King Country Radio Signs Off

When you finger through the autograph book and scrap books at King Country Radio you find literally dozens of household radio and television names.

It had been the training ground for literally hundreds of up-and-coming stars for over 44 years. Not just announcers, but broadcasters of every description, from technicians to sales and management.

Why were these two overseas owned networks allowed to take over and destroy so many wonderful community assets? In my time as manager of King Country Radio, I found that not only was it loved by the community it served, but it was a vital part of that community.

But gradually as the TRN talons tightened it became an unwanted sattelite. They say it was losing money, but I can tell you, when I left in March last year, just prior to them networking the breakfast show from Hamilton, it was making money and had been for the years it was under my control and before that too.

So March 31st will be it's final day. How sad, but in reality its final day was the day that TRN took over.

Here's what TRN's propoganda machine had to say yesterday:
RADIO NETWORK TO CLOSE STATION

Classic Hits King Country Radio, Taumarunui is to close. The Radio Network announced today that the station will cease broadcasting on March 31st.

“The station has been struggling financially for a number of years. The current economic conditions mean that it is no longer tenable for TRN to continue trading in Taumarunui,” said Brian Jennings, Taupo general manager for The Radio Network.

“We have made the decision only after long consideration,” he said. “The fact is that, despite the best efforts of the people involved, it has been very hard to keep the station viable on declining revenues. Regrettably, we really have no alternative but to take the closure action.”

“Over the last few years we have tried a number of strategies to keep the station in profit. The most significant being launching full coverage FM in 2006 with cheaper operating costs and improved signal quality, to make the station more attractive to both listeners and advertisers.”

The station’s Huia Street premises and a staff house will be sold at a later date. The transmission tower and FM transmitter will be removed and reused in another location.

The station has had a special relationship with listeners in Taumarunui for forty-four years. Classic Hits King Country Radio began as 1ZU broadcasting on 1520AM in 1966. It become King Country Radio and moved to 1512AM in 1978. In 2001 it became part of the Classic Hits network.

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?

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.