original 1080 AM when local station 89X (formerly 89FM) ceased to operate, Radio New Zealand purchased this station a year earlier and chose to close it down and use the frequency for Newstalk 1ZB. The current Newstalk ZB nationwide 0800 number (0800 80 10 80) actually comes from the original 1080AM frequency in Auckland that is still in use today. During the late eighties and early nineties Radio New Zealand switched many of their local heritage stations to FM but retained the AM frequency in each region running the same programme on both frequencies. Following the success of the talkback format in Auckland a decision was made to switch 2ZB Wellington and 3ZB Christchurch to a talkback format in 1991. At the same time new FM music stations were established in Wellington and Christchurch, these stations were B90 FM (Wellington) and B98 FM (Christchurch). In the early nineties many of the Radio New Zealand local stations that had switched to FM began running morning talkback shows on the AM frequency while continuing to play music on the FM frequency. In 1993 and 1994 the local Radio New Zealand station in some regions were rebranded with the Classic Hits name and the AM frequency was used to roll out the station across New Zealand, it was at this point Newstalk 1ZB was rebranded as Newstalk ZB. Initially those regions that ran local talkback shows on the AM frequency continued to do so and Wellington and Christchurch were initially local versions of Newstalk ZB. 1996–2002 In 1996 Radio New Zealand sold their commercial operation and Newstalk ZB, along with Classic Hits and ZM, became part of The Radio Network. In 2001 Newstalk ZB was further expanded into the smaller community markets in New Zealand. The smaller regions did not have their local stations rebranded as Classic Hits during the early nineties and many of these stations were still only broadcasting on AM frequencies. These stations were consolidated together in 1998 to become part of the Community Radio Network, in 2001 all Community Radio Network stations were rebranded as Classic Hits and at this point began broadcasting on FM if the station was already on FM leaving the AM frequency to now be used to broadcast Newstalk ZB. Today most Newstalk ZB stations run complete networked programming, however Wellington and Christchurch still have a local show in the mornings between 9 am and