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The 95bFM Bombathon

  • bFM's community smash target, and how!

      27 November 2015

    The 95bFM Bombathon is now over, with current total pledges of $51,976.90. The original target of $45,000 was reached around 5:20pm last Sunday, with official Bombathon activities ending at midnight that evening.

    The decision was made to keep the fundraising page open for longer to account for TradeMe auctions that closed this week, and a couple of days of the Givealittle page being intermittently being down following the death of Jonah Lomu.

    bFM brought back the Bombathon - a historical fundraising event started in 1990 - to raise funds for new equipment and digital infrastructure.

    The week saw multiple outside broadcasts, charity events, dozens of live performances, a Friday night live-streamed telethon, and special guest hosts including Liam Finn, Lawrence Arabia & Anika Moa.

    "It was one thing to reach our target, but the validation we received from our community was an incredible bonus," says bFM General Manager Hugh Sundae.

    "The hundreds of messages from listeners in Auckland and all around the world really floored the team, and go to show that even after 45 years we're still play a meaningful part in Auckland's cultural landscape."

    Attention now turns to working through the shopping list in an orderly fashion. Donors and the wider bFM audience will be kept up to date on our website and social media channels of our purchases as they happen.

    95bFM, an independent radio station with charitable status, thanks the hundreds of donors, and dozens of volunteers and companies who contributed to making Bombathon 2015 a success.

    For further comment please contact General Manager Hugh Sundae on 021 225 9640.

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    • 25/01/2016 by bhntvyet

      01/01/1967

  • bFM offers some creative radio freedom—for a price

      18 November 2015

    Auckland's 95bFM is currently celebrating its 45th birthday. And, as part of “The 95bFM Bombathon” campaign, a throwback to a 1990 pledge-drive campaign, the DJs are putting their feet up and auctioning off three hours of airtime in which the winners can take over the station from 9pm to 12am on Sunday night.

    General manager Hugh Sundae says the winners will be given the freedom to do as they please - to a point.

    “They can interview who they like, they can play whatever music they like, they can hold a talk back whatever. We have ads booked every hour so as long as they play their ad breaks and don’t get us in the shit with the BSA.”

    The auction encourages advertising executives with some extra cash to burn, competing networks hoping to do a lame stunt, or anyone holding a grudge if their demo was never played back in the day to get bidding.

    “Obviously our hope is that [the winner is] someone who kind of shares our values and who likes the things we do and is kind of in keeping with that, but at the end of the day if they are going to drop $9500 and if the auction does take off and everyone goes hard, if they have that kind of money then they can pretty much do whatever they want,” says Sundae.

    If the $9500 reserve is a bit too much, also up for auction is a “party for two”, including festival tickets, a mystery tour, and the possibility of skydiving and a limo ride.

    Until midnight Sunday, the station, which is a charitable trust, will play host to a non-stop “carnival of broadcasting mayhem” including a replay of archived moments, live-to-air bands live streams, special guests and alumni, a Friday night video telethon and on Saturday a party at Real Groove Records to release a limited edition 45RPM 12” LP of Darcy Clay’s 'Jesus I Was Evil' with some original band members and special guest vocalists performing cover tributes.

    bFM hopes to raise $45,000 by midnight Sunday so it can continue to do “bigger and better” things for the next 45 years. So far 192 donors have given $19,573.11 to the givealittle page.

    Sundae says the event has also boosted the station’s audience numbers.

    “As a byproduct of doing the bombathon and raising the cash there’s an increased profile, a lot more people are listening to the station.”

    This means those who win the station takeover on Sunday will have a higher than usual audience to impress, although he was unwilling to specify exactly what its audience numbers are during that time slot.

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    • 25/01/2016 by bhntvyet

      01/01/1967

  • bFM’s pledge week starts with a bomb

      16 November 2015
    Main image

    With a target of $45,000 (given our 45 years on air), 95bFM's week-long Bombathon pledge-drive has cracked through the 27% mark with contributions of $12,600 on its first day.

    The 45-year-old radio station is raising funds for new equipment, digital infrastructure and, fingers crossed, a second toilet.

    Today started with Breakfast hosts Max & Vince hosting the return of the Breakfast Bus, a bFM tradition that has been brought back for all five weekday mornings of the Bombathon thanks to Gull New Zealand, arriving at Mount Eden's Crystal Palace Cinema for a raucous performance from Rackets.

    Later on Morning Glory, host Esther Macintyre used the promise of juicy bFM gossip from the old days being revealed by alumni guest Gemma Gracewood to solicit further pledges.

    Local bands Dead Little Penny & Great North performed in the bFM office while broadcast online and live streamed on YouTube.

    Special guest hosts LeeFM (Liam Finn) and Lawrence Aradio (Lawrence Arabia) joined forces to present bFM Drive, with special appearances from Connan Mockasin via a FaceTime call from the U.S.. Later, Finn took a phone call with mum Sharon to air, managing to coax "two hundy" from her.

    Tonight's final outside broadcast is coming out of Newmarket's Lucha Lounge, with Dirtbag Radio doing a special fundraising edition with live performances by DHDFDs, PCP Eagles & The Echo Oh's.

    Tomorrow morning sees the Breakfast Bus first head north to fill up on biofuel at Gull Albany before heading back south to Devonport's The Vic for a BBQ & live show from The Echo Oh's around 8am (all welcome)

    The Bombathon is a historical fundraising event that bFM, an independent radio station with charitable status, started in 1990.

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    • 25/01/2016 by bhntvyet

      01/01/1967

  • Sunday Afternoon - The bCalm before the Storm

      15 November 2015

    Less than 24 hours before Bombathon goes live! We have an amazing schedule of radio and events lined up for the week. And thanks for your very generous donations - $8,700+ before day one!

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    • 25/01/2016 by bhntvyet

      01/01/1967