New radio station woos baby boomers

By JULIET ROWAN and ALAN PERROTT

Auckland's newest radio station is bypassing hip young things in favour of an audience closer to the age requiring bypass and hip operations.

From Monday, Coast 105.4 FM aims to deliver pre-disco crooners and soft-rockers to the ears listeners aged from 45 to 59 - the baby boomers.

The boomer market is a magnet for advertisers and is attracting the attention of radio companies around the world, says David Brice, programming director for the station's owner, The Radio Network.

TRN already runs 91ZM, Classic Hits 97.4FM, Newstalk ZB, Radio Hauraki, Easy Listening i98.2FM, Radio Sport and Cool Blue FM, whose eclectic musical mix is now under review.

Coast's menu of hit artists like Dinah Washington, Neil Diamond and Manhattan Transfer will place the station somewhere between ZB and Classic Hits, says Mr Brice.

Ads will be limited to two at a time and only five minutes in total an hour.

News bulletins will be several minutes long and more frequent than at other music stations. Surveys show this is what the baby boomers want, says Mr Brice.

TRN paid $6.5 million for the 105.4FM frequency at an auction last November.

Rival CanWest NZ paid $6.3 million for another Auckland FM frequency, 100.6, at the same time.

The new stations will give Auckland's million-plus population the choice of 44 different radio stations, 29 broadcasting on FM and 15 on AM.

Although CanWest NZ will not say whether it plans to launch a rival easy-listening station for listeners aged 30 to 54, as initially reported, the company agrees baby boomers are popular with advertisers.

"It's a demographic that is heavy in consumers," said chief executive Brent Impey.