Radio New Zealand sends push alert notifications for historical news events

Cher wanted to turn back time, but it was national broadcaster Radio New Zealand who nailed it this morning after sending out a string of news alerts about events of the past.

The death of Prince Philip in 2021, a vote against a Brexit deal of former British leader Theresa May (three Prime Ministers ago) and a murder charge being laid following the death of Auckland man Denver Chance were among more than a dozen historical push notifications sent to subscribers of the broadcaster’s app.

The notifications also took news followers back to a time when Jacinda Ardern was Prime Minister and hustling tech companies and governments to back the Christchurch Call, which followed the deadly 2019 gun attacks on Christchurch mosques.

The historical push notifications inadvertently sent to Radio NZ app subscribers this morning.

When contacted, RNZ spokeswoman Kim Grade said the broadcaster was “very much aware” of the tech-induced blast from the past.

“We are aware that our RNZ app push notification system inadvertently sent out a series of previous news notifications this morning.

“This appears to be the result of a fix to another fault identified and resolved this morning.”

Historic push notifications sent to Radio NZ app subscribers this morning included news from several years ago.

RNZ apologised for the problem, Grade said.

“These notifications have now stopped.”

Cherie Howie is an Auckland-based reporter who joined the Herald in 2011. She has been a journalist for more than 20 years and specialises in general news and features.