1960s–1978 Rhema Media began in the 1960s as Gospel Radio Fellowship, a small group of
evangelical Christians who wanted to set up a radio station in
Christchurch. The New Zealand Government legalised private radio, after illegal pirate broadcasts by
Radio Hauraki in the
Hauraki Gulf. The fellowship set up a radio studio and transmitter in an old church building and applied to the Broadcasting Authority for permission to broadcast in 1972. However, the authority was skeptical about the need for an evangelical radio station, and declined the station's application based on a lack of public interest, finance and professional staff. Gospel Radio Fellowship changed its name to Radio Rhema in 1974, and raised enough money to employ twenty staff. It received a one-day license for Christchurch in November 1974, a one-day license for
Petone in October 1975, and a 10-day Christmas license for Christchurch in 1976. and launched a monthly publication,
Frequency, in 1977. Radio Rhema gained a permanent licence in 1978 after about 55,000 people pledged their support to the station. It was launched by prime minister
Robert Muldoon, who said the station promoted "a faith that moves mountains", and in 1989 it received approval to begin broadcasting in Dunedin. Radio Rhema was one of the largest private radio networks in the country by the late 1980s. According to radio reviews in the
New Zealand Listener, its programming included evangelical programmes, Biblical teachings, and politically conservative talkback. Sociologists
Sue Middleton and Allanah Ryan argued the expansion of Radio Rhema was evidence of the growth of the
Christian right. In 1987, vice-presidents Richard Berry, Hal Short and Frank Salisbury also set up a separate organisation,
United Christian Broadcasters (UCB) to support similar stations in other countries. The organisation's Australian branch supported Christian radio stations, many called Radio Rhema, before it set up its own broadcaster, the
Vision Radio Network. Other affiliates followed in the United Kingdom, Europe, Africa, Pacific countries and South America.
The Dove was set up as an affiliate in
Oregon, United States. Smaller broadcasters were also established in Madagascar, Brazil, the Philippines and Estonia. In 1994, UCB was granted the right to publish
The Word For Today, a quarterly catalogue of daily Biblical teachings by American preacher Bob Gass, in the United Kingdom. After an initial trial, Gass granted UCB the rights to broadcast, publish and distribute the devotional anywhere outside the United States free of charge.
1997–2002 The Radio Rhema company changed its name to Rhema Broadcasting Group in 1997, when it moved its sister station Life FM from Christchurch to Auckland, as well as launching another sister network, Star. They used frequencies secured in 1991, swapped frequencies with
The Radio Network, and leased some frequencies from other companies. Rhema celebrated 20 years on air with a function in Christchurch in 1998. Rhema Broadcasting Group took over the operation of local Christchurch television channel Freedom TV in 2002, relaunching it as Shine TV in December 2002. It began broadcasting on
Sky TV from its launch, and later expanded to UHF in
Nelson and
Freeview in Christchurch.
2002–2012 The
fifth Labour government put forward plans to renew radio frequencies in 2003, but Rhema Broadcasting Group and the Crown did not agree on the value of re-licensing until 2006. In July 2010, RBG announced it needed to raise $6.4 million over and above its normal operating costs to renew its commercial radio frequencies for the following 20 years. By the end of November, the company still needed $2.4 million and was not in a position to seek external finance, with the frequencies to be returned to the Crown and resold at auction if the money was not raised. allowing Rhema Broadcasting Group to cover the cost with no interest loans. In 2007, Rhema Broadcasting Group launched The Word, a network of relay stations broadcasting uninterrupted, automated Bible readings. The station was similar to a digital station UCB was already operating in the UK. The network's original
Hamilton 576 AM and
Invercargill 1026 AM frequencies were acquired for Star, but became available when Star starting broadcasting on new
AM Network stations in both cities. The Word was later extended to
New Plymouth 1278 AM,
Christchurch 540 AM,
Dunedin 1377 AM,
Te Anau 88.0 FM, and an independently-owned low-power FM station in Tokoroa. The station was also streamed over the Internet. By 2011, UCB consisted of 32 organisations which claimed to reach millions of people in at least 24 different languages through radio, television, printed devotionals and websites. The group was publishing several million copies of
The Word for Today were published every quarter, in about a dozen languages. He was appointed to the role in December 2016, after joining as general manager operations in 2002 . In December 2012, chief executive John Fabrin left the organisation and Mike Brewer, former general manager of
Fairfax New Zealand's Taranaki Newspapers company, became chief executive. In 2019, Fraser said 80 percent of the organisation's income was through donations, from a pool of about 25,000 supporters. Short, UCB's president, stepped aside from RBG and UCB in March 2013. In June 2019, Rhema Media sold its 7,000 Christian and
Gospel music records on the auction website
TradeMe. By late 2024, Luke Weston had been appointed as CEO of Rhema Media following a search by the company's board. By April 2025, Rhema Media under Weston's leadership had launched a new
FM radio station called "Sanctuary" and several new mobile apps. The company operates a subscription model based on donations, bequests and advertising. As of April 2025, Rhema Media had about 30,000 donors. ==Services==