By the time Awanui Radio ZLA closed in 1930, due to the cost of maintaining its isolated facilities and as a result of the shift from long wavelength spark transmission to short wave “cw” signals, Auckland Radio was back in operation.
Aviation radio services started in the 1930s with all communication and radio navigation aids being run by the Post Office.
1933
Planning for an Auckland radio station with high and medium frequency services was begun and possible sites for a station were investigated. A receiving and direction-finding site was identified near Bucklands Beach, with a transmitting site about 3 miles away. The land was publicly owned, but various difficulties had to be surmounted before access could be obtained. A refurbished Auckland Radio was included in the planning.
1937
On 30 March, Captain Edwin C Musick pilots the Pan American Airways Atlantic Clipper into Auckland from Pago Pago on a survey flight for a new airmail service between the USA and New Zealand.
On 26 December, Captain Musick and his crew return to Auckland, this time aboard the Pan American Airways Samoan Clipper, on the first scheduled service from the USA to New Zealand.
1938
Just as planning for the new radio station at Bucklands Beach was getting under way, the Pan American Airways flying boat Samoan Clipper commanded by Edwin Musick is lost with all on board near Apia. In keeping with the general feeling of the country, Group Captain T Wilks, Controller of Civil Aviation, put forward the idea that the new radio station should “constitute a memorial and should be known as the Musick Memorial Radio Station”. The Government approved this and accordingly, the main building and layout was planned with this objective in mind.
If you have further information about Auckland Radio in the 1930s, please contact us.