His Master's Voice (N.Z.) Ltd.
118-120 Wakefield Street, Wellington. (1926-1957)
164-167 Wakefield Street, Wellington. (1954-        )

HMV is an international brand that reaches back into the earliest days of radio. Gramophones and recordings were imported from 1907 and His Master’s Voice (N.Z.) Limited, was set up in 1926. Radios were imported from the UK, USA, and Australia and manufactured by HMV New Zealand and other New Zealand manufacturers. Radio production ceased in the late 1950s and the company concentrated on the music industry and became EMI (New Zealand) Limited, in 1972

From 1907 until 1926 His Master’s Voice was represented in New Zealand by importers and wholesale distributors E J Hyams Ltd. who held the licence to distribute its recordings and gramophones on a five percent commission basis. At this time the main Australasian agency for His Master‘s Voice was in Sydney. [1][2]

In 1926 it was decided by HMV’s parent company, The Gramophone Co. Ltd. of Hayes, UK, to form a New Zealand company and on 10 May 1926, His Master’s Voice (New Zealand) Limited was incorporated with an authorised capital of £50,000.  Mr. E J Hyams was the principal shareholder and Managing Director and Mr. Alfred Wyness was also a shareholder and Director of the company. The Gramophone Company in Britain held 25 percent of the shares and was represented on the Board by Mr. W Manson, Managing Director of their Sydney subsidiary. A year earlier The Gramophone Co. Ltd. had established a record factory in New South Wales, and in 1926 the first Australian record pressings went on sale in New Zealand.[3]

On Mr. E J Hyams retirement in 1930, The Gramophone Co. Ltd. of Hayes acquired all the shares of His Master's Voice (New Zealand) Limited and Mr. Alfred Wyness became Managing Director. [4]

The company first marketed British-made radios in 1933. Before this, however, they had sold American RCA Victor receivers under the HMV name from 1930. After 1933 they continued to sell American sets alongside British ones but were at pains to conceal the fact that not all sets marketed in this country were of British origin. From the middle to late 1930s unbranded RCA sets carried a transfer (decal) on the top of their cabinets worded: “Made for the Gramophone Company Ltd, Homebush, NSW.”

As a result of the newly introduced import restrictions in 1938, HMV in common with other N.Z. importers was faced with the need to either establish their own factory or else arrange for a local manufacturer to make sets for them. They did both. In 1939 the first locally made receivers to carry the HMV label were produced at the company’s newly established Wellington factory. At the same time, some models were made by Collier & Beale Ltd.

Radiomobile car radios which had been introduced in the U.K. in 1946, were assembled here by HMV. One or two models, such as the 516AR, were completely made here.

These arrangements continued until the closure of HMV’s factory in 1957.[5]

By 1950, HMV had outgrown the old Hyams premises, and the company purchased the site of the Glide Skating Rink at 164-167 Wakefield Street, Wellington, now the site of the Amora Hotel.
In 1954 the new HMV record factory was opened at Hutt Road, Lower Hutt by Sir John Wall, Managing Director of EMI (UK). This modern factory, on a new site, marked the first step of a period of great expansion. The factory was the beginning of the EMI complex at Lower Hutt. The complex was completed with the opening of new recording studios.

Also, during the early 1960s, HMV expanded its manufacturing interests by purchasing shares in N.R. Cunningham Ltd., a Masterton-based company producing washing machines, refrigerators, and deep freezers. This involvement continued until 1973 when EMI sold these shares to Simpson Pope Industries and divorced itself totally from this type of product.

In keeping with a worldwide policy, on 1 May 1972, His Master's Voice (N.Z.) Ltd. changed its name to EMI (New Zealand) Limited. In 1973 the old His Master's Voice label was retired and replaced with the band new EMI label as part of a global rebranding. 

In February 1975, EMl’s head office moved to a new, specially designed building in Lower Hutt and in April of that year, the EMI record warehouse vacated the Wakefield Street premises and moved to the new Distribution Centre on the Hutt Road. In August 1976, the old Wakefield Street building which had housed EMI for 25 years was demolished.

Once the head office and warehouse move to Lower Hutt was completed, work began on the new recording studios to complete the EMI complex. Completed in August 1976, the studios offer the most modern recording facilities in the Southern Hemisphere. [1]

MODEL NUMBERING SYSTEM:

Between 1945 and 1954 this gave the year of issue - first two numerals followed by the number of valves and sometimes letters as follows:

• A -distinguishes between two models having the same number of valves,
• AR - car radio
• AW - all wave
• CRG - radiogram with autochanger,
• D - dual wave
• P - portable
• RG - radiogram
• RP - record player only
• SB - bandspread on shortwave
• T/RG - turntable with radiogram 

[1] Simon Grigg – Audioculture, the noisy library of New Zealand.
[2] Otago Daily Times 16 May 1924, Page 3.
[3] Evening Post 13 May 1926, Page 11.
[4] Evening Post 24 Apr 1930, Page 9.
[5] Golden Age of Radio in the Home