Celebrating 20 years of Niu FM with Lui Vilisoni-Oliver
Lui Vilisoni-Oliver Niu FM & 531 PI Program Director at the PMN offices in Manukau vs Lui back in the day on air at Niu FMs Brown Street studio.
Update to original story -
On the 14th June 2023, Niu FM was one of 8 commercial and regional radio stations given a NZ on Air Award for playing more than 20 percent local music content over the airways in 2022 at the NZ on Air Music Showcase in Auckland.
They were also the only Pasifika radio station recognised with this award.
We talked to Programme Director for Pacific Media Network (which includes Niu FM) Lui Vilisoni on why it's been important to play out local NZ Pasifika artists vs overseas artists on the station.
"The first reason is, who else will champion our artists if not us? I see and hear so much quality music from our NZ Pasefika artists, but they’re not picked up as much.
I understand the challenge for NZ Pasefika musos to battle for attention, amongst giant commercial networks, in a giant pool of musical pop stars, so I love to play my part in showcasing them on Niu FM."
Last year was also a massive year for the station - 31st of August 2022 marked twenty years since 'Niu FM, the Beat of the Pacific' hit the airwaves around Aotearoa.
From the early days on Brown Street in Ponsonby to more recent times under the Pacific Media Network umbrella in Manukau, the proudly Pacific station has amassed a loyal following and has been the launching pad for not only many of your favourite Pacific artists but for many of the people on-air & behind the scenes.
As the station celebrates 20 years of Niu, we stopped in to chat with one of the last men standing ... literally. Program Director Lui Vilisoni-Oliver has been there from (almost) the beginning and apart from a two year stint at Mai FM has been one constant amongst the many on-air hosts and staff who have come and gone over the years.
He reflects back on his start, what he's excited about for the future, best advice he's been given and more.
Fakalofa lahi atu and Kia Orana, my name is Lui Vilisoni-Oliver, Niuean/Cook Islander from Hakupu & Tuapa in Niue and Rarotonga & Mangaia in the Cook Islands. I'm the Program Director here at Niu FM and 531PI.
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Niu FM is celebrating 20 years today - where in that 20 years did you start your journey?
I started a year after Niu FM had started. I was interning in 2003 for the Niuean Language Program at the time, this was one day a week and it was in the evening but I was in high school still - that's how I remember it. From memory Mario Gaoa & Oscar Kightley were on in the mornings, I think Teuila Blakely joined them a bit later. I remember Tu Alatini did the day show and Sela Alo did the afternoons or 'Pac Drive' it was called at the time.
It took me about 3 years to fully crack full time radio work. So from me interning with the Niuean Language Programme and I have to give a massive shout out to my Aunty Susana Hukui who was the Program Producer at the time. She was the one who really gave me the opportunity. Her and my Mum devised a plan to get me to make coffees and take phone calls and stuff.
From there I realised 'Yeah this is a job that I'd really like to do and I can do', so I went to Radio School in 2004 and I was still doing the Niuean Language Program, went to Radio School and then I started picking up weekend shifts until I ended up with a night show job in 2007. It's pretty much been my full time gig since then.
During that time I did nearly every single job that was here - I covered every show when people were sick, I did every time slot in the weekends and I even panelled the Tongan Language Show and I didn't even speak Tongan (laughs) but you know when people were away, those were opportunities to me, so I would work every public holiday possible.
I had a 2 year break and I followed my man Nate (Nate Nauer who did the breakfast show with Jandals), went over to Mai FM for a couple years and that was amazing cos that taught me so much that I didn't really learn here at Niu FM. It was a step up and of course it was mainsteam and it was amazing.
What brought you back?
I got tired of doing the on-air stuff. I didn't want to do on-air anymore and at that time I didn't know what I was going to do. We were heading into a new year and we'd started planning for the next year & I was just like 'I don't want to do this anymore, I'm tired'. So around that time, Niko (Niko Goulter who was doing the breakfast show) messaged me one day and he said that the audio production person was leaving and he asked if I wanted to come back and do Production.
To me, that was perfect timing because I really did want to do behind the scenes stuff and I'd even asked DJ Sirvere if there was any production work for me to do and there wasn't anything - it was a small team at the time so I was like 'Ok, I can go back' and also, I was keen to go back and pass on the things that I'd learned while at Mai. I thought it was my duty to give back and that's what brought me back here.
Getting into the Program Director role was not something that I'd planned on and truth be told I didn't see myself as a manager or wanting to manage people or even wanting that responsibility at that time. I kind of just fell into it because of my experience and the Program Director at the time, Nadia Marsh was on her way out and there was no-one really who wanted to do it or could do it, so I kind of fell into it and that's what's led me here, like right now.
Highlight of your 20 years?
I actually want to say that my highlight is right now. Right now because for the whole of my tenure at Niu FM, I have always felt like I'm seeing things from the outside and never really took in the experience or the things that were happening. I never took it in, until right now, right now that we're celebrating 20 years and it's only now that I'm like 'shucks I was there, I do remember that story, I do remember that time'.
I see people congratulating Niu FM and showing Niu FM love and I feel like I'm at a place where it's like 'actually yeah, I have been a part of that' and I like the vibe right now. I've spent all my milestones here at Niu FM, I turned 18 - I was at Niu FM, I turned 21 - I was at Niu FM, went to Mai and came back and I turned 30 (laughs) still at Niu FM! Yeah, it's crazy.
There have been many people in the industry who have gone on to be big names in the industry and even in other fields, why do you think Niu FM has been such a great springboard or starting place for our people?
This question has come up a lot over the years so I've had a bit of time to think about it and I don't think I have an answer but I think that Niu FM was fortunate because we were like a one of a kind entity. It was a radio station that was specifically for a Pacific audience and broader but that also meant Pacific talent, so for all of these Pacific creative people out there it was kind of a magnet for all of that because there was no other place to do that.
In TV you had to fight for your place in TV and theatre & all of that, it was all mixed but for Niu FM to be the only Pacific radio station - that was a magnet for all those Pacific creatives out there and they are out there, they're everywhere but yeah I think that they all just funelled in and Niu FM geared them up to go out and be greater.
More recently, there's been a change in content with the station opting to only play Pacific & NZ based artists & this was recognised with the award you won at the Pacific Music Awards and then spaces like the Wav.Room have started ... can you talk to us about this?
Truth be told we'd been left behind a little on the digital side and we see all the mainstream radios adapt to the digital side and I look at us and we're just a little bit slow off the mark. No fault of our own because it comes with a big $$$ bill.
There was a collective of us who were involved in starting the Wav.Room. I was part of it and proud to be as well but that came more from our digital team. The last couple of years have been a bit of a Trial and Error stage and I don't know if that's a great thing because we've been around for so long, so the trial and error stage should be done. So now we're trying to keep up as a radio station with how things are just changing so fast with the world and audiences so things like the Wav.Room we wanted to create a space where we could make more digital content - it's a whole digital play.
The change in music was a big push from me. It's quite an experimental side for Niu FM just for the reasons that I've talked about in trying to adapt to the changes around us and part of it is also me wanting to put my stamp on the place as well. For so long I've been the worker, I've been the follower and throughout all these years things that I've learned, both in the radio game and about myself as well I feel like 'Ok, I think now's the time that we can really do something that I feel can make a difference.'
Like with the Morning Shack, the Morning Shack was something that I'd cooked up together with Tim (Tim Te Ati Awa, co host of the Morning Shack)
The music situation as well, our audience out there are listening to way more music than just Pacific and local music and we don't stray away from it, we're going to support local no matter what and I loved getting that award cos that acknowledges that yeah, 69% of the music we play is local and we're proud to do that but we have to adapt somewhere as well, which is why we play a little bit of commercial music on Niu FM at the moment too.
What have you got coming up that you're excited about?
I think it's important to remember what Niu FM was started for and I'm not talking about for the public, this time it's the internal side and it's about breeding these new creatives because at one point it was dry. We couldn't find anybody and like I said, there's always Pacific Creatives out there but like where are they? So I think it's another duty or service to the Niu FM brand, to keep it going and find these young, new talent and give them the space to create and be great. Then they'll probably go off and dominate again and then you might be having this conversation with someone else in 20 years.
What advice would you give to the next 18 year old looking to get into radio?
Persistence! Stick with it, like I said I spent 3 years as a part timer or casual worker and that's a long time to be a casual worker now that I think about it. 3 years! and I was doing maybe 12 to 24 hours over a fortnite and that only comes with a small pay cheque so it's quite hard.
I was doing odd jobs just to get by but I knew that if I could crack this ... man this was dream job material - this is easy! It's like talking and playing music and I found out the hard way that it's not but yeah persistence is the key, just stick with it and that's with any love or passion for what you want to do.
It's taken 18 years for me to get to this point really, 18 years and I'm only just feeling it now.
Best piece of advice someone has given you while you were coming up?
(Laughs) Ok someone always told me, play the game and that's something that I pass on to my staff as well.
In order to get things done and in order to achieve what you want to achieve you have to play the game and sometimes there's going to be parts that you're not going to like but in order to get to where you want to go, you have to play the game.
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