Hi Alfred, I cant explain that either. I have seen dozens of beckers in New Zealand and they all have the German abbreviations. All the W108s that I have wrecked have been NZ new and have all had these radios. As a child back in the 70' and 80's I can remember the radios of the time all had L,M and U on them. I always thought it was an abbreviation for Low, Medium and Ultra which translated to English well.
K was a new one for me. Cant remember this.
I currently have two beckers here that I have pulled out of old cars and both have the LMKU system. Strange but true.
Another consideration was the uptake of FM in different countries. Didn't happen in New Zealand until the mid to late 70's. Being a rural country AM and even lower radio signal were probably more prominent as they travel further and bounce around mountains etc reaching the rural communities. Am guessing this probably had something to do with it in the 60's and early 70's. I would love to know for sure.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FM_broadcasting#New_ZealandNew Zealand
Like Australia, New Zealand adopted the FM format relatively late. As was the case with privately owned AM radio in the late 1960s, it took a spate of 'pirate' broadcasters to persuade a control-oriented, technology averse government to allow FM to be introduced after at least five years of consumer campaigning starting in the mid-1970s, particularly in Auckland. An experimental FM station, FM 90.7, was broadcast in Whakatane in early 1982. Later that year, Victoria University of Wellington's Radio Active began full-time FM transmissions. Commercial FM licences were finally approved in 1983, with Auckland-based 91FM and 89FM being the first to take up the offer.[1]. Broadcasting was deregulated in 1989.