30 May 2002

Broadcasting Minister Marian Hobbs says the radio industry's voluntary commitment to play more New Zealand music is already showing promising results. And NZ Music month, which is coming to an end, will give the voluntary quota a huge boost.

"Figures for the week to May 26 reveal New Zealand content of 20 per cent across all commercial stations sampled," Marian Hobbs said. "NZ content on rock stations was almost 30 per cent. The challenge now is to maintain the momentum.

"Coming on top of first quarter returns to the New Zealand Music Performance Committee, which monitors the quota agreement, this is great news. The overall local content for the first three months was 13.2 per cent, up 1.2 per cent on the previous quarter. The "Rock" category in particular jumped five points to 25.4 per cent.

"This is a great start to achieving the 2002 target of 13 per cent and moving ultimately to at least 20 per cent in 2006. Given the extremely successful NZ Music Month of May I am quietly confident we will see the target exceeded.

"I congratulate all those involved in ensuring that we get to hear more of our talent on the airwaves.

"This helps ensure that the enormous potential of our vibrant creative industry can be met."

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