Farewell to Robbie

Over the years I have lost contact with many friends due to my rather nomadic lifestyle. Radio tends to be a bit that way. But since joining Facebook about 6 months ago I have regained contact with so many people who I haven’t thought about in years.

When I enlist a new friend I squirrel my way through their friends in the hope of finding someone else. I’m also now getting news from all corners of the planet - some of it not so good.

Just this week an old 4GG contact informed me that Robbie Snowden had passed away. The irony is, for the first time in years I had been thinking about Robbie.

This year I changed career paths, moving into newspapers and Robbie was also in newspapers on the Gold Coast, so he came to mind. I wondered how he was going, what it was like at his newspaper and I thought on my next Gold Coast holiday I’d look him up. It doesn’t pay to put things off.

Robbie was much too young to pass, but he has had a colourful and full life, going from pop star in the 60’s, to radio, and finally promotions in the press. I know there’ll be some wonderful stories at his memorial.

He was a great guy and will be missed by many - even those who have lost touch.

The Last Dance for Local Radio

After a flurry of emails and phone calls this week I discovered that The Radio Network has initiated another round of redundancies.

This time it’s the local news that will suffer as they take out some 18 Newstalk ZB staff throughout the country. The breakfast announcers will be next. Watch this space.

One of these Newstalk ZB staff who is leaving is an old mate of mine and I find it abhorrent that he should end his career in this manner. Ian Ferguson was one of the original Hauraki pirates aboard the Tiri and has been an outstanding broadcaster and great bloke for many years. I can I only say to Ferg – “you’re better off away from these non-radio people” and have a great retirement down South.

The Radio Network has filled it’s ranks with ex-RNZ public servants and henchmen with absolutely no radio experience. They say they are bringing in fresh blood which is quite accurate as they seem to be very good at blood letting.

On the other side of the great duopoly court is Radioworks who are teetering on the brink of extinction. Surely Ironbridge will take their losses and run. They are an investment company after all.

I can only hope that it gets broken up and the stations are sold individually to some savvy radio people who think past the bottom line. Radio needs to be run by broadcasters not accountants.

Imagine if Radioworkds was sold off to individual operators, TRN would have to go local again. Or would they even care?

Greed

I had to laugh at the latest Hell Pizza campaign promoting their Greed pizzas via mobile billboards targeting one of NZ’s most upstanding businessmen.

But I’d like to replace his picture with a montage of real estate agency signs.
The real estate industry is surely the most morally tainted industry on the planet. There simply is no regard for either the vendor or the buyer, it’s just about making money in any way they can.

We recently attempted to sell our house by auction. We met with the auctioneer and head of the company and made it quite clear of what our price expectations were. We forked out about $1,500 for the advertising and auction. Of course the highest bid on the day was $100,000 short of our lowest acceptable price. Later we find out that they were telling buyers that this figure was at the top end of our price guide, effectively devaluing our property by $100,000.

Talking about advertising, be very wary of what the real estate companies are charging you. In my current role I have been asked for a credit for a house ad that ran in our paper too dark. The real estate agency told me that the client refused to pay $1,300 for advertising. I looked through the papers and worked out that these ads, when divided amongst the others on their half page, were charged by us at $41.67 and I think there were 4 of them. Luckily the law has just changed so these rip offs can’t happen now.

The basic problem with the industry lies in the listing system. They’re all after exclusives and they are even competing within their own companies. If you list with a certain agent, it’s in his interest to sell the home. The other agents, even from the same company won’t work for you. If you’re buying, they’ll only show their own listings. If you see it advertised and ask about it, if it’s not the listing agent, they’ll steer you to their own listings.

There’s no morality, they don’t own what they are selling and they only care about what goes into their back pocket. There are exceptions, including the guy we are currently listed with, so really check out everything before you deal with these blood suckers.
Posted by Stu Baguley at 2:41 PM 0 comments
Labels: greed, real estate, rip offs
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

Bye Bye New Zealand Pie

I can still remember the day the music died in New Zealand. Recently I watched “The Boat That Rocked” and was reminded of the great times I had enjoyed in radio over a 36 year period both here and over the Tassie. What happened to radio? When did it change from being run by programmers, to sales managers then to offshore corporates?

I remember when it started. Although only small players, when Energy first got its hands on the Rock and the Edge and then the Otago group, it was a clear signal that radio in New Zealand was in its first stages of networking. Mind you Radio Pacific had already started, by networking Waikato in preparation of setting up their TAB network.

This was OK, there were radio people at the helms, but when Radio New Zealand sold off its commercial arm all that changed. The corporate raiders got their snouts in the trough and suddenly they were spewing out words like “Integrity” to cover for the fact that they had no real interest in the welfare of New Zealand and certainly not the many professional radio people who now no longer work in the industry.

If you thought the supermarket duopoly was bad, the radio duopoly of The Radio Network (owned by the Irish and the Americans) and Mediaworks (owned by an Australian investment company) is far worse. There have been hundreds of redundancies in the industry and as a result, both companies have lost their soul.
They don’t care about the communities they pretend to operate in, only the money they can extract from its advertisers. They no longer care about broadcasting. They are simply sales machines.

I was always taught if the product is good it will sell. These corporate pigs believe if it isn’t selling, get rid of those who make the product. Replace them with cheaper versions. It’s funny that one of these many network stations is called The Edge, because that is exactly what radio has lost. It has become a safe, boring, sales machine sending its profits offshore.

They do it at their peril. Remember the “Indie” movement in the 90’s music business? The top bands turned their backs on the major labels and revelled in the new creative freedom that the independent labels offered. Slowly, small “indie” radio stations are popping up here. You watch (and listen) my friends, the tide is about to turn and the corporate pigs will drown in their own disgusting troughs. Me, well I am now working in publishing and listening to my trusty iPod.

Sweetwaters "81

As I get older I have come to realise that many of the great times I have had both in broadcasting and with my many mates are becoming a distant memory. I realised this when I was in the middle of moving recently and decided to sort out my sheet music. There amongst my Doobie Brothers, Eagles, Bob Dylan, Neil Young etc were a few treasures. Programmes from concerts and other events that I had squirrelled away so long ago I forgot they existed.

One of these little treasures is an immaculate copy of the Sweetwaters "81 Festival held in Ngarawahia New Zealand. As I browsed through it, not only did I have a hazy recall of a fine weekend back in January '81, but a host of other memories came flooding back. The kiwi bands! What an era. I had only arrived in New Zealand a few months earlier to discover some of the best music in the world was coming from this small island nation. Bands like Split Enz and Misex had already cracked it across the Tasman, but there were dozens of other amazing acts that displayed a fresh, pioneering sound that was unmistakingly Kiwi. Bands like Coup d'Etat, Dave McArtney's Pink Flamingos, Pop Mechanix, The Screeming Meemees, The Tigers (who later evolved into the Warratahs - one of the finest country bands I have ever seen), The Crocodiles, Midge Marsden, Hammond Gamble, The Flying Doctors, Herbs, Blam Blam Blam and The Mockers.

They were all at Sweetwaters '81, along with Cold Chisel, Roxy Music, INXS, the Reels, Icehouse, Jo Jo Zep & the Falcons. If you were there, you like I probably can't remember much, except it was great!