993, most stations still have a local four-hour breakfast programme or a five-hour daytime programme.
An estimated 461,200 people listen to The Hits every week, including 123,600 people in Auckland region. The network targets 25- to 54-year-old homeowners, socially-active parents and price-conscious household shoppers. In April 2014, the network re-branded from Classic Hits to The Hits to attract more younger listeners.
“The Hits (radio station)” enters the record as radio station in New Zealand. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Hits, radio and station can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“The Hits (radio station)” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Hits, radio and station provides the most credible route into that argument.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 29, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5128170. The first chronological checks are 1993, 1996 and 2014.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
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Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “The Hits (radio station)”, its source revision and the description used here.
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “The Hits (radio station)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.