THE HENRY RUDOLPH SINGERS REUNION

Henry Rudolph formed his first singing group in Wellington in 1924, and by the 1960's, earlier choirs had evolved into a The Henry Rudolph Singers, a 20 voice singing and dancing troupe that performed throughout New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa, Sydney and Brisbane.   The Henry Rudolph Singers last performed in 1978, and now 47 years later, a final reunion was held in Tauranga from 14th to 16th February 2025.    Brian Williams interviewed former singer, Janice Winter, on Village Radio, on Wednesday 12th February and played tracks from their LP record. Others visited Village Radio during Eileen Roach's broadcast on Saturday morning, with some of the group having fun announcing the broadcasting of records of the earlier Henry Rudolph Serenaders. These were 78 RPM records recorded on the very historical TANZA label (To Assist NZ Artists).        Pictured are singers Janice Winter and Kay Hutchins at Tauranga Village Radio. 

HARLEY COUPER - CITY HERITAGE SPECIALIST & ARCHIVIST

George Stewart’s invited Studio Guest this week was Tauranga City Libraries’ Heritage Specialist, Harley Couper. Harley is part of a 7 person Heritage and Research team that collects, preserves, and makes accessible the documentary history of our region. In a wide ranging interview Harley spoke of a recent valuable collection of photographs of Tauranga’s dwindling Street frontage, taken by the late Rodney Giddens, who was our announcer Christine’s husband.    He also hoped our listeners would look up Pae Koroki, on the internet, which contains thousands of images of documents, photographs and newspaper files, going back to the beginning of Tauranga and the Western Bay of Plenty.       Photo Harley Couper going through the Archives

HISTORIAN BUDDY MIKAERE INTERVIEWED

On 5th February Brian Williams interviewed Buddy Mikaere, author, historian, consultant and organiser of the Waitangi Day celebrations across the Tauranga Moana.  After a fascinating and diverse career both in New Zealand and internationally, Buddy returned to Tauranga in 2011 to discover there wasn’t much happening to celebrate Waitangi Day, so he created a festival.Initially he sourced a large Marquee from a local iwi, and had it erected on land near Papamoa Beach. The festival kept out growing other venues, and this year will be the sixth time it has been held at The Tauranga Historic Village. The festival is evolving as an entertaining day out so everybody,  particularly children, come and have a fun day learning the significance of the Treaty of Waitangi. Participation of groups from a broad mix of ethnicities are also encouraged in celebrating their individual cultures at the Waitangi Day Festival. Photo - Buddy Mikaere 

VISITORS FROM SWITZERLAND

Our visitors today were  from Kanton Glarus in Switzerland, Rocky and Gertrude Hobi.     They are themselves enthusiastic radio people. They were absolutely thrilled to see our museum of old radios and our studios that broadcast to Bay of Plenty area and our streaming service to the wide world.   Photo of Rocky and Gertrude in our Museum

VILLAGE RADIO CHRISTMAS PARTY 2024

On Sunday, 1st December, Village Radio had there Christmas Party attended by Listeners and Volunteers. There was entertainment by Ian Falconer on Clarinet and Ken Wadsworth on Saxaphone playing the music we like, nostalgia.   A series of raffles were presented by our own Santa Claus (aka Steve Lambie) and a delicious afternoon tea was enjoyed by everyone.    Photo Santa with raffle winner Tony Hunt

WE REGRET TO INFORM YOU OF THE PASSING OF STATION MANAGER, TONY RHIND

It is with deep sadness and fond memories that we announce the passing of our dear friend and station manager Tony Rhind on 23 Nov 2024.    Tony started volunteering with Village Radio in 2015 and has been leading our daily operations in recent years. His compassion, commitment, exuberance and endless energy brought so much colour and order to the Village Radio studios. Tony's sense of fun and passion for life brought joy to anyone he came in contact with.  Village Radio will broadcast a tribute to Tony from 1.00pm Friday 6 December 2024. Listen online through http://www.villageradio.co.nz  or on 1368AM in the Tauranga area.  Village Radio sends our love to Helen, Michelle, Chris, family and friends. We are missing you Tony.