Niu FM streams music and culture from across the Pacific Islands live from New Zealand, a nationwide station aimed at New Zealand-born listeners aged 15 to 35 from a range of Pacific communities. Press play on Radio Shuffle and it streams instantly, free, with no account or app download required.
A government-backed station named for a young coconut
Niu FM first went to air on August 31, 2002 in Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch, launched as a government-contracted pilot run by an Auckland-based Pacific trust using an operational model similar to the long-running Radio 531pi. The New Zealand government also set up the National Pacific Radio Trust specifically to oversee the project, and that trust took over day-to-day operations in June 2003, relocating to Ponsonby. The name itself carries its own meaning: "niu" translates as "young coconut," a deliberate nod to the station's younger target audience within Pacific communities.
Expanding beyond its original language programming
Niu FM's early years were not without turbulence, including public controversy in 2003 over management changes and on-air comments that drew criticism from within the Pacific community itself. The station worked through that rocky start and kept growing its reach: by 2008, Pacific Media Network had expanded the first-language programming simulcast across Niu FM and Radio 531pi to include dedicated shows for Solomon Islands and Kiribati communities, on top of its existing Pacific-language content. PMN now runs ten Pacific-language programmes across its stations.
Part of a Pacific broadcasting network still growing today
Niu FM operates alongside sister station Radio 531pi under the Pacific Media Network, a pairing that gives New Zealand's Pacific communities two distinct broadcasting voices, one historically on AM and one built from the start as an FM youth station. That older sister only moved to FM itself in 2025, after 35 years broadcasting on AM, a reminder of how much the wider Pacific broadcasting landscape in New Zealand has continued to shift even decades after Niu FM's own 2002 launch.
Listen free on Radio Shuffle
Niu FM streams Pacific Islands music and culture built specifically for New Zealand's younger Pacific generation. Stream it free on Radio Shuffle, anywhere, any time, with no sign-up required.