105.7 Pulzar FM presented a promising alternative to the drab formula of mainstream radio, launching in April 2009 with a fresh mix of energetic music, fresh young announcer talent, local DJ’s and a true Christchurch attitude, based in the CBD and broadcasting to the city. Last Wednesday, Pulzar FM became another victim of the earthquakes, when the small local business was unable to keep up its payments to transmitter hosting company Kordia (a state owned enterprise).

Pulzar FM had done it hard, the directors paid one of the two highest fees nationwide for the frequency when it was purchased in May 2008, they then had to raise funds during the start of the GFC, culminating in the major investor they were negotiating with pulling out in the final week before signing, and then having to push back the launch date while they scrambled to raise enough funds to get to air. Launching on April 18^th, 2009 with a shoestring operating and promotional budget (the station had to be live by May to comply with licensing regulations), over the next 10 months the station’s audience share grew to 2.4% of the Christchurch total radio audience, and they captured 9% of their critical 18-24 demographic, out rating 91ZM by 2.5%. Interestingly, even with the top rated Pop/Dance format radio station in Christchurch, the Pulzar FM team kept hearing from clients that account managers from the media duopoly were continually lying about the station going under; and unfortunately now, possibly for the first time in three years, this has been borne out.

Sales slowly grew and as September started the station was budgeting that by year end they would be in a sustainable position, not bad for a new business trying to find ground in the midst of a global economic crisis where marketing budgets were being slashed and advertising agencies in Auckland wouldn’t look at local stations they weren’t personally familiar with (or affiliated with the two Nationwide radio companies).

And then the first earthquake hit Christchurch on September 4^th. After the earthquake the Pulzar team were unable to access their inner city studios for almost three weeks, and broadcast an auto-pilot programme until access to the CBD was opened and their 7 story building was cleared for occupancy. Then the long haul began. With many previously signed contracts cancelled, regaining the ground was very hard work indeed. The sales team struggled until early December when things picked up, thanks to education institution bookings and targets started being achieved again. By mid-February Pulzar FM was on track to exceed budget for the first month since launch.

And then at 12:51 on February 22^nd, everything changed again. The city was shaken, and while Pulzar Towers was still standing, everything in the CBD was off limits. Thankfully for the first few days power and internet remained on in their inner city office building so they could remotely upload broadcast material, providing vital information to the people of Christchurch at this most critical time.

After building a new studio server from backups and hosting it at their broadcast engineer’s home, Pulzar FM continued to broadcast 24/7 with announcers sharing the station manager’s small home studio to record, upload and broadcast announcements during March and early April. At no point after February 22^nd was Pulzar FM off air for more than an hour or two, even when relocating services.

In April they received a small insurance advance on their still inaccessible offices in the CBD and were able to setup new studios in Riccarton, returning live announcers and DJ’s to the mix, and continuing to provide vital earthquake recovery information with hourly earthquake information updates.

A small sales team did their best to market the station to potential advertisers, but post-quake many businesses stopped advertising altogether, and others only booked advertising with the main network brands (who were able to aggressively target existing and previous advertisers with special deals, spreading costs across their nationwide organisations, a luxury not enjoyed by small businesses that are only based in Christchurch).

Unfortunately unlike most other broadcasters Pulzar FM was not able to obtain any government funding for programming or running the station,  being told that NZ on Air did not fund any local programming (only nationwide), and is not part of the B-Net.  As well as being limited by their license agreement which only allows ownership of one radio frequency nationwide,  and not even receiving governmental advertising support (despite the creation of the local commercial frequencies because there was a need for local broadcasters),  it would appear the owners of these frequencies were setup to fail from day one. Even with the deck stacked against them Pulzar FM appeared to be on course for success, although earthquakes were never part of their planning.

Doing all they could just wasn’t making the ground they needed, and in September the station management started talking to some interested parties about the possibility of a partnership or sale arrangement. By October they, like many Christchurch businesses, were coming to the realisation that things were going to take much longer to come right than originally thought, and Pulzar FM were forced to lay off their permanent announcers, cutting costs wherever they could to survive.

And finally, when a sale and purchase process they were working through fell through on Dec 7^th, they had to advise Kordia that the hoped for solution had failed and services should be disconnected.

Pulzar FM was the dream of Andy Poulsen and Jason Akehurst, who launched the original low power station in 1999 to provide a different sound for the radio landscape in Christchurch. Pulzar FM was a passion project for the both of them, committing time and money to pursuing the dream, they built a local radio station with a strong audience, an amazing mix of up to 10 paid staff and over 50 volunteers working as DJs, presenters, promotional team members and announcers.

For some time it seemed that Pulzar FM would be the “little engine that could” of the local commercial radio stations launched following the release of frequencies by the outgoing Labour government in 2008. Big FM in Auckland failed spectacularly, XFM in Wellington never really gained an audience, and BOP FM in Tauranga closed its doors earlier this year, citing poor sales. Pulzar FM achieved excellent results in a short time, and most commentators agree that if it weren’t for the earthquakes, 105.7 Pulzar FM would now be competing well with the nationwide networked brands.

With the shareholders investing their life savings in the venture, the likelihood of liquidation is a daunting prospect, especially considering how things had been tracking prior to February 22^nd, but at this point, things are looking particularly dire.

Following the station going off air the station’s audience took to social networks, offering support to help them get back on air and commenting on the closure. Within hours hundreds of loyal listeners had had their say on the station’s Facebook page. The Pulzar team are now considering launching an online venture (pulzar.net) so that they have some way to keep the beats rolling, but ideally finding a way to return to the airwaves would be preferred by all.

The Canterbury earthquakes have been devastating for new businesses in the region, as without significant trading history obtaining post-quake funding and support is near impossible. Pulzar FM’s management team are applying to the Mayoral Fund and Recover Canterbury to attempt to get back on air, but are also realistic that this support may not be forthcoming and the earthquakes could spell the end of another dream by a team of loyal Cantabrians. For now, 105.7fm is just static. For how long, who knows? For less than the cost of one EQC inspector, Pulzar FM can be back on air and providing the energy to keep Canterbury running. Surely that’s a worthwhile investment in our future?