Broadcast area Wellington New Zealand First air date 26 November 2009 | Slogan Hit Radio! Format Hit Music | |
Owner Capital Media Group - New Zealand | ||
Hit Radio X105 was a radio station launched in Wellington on 26 November 2009. The station broadcast on 105.3FM in the Wellington region on one of the newly designated "local commercial licences" that were issued by the NZ Government in May 2008. As a result, New Zealand's largest radio companies RadioWorks and The Radio Network could not buy the station out. The station played a Hit Music format similar to that of ZM (which is a top rating station in Wellington) and The Edge FM.The station was unique in the fact that it was a 24-hour live station, rotating mid-dawn shifts which allowed for more cost effective announcing.
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Prince William BBQ gatecrashing incident
In January 2010, Iain Stables spurred on X105 workmate Warwick Slow into gatecrashing a party held for Prince William at Premier House in Wellington. The party was to show the Prince a true New Zealand BBQ and when Stables realised that "Sizzlers" (a brand of New Zealand sausages) weren't on the menu Stables sent workmate Slow to Premier House armed with a pack of Sizzlers and a loaf of Bread. Slow managed to gain entry by jumping the fence and was on the ground for 8 minutes before being removed from the premises by Police. Stables conversed with Slow throughout the time via cellphone until the phone was confiscated by the police.
Closure of X105
On 14 September 2010, X105 closed down. No warning was given about its closure. All announcers were pulled off air, and all Facebook pages and websites were deleted. The station had only been on air for a short time (around 9 months). It is rumored that there was a dispute between the 2 primary shareholders and directors, Debbie Baker and Pradip Kumar, coupled with Stables being poached back to The Radio Network decided to discontinue the business venture. 105.3FM is now utilised by an independent station broadcasting content targeted at the Indian community.