The modern radio era in New Zealand started on 4 December 1966 when Radio Hauraki started broadcasting as a pirate station from the waters of Colville Channel in the Hauraki Gulf, aboard the vessel Tiri (and later, the Tiri II). 

Originally made as a student project by Sally Aitken and others at Auckland University of Technology (AUT), this 1996 documentary uses some outstanding archival footage and features interviews with the original Hauraki pirates, who were reunited for the first time in 30 years. Former Hauraki directors David Gapes, Denis Callahan, Chris Parkinson and Derek Lowe (with DJs Bob Leahy, Ross Goodwin, Ian Magan and engineer Chris Prouse) all recount their struggle — in the face of a huge level of government interference — to liven up NZ’s airwaves and bring rock and roll to the young people of NZ.

(For more on Radio Hauraki, see Murray Cammick's article, Radio Hauraki: the Pirate Days.)