RadioActive: Pōneke’s Pulse of Alternative Sound and Student Culture

By Ryan Cleland

In 1976, Salient ran an advertisement for a small radio-station club on campus. The following year, the student radio station RadioActive was born, and with a 2 week licence, it began broadcasting on 126khz. Now, 48 years later, RadioActive is a thriving alternative radio station headed out of Taranaki Street. What began in the old VUWSA building is now supporting 45,000 average listeners weekly. Early last year, at the encouragement of VUW’s very own media and communications lecturer Geoff Stahl, I began to intern and volunteer my hours there. Just this month, I sat down with the current Station Manager Nick Medder (Known as Club Medder on air) to speak about the station's operations, its history, and how us students can get involved.

I arrived on a typical Tuesday afternoon after slogging through my SWEN221 lecture. As I turned into RadioActive, I was met by Medder. He wore a relaxed tie-dye shirt and a pair of jeans. I was greeted with the typical “Hey Man!” – very befitting of the relaxed and whanau-oriented vibe they give off. Medder has been at Radioactive as Station Manager since late 2023 but, as he tells me, his history with the stations began in 2016 where – as a young student at the now-defunct radio training school – he flicked a message to the then-station manager asking to get involved. Next thing he knew, he went in, was told “say hello to the listeners, you are on air” and DJ’d his first Radio Active show. Nowadays, Medder still hosts a show (Check out The Wednesday Drive from 4-7), however, he is a large part of the behind-the-scenes as well. RadioActive is still a student radio and, along with 95Bfm in Auckland, Radio One in Otago, RDU in Christchurch, and Radio Control in Palmerston North, they make up the Student Radio Network, or SRN. The SRN is the governing body of all student radio in New Zealand. Medder tells me each Tuesday, he and the other station manager across the network get together for a weekly meeting. Here, they discuss future plans as well as the award show that they put on; last year, it was The Mighty Aotearoa Alternative Awards which celebrated both local acts and volunteers from across the network. RadioActive has always been a very busy place and that still hasn’t changed with over 100 volunteer DJ’s and announcers and over 50 shows a week, there are always things happening. 

You may have noticed RadioActive at the recent Newtown Festival or Park(ing) Day. RadioActive has always been very involved in the community of Pōneke. As Medder tells me, they've had an action-packed past few months, with several Roots and Culture (one of the many radio segments at RadioActive) being performed live from Moon Bar in Newtown. Then they were also seen at Massey’s O-Week events and clubs expo. They even had a little rave at acclaimed Mini-golf spot Carlucci Land! Speaking of Newtown Festival, unfortunately RadioActive’s usual stage was combined with another, due to a smaller budget given by the Wellington City Council (Medder tells me around $10,000 was missed out on compared to last year). With around 80,000 visitors through the festival, it's further proof of just how vital community-driven events like these are to Wellington’s cultural scene. Despite the budget cuts, RadioActive continued to bring their signature energy, keeping the festival alive with diverse sounds and a strong presence. Medder notes that while it was a challenge to adjust to the reduced funding, the team made the most of it, and much fun was had, proving that grassroots radio and live music remain essential to the city's creative heartbeat.

Medder tells me that RadioActive is always looking for people to help out around the place, in fact that's how I got my start. As a young fresher in MDIA103, our lecturer, the fantastic Geoff Stahl, offhandedly mentioned that he DJed at RadioActive weekly (check out Music Without Subtitles every Saturday 9-11pm for a fantastic variety of music from across the Globe) and that they were always looking for volunteers. After dropping into his office hours and a quick email to the station, I quickly found my new home. However, Medder says that it's not always as complicated as asking your Media Professor to put in a good word for you. He tells me the easiest way to get involved is to go to the website and just fill in a volunteer form on their website! Usually RadioActive gets a lot more volunteer forms than they know what to do with; Medder tells me that the best way to become known is to just write as much as you can! Specifically, to write a lot about the musical things you like to do, whether you DJ, play, put on events, or take photos of gigs. Sell yourself! RadioActive has always maintained an important distinction as a station where young people can gather the skills to grow. They can gain real hands-on experience to build up a resume in the radio industry. They provide a fantastic outlet for young students to practise DJing, video editing, review writing and much much more. In fact, it was so important in cultivating radio students that in 1984, when RadioActive was pushing to extend broadcasting hours, Doug Gold (then-manager of the private radio station Radio Windy) advocated for the extension, even though many other stations were against the student radio stealing time and listeners from more full-time stations. He labelled RadioActive “an important training ground for radio talent.”

RadioActive is not only a hub for radio talent, but it is also a place where a lot of young Kiwi bands get their start. Every Friday, an up-and-coming New Zealand band, often from Wellington, performs a half-hour set – usually 3-4 songs – and in between are interviewed live-on-air. A lot of the time, it's emerging artists that you might not have seen live before, which is a great opportunity, as one of the requirements for NZ On Air to secure funding for a music video or studio time is having done a live session with a studio from SRN. It's always a great opportunity to hear some music you probably haven’t heard before (similar to our upcoming Salient Live, set to take place at San Fran on April 5th). 

RadioActive has had a storied history at our university. From its early beginnings as the “Victoria Radio Club,” it was a part of VUWSA, until 1992. Due to strained relationships between itself and VUWSA, as well as a mounting $30K debt, VUWSA made the decision to evict the station. Given just minutes to leave, the staff set the song ‘Fight the Power’ on the station on repeat before staff were forced to leave and a security guard was stationed at the door. An uproar proceeded – TV3 brought a news crew to the altercation  –  but eventually, after negotiations between Michael Walls (then-station manager) and VUWSA President Cushla Aston, staff were allowed in once more and music began to be played again. Soon after RadioActive Ltd. was formed between a collective of 19 shareholders who each invested $2000, in order to settle all debt and give the station some money to find its feet once more. RadioActive would stay in our student union building until 1998 where they would finally move downtown to what became known as the “Active Towers” on Victoria Street. Nowadays, RadioActive is very much apart from the university. While RadioActive was seen at Massey Uni’s O-week and clubs day expo, they were nowhere to be seen on our campus. Asking Medder on this, it appears that there was a very clear attempt by RadioActive to come visit our Kelburn campus but after several emails back and forth, they were told they “would be a distraction,” and that was that. This is especially strange of the university, considering The Edge radio station was present at our club's expo. This lack of support for a Station that was born and raised at VUW is disappointing to see. Hopefully change will come as more and more students become interested in RadioActive.

RadioActive is now run by the RadioActive Charitable Trust and is now fully a charity. All the money made by RadioActive is for the betterment of the station and for the SRN. However in the current times, it is tough to be a business in Wellington. RadioActive relies heavily on show sponsors for the continued support of its show. Medder shared “it can be hard for them to support us if they have to support themselves.” Last year, RadioActive had to run a Givealittle campaign in order to continue broadcasting, and unfortunately, they may have to do it once more again. However, all is not glum, RadioActive still has many ways you can help. For example, a perfect little hack for students is the Active card, which is a perfect gift for others or yourself and a great way to give back to the community. At $5 a month, or $60 a year, you get access to exclusive deals across Pōneke including cheap mini golf, free yoga classes and even 20% off drinks at San Fran! The Active card is the perfect way to support local student radio as well as saving big time at that San Fran gig you’ve been eyeing up.

I closed up my meeting with Medder by asking him more about himself. Besides being station manager, he also hosts The Wednesday Drive under the moniker ClubMedder. When he does his show, he likes to have a wide variety. His mantra is that “if I’m listening to it, it'll be something I enjoy”. On his mix, you’ll always hear anything electronic, house, techno, trap, UK Garage  – the list goes on. He also chucks some jazz,indie, or even reggae. If you are after a wide range of music, I reckon you should check out the Drive on Wednesdays at 4-7.

Medder tells me that right now, he’s really taken with Kiwi musicians Caru & Brandn Shiraz. They released their new EP “Back 2 Back” in January of this year and is a perfect throwback to all things UK Garage. If that seems like your thing, check ‘em out.

I left RadioActive that day assured that the pulse of Wellington's alternative scene is very much alive and beating, thanks to the dedication of its volunteers and passionate staff. Once again: check ‘em out at 88.6 FM anytime, and if you're ever interested in helping out, feel free to flick ‘em a message. It’s what I did.