[1] Rhema Media was set up in the 1960s by Christchurch evangelical Richard Berry, following the success of Ecuadorian Christian short-wave radio station HCJB.

It was launched by prime minister Robert Muldoon, who said the station promoted "a faith that moves mountains",[5] and made its first broadcast officially on 11 November 1978.

[18][19] Sociologists Sue Middleton and Allanah Ryan argued the expansion of Radio Rhema was evidence of the growth of the Christian right.

[20] 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.

[21] 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.

[5] Star lost its frequencies in Auckland and Christchurch in 1998, but was able to continue broadcasting in both centres by leasing airtime from the AM Network outside of the sitting hours of the New Zealand Parliament.

[27] 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.

[28] By the end of November, the company still needed $2.4 million and was not in a position to seek external finance,[29] with the frequencies to be returned to the Crown and resold at auction if the money was not raised.

[3] The Crown recognised the organisation as a non-profit with limited access to funds and gave it a three-month extension on payment,[30] allowing Rhema Broadcasting Group to cover the cost with no interest loans.

[38] 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.

[1] It broadcasts a range of music, current affairs interviews, conversations, teaching programmes and on-air charity fundraisers, with a focus on relationships, marriage and parenting.

[48] According to Colmar Brunton research commissioned by Rhema Media in 2010, listeners credit the station with helping them make positive life choices.

[3] The station's programmes include 'The All New Morning Wake Up' with Sela Alo, Bjorn Brickell & Becks Birmingham 'Days' with Eloise Packham, New 'Afternoons' with Leanna Cooper & Josh Coombridge & New 'Nights' with Baty .

[23] Star broadcasts on the AM Network outside the sitting hours of the New Zealand Parliament[53] The station's programmes include Breakfast with Cathy Jenke and Peter Shaw, Days with Lizzie Oakes, Drive with a very tall man Gary Hoogvliet and Nights with Rosemary Jane.

[53] Previous hosts include Aaron Ironside,[54] Rachel Thomas, Brian Ferguson, Glen Stephenson, UCB staff James Totton, Katikati His FM manager Rob Holding, Andrew Urquhart and Diane Campbell.

[57] An estimated 3.5 million copies are distributed quarterly worldwide, with country-specific and translated versions also produced in Albania, Australia, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Caribbean, the Netherlands, Estonia, Portugal, Philippines, Nigeria, South Africa, Spain and the USA.