Dear Simon Bridges,

I realize you have an election going on and are probably a little busy at the moment, but can I please take a little of your time to draw your attention towards an issue that many people think is hugely important for the future of Tauranga.

I realize that this may not seem as vital as your party's plans to change benefits and sell assets and rebalance the budget and rebuild Christchurch and sort out the Pike River Mine and all those other important things.

Many people may not regard it as imperative as sorting out the roading and those other niggling little issues the city faces, but – for the future growth of Tauranga as a vibrant cultural centre that can foot it with other cities of our size – this is essential.

What I'm talking about is radio and the future of Tauranga's music scene.

Tauranga now has, and can be proud of, its fantastic art gallery. It's the sort of facility one expects in New Zealand's fourth or fifth largest city. One day we might even have a museum. But the area we are currently all but flat-lining in is music. And the reason we are in that state is that there is no alternative music station in Tauranga.

Now 'alternative” might sound like a scary anti-establishment word, but it isn't.

It simply means a radio station that independently chooses what music it will play rather than being programmed by a computer from Central Services that totally ignores the local area.

An independent station can actually play local music from its local community.

The importance of this cannot be understated. Auckland, Hamilton, Christchurch, Wellington, Dunedin, all of these places and more have stations that plays music from their areas, be they student radio or others.

This gives bands profile. It brings people to gigs. Venues benefit. It makes bands want to record more. It fosters original music, our stories about our places.

It allows a genuinely creative music scene to exist with all the many benefits – economic and cultural – that come from that.

We had the radio station we needed until last week: it was called Kiss-FM.

It played New Zealand music but, more importantly, it played a swathe of Bay of Plenty music, music you could otherwise only hear, very occasionally, on RNZ National.

But Kiss-FM only had the ability to broadcast a low frequency signal, meaning they could basically only be heard at the Mount. There is no future in that. The owner, Max Christoffersen, had to expand or die. New non-commercial community radio licenses were on offer for the Bay in September and Kiss-FM desperately needed one. The 106.2FM frequency was up for grabs and lengthy applications had been lodged.

Then last week came the news:

'Mount Maunganui radio station Kiss-FM has thrown in the musical towel and conceded defeat to The Ministry for Culture and Heritage.

'Station founder Max Christoffersen says the station has given up the chase for a new FM License that would allow it to broadcast its community format across the Bay.

'We applied for the new non-commercial community radio license on 106.2FM in September and were turned down last week without explanation by the Ministry for Culture and Heritage.

'It brings to an end almost three years of local broadcasting, which has been welcomed by the Bay of Plenty's creative and musical communities.”

Why did Kiss-FM lose out? Because the Ministry wants to encourage Access Radio. That's community radio where different cultural and ethnic groups each get their hour a week and chat about their community's issues. Which is all very well, except that the Bay doesn't need Access Radio, it needs music radio.

Here's the crowning irony: no licenses were granted for the Bay, so today the 106.2FM frequency remains empty and silent. It has been for eight years.

So Simon, can you help?

Tauranga's music lovers and musicians will salute you in the streets and the future of this city's cultural development will move to a different better track. And, best of all, it won't cost anything.

You're the last call Simon – if you can't help, all we are left with is this question from Max: 'I'd like the Ministry charged with encouraging culture and heritage and broadcast diversity in New Zealand to explain to my community how silence on 106.2FM encourages local identity. Surely it's better to have Brilleaux, Jaime Fitzgerald, Grant Haua, Enercia and Kokomo on air than silence.”