Radio host Robert Rakete was reduced to tears as The Breeze Auckland began playing out a te reo Māori version of their iconic jingle on Thursda
The easy-listening station, which first broadcast in Auckland, Wellington and Waikato in 1993, is well-known for its theme song with the famous lyrics "Auckland City you're a friend of mine / And you've sure got a friend in The Breeze".
Now The Breeze has released a new iteration of the classic jingle, celebrating Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland). The waiata was sung by Waimarie Kakahi and translated into Te Reo by AUT lecturer Hēmi Kelly.
Rakete broke down after the station played the song for the first time on air, calling it "an incredibly proud moment".
"So I think about hearing that on the radio, and I think about my dad getting caned for speaking Māori," he said through tears.
"There was this lovely woman Naida Glavish, she used to work at Telecom and she answered the phones there and she said 'Kia ora' and she got reprimanded for it.
"And I think about where we are now, and we get to hear this on the radio, and it means so much to a lot of people. I think about our children, the next generation that comes along and this is just normal for them. And yet for so long, it wasn't."
The veteran broadcaster said that he was proud of The Breeze for producing the new jingle, "not because we want to be seen to be doing the right thing, we're just doing it because we should".
"It really means a lot that we get to do this here on our little radio station."
The lyrics to The Breeze Auckland's te reo Maori jingle are as follows:
There’s something about the harbour
Ko ngā tai e papaki nei (The resounding tides)
There’s something in the hills
Ko ngā maunga kōrero (The mountains full of stories)
Something about this city of ours
Koinei tō tātou kāinga (This is our home)
And it keeps me here still
Kia pūmau tonu rā (Let’s hold on to it)
Harbour city you're a friend of mine
Tāmaki herenga waka (Auckland of the multitudes)
Theres no better place to be
Whenua houkura (A place in paradise)
Harbour city you're a friend of mine
Tāmaki herenga waka (Auckland of the multitudes)
And you sure got a friend in the breeze
Koinei tō tātou kāinga (This is our home)
