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?