The Rock (radio station)

In 1998 The Rock began networking to other regions in the North Island. In 1999, The Rock moved to Auckland, and began broadcasting from there. Later that year, Energy Enterprises and Radio Otago merged to form RadioWorks; as a result, the station was networked into the South Island. In Christchurch, Radio Otago had already been operating their own rock station called C93FM and this station was networked to Dunedin and Invercargill, C93FM actually played a Classic rock format similar to Radio Hauraki. RadioWorks replaced C93FM in Dunedin and Invercargill with The Rock and kept C93FM operating in Christchurch, but changed its format to Adult Contemporary and launched The Rock on a separate frequency. C93 no longer operates as the station failed to attract listeners after the format change. Christchurch C93FM listeners were gutted that their local Classic Rock station had a format change and had to give way to a Network station, the phones rung for weeks with upset listeners not liking the format change to Adult Contemporary. Today The Rock broadcasts in almost every market in New Zealand.[1]

The only remaining original member of The Rock crew is Rog. Other DJs left, including Greenman, who went on his OE to the UK, Beachy (Christopher Beach) who moved into sales and Julie Mofett, who now works at Radio New Zealand.

The morning radio show is known as The Morning Rumble, the members of which are currently Roger Farrelly (Rog, Big Dog), Bryce Casey(2020 Broadcaster of the year), Andrew Mulligan (Mulls) . Rog has been a co-host on the show since its inception. Simon Doull spent several years as a co-host, left and returned in 2015, when Bainbridge joined. In March 2011 Andrew Mulligan joined.

Bryce has attempted to break two world records during his tenure on the show, his most notable attempt being to break the record. He fell short by only a few hours, In June 2019 Bryce not only broke the world record for the longest time ten-pin bowling continuously, he also raised over $350,000 for the charity I am hope.[2][3]

Roger, or Rog as he's known, joined the Morning Rumble in 1994. Prior to that he had worked the afternoon shift at The Rock. Rog serves as a leader of sorts for the Morning Rumble crew, and his ongoing banter and power struggles with Bryce provide a lot of the show's entertainment. Mel provides the female perspective on the show and reads the news, while Andrew Mulligan reads the sports news. The producer is Ryan Maguire.

On Fridays a section of the show was called 'Do Stuff To Jono Fridays'. This formed a large part of the entertainment value and was an early distinguishing feature of The Rock. Jono was made the victim of stunts such as 'The Human Slushy', 'The Pyramid of Fire', 'Human Coleslaw', 'Sleigh of Fire', 'The Skater Ramp of Doom', a full body wax, and giving Jono a tattoo on his bottom but not telling him that it was a love heart with the other DJs names.

In 2006 when Jono got his own slot with Robert on weekday afternoons, the show then became "Do Stuff To Jimmy". Stunts included putting electrodes on his nipples, and other assorted painful and humiliating acts. Jimmy is no longer working at The Rock, and there is currently no 'Do Stuff' segment. A one-off 'Final Ever Do Stuff To Jono' stunt was planned and executed in September 2009, during which Jono performed a 'Mega Stunt' - riding a BMX bike down a steep slope, through pyrotechnics and a pane of glass, and finally scaling a ramp to jump over a parked ute.

The Rock organized a "win a wife" competition in early 2011. The winner would travel to Ukraine to meet a girl via the "Endless Love" dating agency. In response the Ukrainian group Femen organized a topless protest against this competition (in March 2011). A Femen activist advised: "Femen warns the 'lucky' winner of the New Zealand competition that he can expect an unhappy ending in Ukraine".[4][5]

Jen Bainbridge takes over on-air from 10:00am – 3pm fronting the 'Rock Workdays' show which also features a requests hour between 12-1pm.

The Rock's drive show has Duncan Heyde who is the EP / Anchor of the show with co-host Jay Reeve and Producer Jeremy Pickford.

Mike Garvey hosts Rock Nights. In 2018 he started training to 'Backflip his way into New Zealand Radio History' by learning how to backflip a motorcycle.

Monday Nights feature the long running medical advice segment The 'Dr. John Podcast', Hosted by Mike Garvey, Duncan Heyde and local GP Dr. John listeners call and text message through to the show with medical questions for an hour between 7pm - 8pm.

The Rock 2000 is an annual countdown feature, counting down the 2000 biggest rock songs ever, as voted by listeners in an online poll. The chart order, including which bands and songs feature on the countdown, are determined by listeners via a voting system on the station's official web site. The countdown runs on weekdays over a four-week period and is broadcast throughout New Zealand. In 2016, the list expanded by 50% as The Rock 1000+500, it was previously called the Rock 1000. Previous to that it was The Rock 500. From 2017 to 2019 it was known as the Rock 1500. Since 2020 it has been known as The Rock 2000.

• 2020 - Foo Fighters - "Everlong"
• 2019 - Pearl Jam - "Black"
• 2018 - System of a Down - "Chop Suey"
• 2017 – Rage Against the Machine - "Killing in the Name"
• 2016 - Metallica - "Master of Puppets"
• 2015 - AC/DC - "Thunderstruck"
• 2014 - Tool - "Stinkfist"
• 2013 - Tool - "Sober"
• 2012 - Metallica - "One"
• 2011 - Metallica - "One"
• 2010 – Rage Against the Machine - "Killing in the Name"
• 2009 – Metallica - "One"
• 2008 – Metallica - "Enter Sandman"
• 2007 – AC/DC - "Back in Black"
• 2006 – Guns N' Roses - "November Rain"
• 2005 – Metallica - "Enter Sandman"
• 2004 – Metallica - "Enter Sandman"
• 2003 – Pearl Jam - "Daughter"
• 2002 – Metallica - "One"
• 2001 – Nirvana - "Smells Like Teen Spirit"