You can also view this here: http://web.archive.org/web/20070630031816/www.agouti.com/feature.aspx?id=60 and you used to be able to view it here: http://www.agouti.com/feature.aspx?id=60.
I just came back from two weeks in New Zealand. One of the biggest things I noticed was that there are a lot of hills there, and this inhibits the ability to pick up FM signals on the car stereo. It is imperative to have a CD player when crossing the country.
Living in the Bay Area, I often take good music for granted. In the South Bay I can listen to Santa Clara University’s station, while in San Francisco or the East Bay I can listen to UC Berkeley’s finest. And of course at night I can pick up AM stations from as far away as Colorado. I should be so lucky to do this in the land of Kiwi.
New Zealand is a great country, don’t get me wrong. They have lots of things growing (I believe they are called trees), and the people are really friendly. But a spin down the FM dial results in much Celine Dion and Backstreet Boys ilk, although I admittedly did hear one Dinosaur Jr song.
Really, the best thing about New Zealand radio is the commercials. Something as simple as a cobbler’s shop becomes the most amazing concept ever, with the animated discussions and sound effects offered by their advertising production teams. Lots of sound effects. It borders on watching Yogi Bear when he is being chased by that ranger guy.
The citizens are always happy. You could run over their sheep with your campervan, and they would be happy because the tough decision of “What’s for dinner?” would be solved, not to mention wool sweaters for all. I think this happiness is rooted in their ever-lovin’ radio.
The point is that their radio is designed to make Kiwis happy, not tourists, and if you’re from Iowa, then maybe this stuff sounds great to you anyway. Any station that plays what I want to hear is never going to make money anyway (take that, Radio@Netscape!).
So bring a CD player. It will become your friend. Or if it is already your friend, it may get promoted to best friend. Just don’t let your former best friend find out. There’s something about new best friends and old headboards, but I can’t remember what. All I know is that it makes me want to go buy used CDs.
Even with a CD player, you are not home free. Well, you aren’t home at all. You’re on vacation in New Zealand, but I digress. Some of the scenic roads there are not paved (or as they call it, sealed). So when you drive on gravel, it can make the CD skip. I never did find a good solution for this.
Be sure to bring your tunes with you, because most of the CDs that are sold there are not the cool import CDs that you can resell when you get back home for double what you paid. And CDs tend to start around $21 (including tax). There was a kiosk at an airport selling The Clash’s Greatest Hits for only $7, however.
If you are insistent on hearing the local flavor (or is it flavour?), may I recommend sports talk radio? Everybody, his mother and his mother’s children call in to these shows, but they don’t talk about football, baseball or basketball. It’s all about cricket, rugby and netball. Quite a crazy lot, those New Zealanders.
A good thing about CDs is that they don’t have that regional crap like DVDs do. A CD will play in New Zealand, New York or New Delhi. And I’m not sure that there is a lot on FM radio in New Delhi that I would want to listen to anyway. All I know is that, according to Clerks: The Animated Series, all the convenience store workers are American and refuse to speak Hindi.
I was really looking forward to seeing some bands while I was down there, just to see what the scene is like. But for the most part the towns are really small and far apart, and I got the impression that Split Enz was the pinnacle of Kiwi music, and a musician best not try to approach those levels again, because they would just fail. Hence, I noticed many cover bands playing in clubs.
New Zealand radio does do something right, which all radio stations do, actually: They are not TiVo compatible. You better listen for that Bryan Adams song when it comes on because otherwise it will pass you right by, and there will be no remorse from the DJ. Pay attention to those speakers.
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