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August 17, 2025 2 mins

You may have read a report commissioned by Radio NZ to look into why their operation has become such a dumpster fire.

It said a bunch of stuff that was obvious. One thing that surprised and saddened me though was that most people within that organisation thought radio was dying and audiences were bailing.

That's not true. In fact it’s the opposite. Radio is robust and, comparatively speaking, thriving.

So my question is, how is it you can have a company of people who don’t understand their own industry?
 
Where did they get their view from? Why has no one corrected the view? Where is management in that process?

Their audience has shrunk, but it hasn’t vanished. It's gone to, well mainly, here to Newstalk ZB.

The customer is still spending, they’ve just changed shops.

The fact they don't know that I would have thought should set off alarm bells, most ironically because the place is full of journalists who once upon a time had inquiring minds. They asked questions and they wanted to know things.

If you have such a mind you would have quickly discovered what was actually happening and what the reality of your medium was.

How can you be a journalist and be that bewildered? And if you are that bewildered on your own doorstep, how bewildered are you about the rest of life and the world?

Also of concern was management's response to the report. By the way the report basically says the place is shot, it needs a bomb and some genuine talent.

The response suggests what Radio NZ management do quite well is commission reports, then ignore them.

So the exercise as a whole appears a waste. They got told some obvious stuff they should have known, an alarming thing about their staff they should also have known, but now they do know they need to fix and the rest seems a bit tricky.

For me, they can do what they like. But what I care about is that this industry is actually successful. Some of us are having the time of our lives.

Some of us know what's going on and understand proceedings. Some of us still ask a few questions.

The future is bright and it's there for anyone who wants it.

But to want it you've got to be keen and you've got to be awake.

That might be their biggest problem of all.

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
They may have read a report commissioned by Radio New

(00:01):
Zealand Radio New Zealand to look into why their operations
become such a dumpster fire. So it said a bunch
of stuff that was obvious. I thought, anyway, one thing
that surprised and saddened me. Though most people within that
organization thought radio was dying, audiences were bailing. This is
not true. This is not true. In fact, it's the opposite.

(00:23):
Radio is robust and comparatively speaking, thriving. So my question is,
how is it you can have a company of people
who don't understand their own industry. Where did they get
their view from? Why has no one corrected the view?
Where's management in this process? Their audience has shrunk, but
it hasn't vanished. This is the key to all of
this has gone well, it's mainly come here actually, to

(00:44):
be honest, the customer is still spending, if you like,
They've just changed shops. The fact they don't know that,
I would have thought should have set off alarm bells
a long time ago. Most ironically, because the place is
full of journalists who once upon a time had inquiring minds.
They asked questions, they wanted to know things. If you
have such a mind, you would have quickly discovered what

(01:05):
was actually happening, what the reality of your medium was.
How can you be a journalist and be that bewildered,
And if you are that bewildered on your own doorstep,
how bewildered are you about the rest of life and
the rest of the world. Also of concern was management's
response to the report. The report, by the way, basically
says the place is shot. It needs a bomb and
some genuine talent. The response suggests what Radio and New

(01:27):
Zealand management do is well. What they do quite well
is commission reports and ignore them. So the exercise as
a whole appears a bit of a waste of time.
They got told some obvious stuff they should have known,
an alarming thing about their staff that they should have
also known. But now they do know they need to
fix it. And as for the report itself, all the

(01:47):
rest of it seems a little bit tricky for them
for me. I mean, look, they can do whatever they like.
I don't care. But what I care about is that
this industry is actually successful. Some of us are actually
having the time of our life. Some of us know
what's going on, and understand proceeding. Some of us still
ask a few questions. The future is bright and it's
there for anyone who wants it. But to want it,
you've got to be keen and you've got to be awake,

(02:08):
and that might be the biggest problem of all. For
more from the mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to news
talks it'd be from six am weekdays, or follow the
podcast on iHeartRadio.
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