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News
Radio DJs put fresh spin on Tamaki
Wednesday, 19 July 2006
By LEISHA JONES
• Tamaki and Districts Times
PANMURE community radio station Mountainside FM offers more than just easy listening.
Paul Clapshaw, Robert Houison and Bernice Hall are all about uniting and informing their Tamaki listeners. Times photo Michelle Hyslop
It calls itself “the voice of Tamaki” and began two years ago when Robert Houison saw there was a lack of public information getting to the community.
“We were relying on the papers to tell us what was going on and that wasn’t enough. Community radio gives us the chance to reach the public and play some decent music as well.”
Mr Houison and Paul Clapshaw, the production manager, run Mountainside FM out of Mr Houison’s home. The signal reaches Glen Innes, Mt Wellington, Ellerslie and areas of Pakuranga.
“If you can see the [Mt Wellington] mountain you should be able to pick us up,” says Mr Houison says.
The music is from the 1940s to the 1980s, with specialised programmes such as children’s story time, nostalgia gospel hour and big band swing time. They have 58,000 tracks available, most uploaded from original vinyl.
Most important to the semi-retired hosts is the role they play in keeping the community informed. Mr Houison describes their social commentary as the “electronic side of community news”.
Listeners’ Corner is an adlib style commentary by Mr Houison, while Point of View, by Mr Clapshaw, is a more in-depth social and political commentary.
“We’ll take on a lot of things the papers are too scared to take on. We don’t care if we step on anybody’s toes,” Mr Houison says.
He says people will approach them on the street, or call in with their concerns.
Then they’ll do the research, find out who’s responsible and “shake them up” to find out the truth and resolve the problems.
Mr Clapshaw has monthly meetings with police and Tamaki MP Allan Peachey, to keep them up to date with what’s going on.
This perseverance has seen Mountainside FM win their share of little victories, including claims of shutting down a number of “tinny houses”.
“We call it spot the tinny house. If you see a house near you that has people coming and going all the time and looks like it may be selling drugs, advise us and we’ll reinforce it with the police,” Mr Houison says.
The station, broadcasting on 88.3FM and 107.3FM, offers free advertising to non-profit community organisations and soon begins a fortnightly shopping report, hosted by Bernice Hall. The report will announce discounts specifically for pensioners at local shops and services.
Mr Clapshaw says they receive a lot of phone calls from people letting them know how happy they are to be hearing good music.
“We bring so much enjoyment to so many people. It just makes them feel good.”