TV guru Olya Viazenko starts first Ukrainian radio in New Zealand

Kyiv native Olya Viazenko has called New Zealand her home away from home for seven years after a 15-year career in television in Ukraine. 

She shares about her unique project, Borsch Club – the first and, to date, only Ukrainian radio broadcast program in the country – ahead of her adopted country’s national holiday of Waitangi Day, which is celebrated on Feb. 6.

Going first on air in December 2024, the initiative has already gained a following across New Zealand, uniting the Ukrainian community while also promoting Ukrainian culture. Olya spoke about the project’s origins in a comment for the Ukrainian World Congress.

More than 2,000 Ukrainians currently live on the island country, according to government census and immigration data. 

The OAR FM podcast and radio host based in Dunedin says the Otago Access Radio is a community station that broadcasts to various population centers across the country. 

“I was often invited for interviews to share stories about Ukraine and the Ukrainian community. When the station learned about my experience as a journalist, they offered me the opportunity to create my own program, and I immediately agreed. It was a great chance to talk about Ukraine, its people, and important events happening in our country, in English.

The audience of the program consists of English-speaking Ukrainians, locals, people already familiar with Ukraine, and those with limited knowledge who tune in to the radio station. The show is not only available in New Zealand but also to listeners worldwide, as the podcast can be found on platforms like Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

– Spotify 

– Apple Podcasts

The first episode was especially challenging for me, as I had to prepare a 26-minute script in English, gather and verify all the information, and then record it. The script was around 11 pages long, and I spent a lot of time ensuring that it sounded professional. I’m deeply grateful to my husband, Oleksii Ikonnikov, a historian by profession, for his help with program ideas, fact-checking, and making sure everything was up to a high standard.

I handle everything for the program myself – writing, editing, recording, and processing the audio before sending the final version to the station. This is a volunteer project, so I set up a home studio to work outside of my regular job. Initially, I didn’t expect to have many interviews, but after the first episode, a lot of people reached out and agreed to be interviewed, which I’m truly grateful for.

The program has already featured guests such as Peter Zalmayev, host of The Week, Yaroslav Yemelianenko, founder of Chornobyl TOUR, Kateryna Aslamova, Head of the Chornobyl Volunteer Center, photographer Vlad Vasylkevych, and Volodymyr Rodnianskyi, who initiated a project to send aid containers to Ukraine. The program has also included Ukrainian poems about the war, with English translations by Mariia Starozhytska and Borys Humeniuk.

There are already several interviews recorded and waiting to be aired, including a continuation of the Chornobyl discussion, interviews with Ukraine’s ambassador Vasyl Myroshnychenko, Roman Tilmanis, a Latvian who fought for Ukraine, Mykhailo Lidskyi, former president of the Ukrainian Association in New Zealand, and Ihor Shevtsov, who works on mine-clearance in Ukraine. The show airs every two weeks, and sometimes I split episodes into multiple parts to fit all the fascinating information I want to share.

The program has now expanded to Christchurch, the largest city on New Zealand’s South Island, offering even more opportunities to spread information about Ukraine. Here are the broadcast times:

– Otago Access Radio (Dunedin): Tuesday at 20:30 and Sunday at 23:00 (every two weeks) 

– Plains FM (Christchurch): Monday at 19:30–20:00

It’s the only program about Ukraine in New Zealand, and I’m incredibly proud of that. In terms of future growth, there are possibilities to make the program weekly or extend its airtime. However, given my busy schedule, I prefer the bi-weekly format, as this is a volunteer project that requires a lot of time and effort.

If you’re thinking about starting Ukrainian radio in other countries, I suggest reaching out to community radio stations, which are often available in most cities. These stations are free for communities and can serve as an excellent platform to share information about Ukraine. The key is not to be afraid to create programs, as radio is a powerful tool to influence the local audience. Ukraine has so much to offer – not only information about the war but also our culture, history, nature, and art.

I’ve also noticed that interest in the Ukrainian language is growing, so in each episode, I include a few Ukrainian words, teach listeners how to greet people, ask about their well-being, and even prepare borscht! One local has even started learning new Ukrainian phrases at protests. Sometimes, it’s more than just a radio show – it’s a real opportunity to popularize the Ukrainian language among New Zealanders.

So, if you want to start a radio program in your country, you need to be Ukrainian, passionate about having Ukraine heard globally, and ready to dedicate your time and effort to this wonderful project.