The Breeze is a New Zealand radio station playing an adult contemporary music format owned by MediaWorks New Zealand, playing a variety of music from the 70s, 80s, 90s and also current hits. The Breeze network broadcasts in 21 markets throughout New Zealand, with each station presenting a mixture of local and network programming. The Breeze had ratings success becoming New Zealand's number one music station, a rise from fifth in 2016 and in 2021 reaching its highest ever audience over 671,000 listeners. The Breeze, as of survey results in October 2021, is New Zealand's number one music station for the tenth survey in a row. The Breeze launched a television channel called The Breeze TV in March 2020, which was acquired in December 2020 by Discovery, Inc. as part of its purchase of MediaWorks' television operations. Breeze TV became an online-only channel in March 2022. It ceased broadcasting in December 2022. History Early years The Breeze first started in Auckland, Waikato and Wellington in 1993, when owner Independent Broadcasting Company rebranded local stations 91FM (Auckland), Kiwi 898FM (Waikato) and Windy FM (Wellington) to The Breeze. The Auckland and Waikato stations previously played a Hit Music format and were changed to a Hot AC format using the slogan "Not Too Heavy, Not Too Soft". Wellington was different; Windy FM had been playing Classic Rock before rebranding, and changed to the Easy Listening format that would be used on future The Breeze stations. All three The Breeze stations operated separately from each other, with local shows in each market. Change of ownership In 1995 The Breeze in Wellington was sold to the MORE FM Group, and in 1996 the parent company of The Breeze in Auckland and Waikato was sold to Prospect Limited. At the end of 1996, Prospect Limited was sold to The Radio Network, and in 1997 The Radio Network closed down The Breeze in Auckland and Waikato. It then used these frequencies to start 91ZM in Auckland, and 89.8ZM in Waikato. The Breeze continued to broadcast in Wellington, and by 2000 the station was owned by CanWest, along with MORE FM and Channel Z, CanWest then purchased RadioWorks, and in 2001 The Breeze became part of RadioWorks collection of local once off station known as LocalWorks. RadioWorks later known as MediaWorks Radio. Expansion to other markets The Breeze made a return to Waikato in 2003 when local station