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Kōrero: Radio

First radio broadcast from Parliament, 1936

This sound clip is from the first broadcast from New Zealand's Parliament on 25 March 1936. The image shows radio engineers setting up the broadcasting equipment in Parliament. The new Labour prime minister, Michael Joseph Savage, regarded the press as hostile to his government, and so initiated the live broadcasts of Parliament as a way of giving the public direct access to government decisions, free from what he saw as the distortions of the newspapers.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Alexander Turnbull Library, New Zealand Railways Collection (PAColl-5167)

Reference: 1/1-25009-G

Sound file from Ngā Taonga Sound and Vision – Radio New Zealand collection. Any re-use of this audio is a breach of copyright. To request a copy of the recording, contact Ngā Taonga Sound and Vision (Swearing in of Parliament, 1936/Reference ID32824)

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Me pēnei te tohu i te whārang

Brian Pauling, Radio – The state takes over – the 1930s, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/speech/42798/first-radio-broadcast-from-parliament-1936 (accessed 5 July 2026).

He kōrero nā Brian Pauling, i tāngia i te 24 September 2013.