On the 17th November 1921 the first radio broadcast was made here in NZ when the head of physics at the Otago University Professor Robert Jack broadcast from the University of Otago.

There was no doubt that the professors work was avidly followed by local listeners and by mid 1922 there was an enormous growth in the interest in radio. On the 1st August 1922 the inaugural meeting of the Otago Radio Association was held and the association met again on the 4th October where the first broadcast was held using the call sign DN and then each Tuesday and Friday evening on 1000 kc with a power of 50 watts from the old Technical School Building in Moray Place. Over the next seventeen years the station had call signs of 4AB and 4ZB and when the government's commercial of the ZB network was set up in 1937 the Radio Association's call sign was changed to 4ZD until 1948 when it was changed to 4XD.

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50 years of broadcasting by 4XD was celebrated in October 1972 with a special 50th Anniversary dinner at La Scala and a week long outside broadcast from the window of the then DIC in the Octagon. This was probably the first outside broadcast in the station's history. OB equipment was kindly provided by the NZBC.

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In late 1989 the Labour Government decided it was time to deregulate broadcasting in NZ this meant that any station who held a licence could turn commercial and broadcast 24 hours a day. So in October 1990, 4XD went full time commercial. It was decided we needed to change our call sign as 4XD had the stigma of a station that broadcast religious programmes when on the air. Now being commercial all of the religious programmes were dropped and it was decided to call the station Radio Dunedin from that point on.

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From 1993, Radio Dunedin was part of Radio Otago (which later became RadioWorks and MediaWorks). Neil Collins and Owen Rooney were popular presenters during many years of high rating success for Radio Dunedin. 

Skip forward a couple of decades...

100 years of broadcasting was celebrated in October 2022. 

In 2025, and in a challenging media environment, Radio Dunedin's survival is thanks to a partnership with Radio Aotearoa. 

Programmes from Radio Aotearoa and The Platform are aired from 6am to 12pm on weekdays.

Followed by afternoons with Barbara Hamilton from 12pm to 6pm weekdays.

Outside of these hours, the station's programmes are presented by volunteer announcers of the Otago Radio Association (weeknights, weekends and public holidays). Volunteer power continues to be significantly valuable, into our second century of providing real radio to listeners in Dunedin and beyond. 

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A full history is available in the book 'On Air for 100 years - The Otago Radio Association 1922-2022' by Jim Sullivan. 

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