News radio station Today FM, shut down dramatically by MediaWorks yesterday, was the victim of short-term corporate strategy, said AUT's head of radio Matt Mollgaard.
The station was said to be haemorrhaging cash and struggling against Newstalk ZB in ratings, but the abruptness of its closure shocked listeners and hosts alike.
Realising the station was closing, Today FM hosts Tova O'Brien and Duncan Garner announced "they've f***** us" and "this is betrayal", live on air.
By 5pm, an announcement on the station's frequency said Today FM was no more, leaving staff bewildered.
Mollgaard said he wasn't surprised by station's financial issues, but is disappointed with how it was handled.
"A bit of a fiasco really, and I've never, in my 30 years plus of broadcasting, seen or heard anything like it.
"To decrease the time for consultation down to like, a day is kind of incredible."
Talk radio "is the hardest one" to get right, said Mollgaard. "Talk radio is expensive, it requires well-know people working day-in, day-out. It also has huge competition in New Zealand."
It's the latest in a series of media job cuts and there are warnings other industries will follow.
Such a venture has to be looked at as a five to 10-year plan, Mollgaard believed, citing this year's upcoming election as an obvious opportunity to build a radio listenership around its talented hosts.
He said Today FM was trying to build a multi-platform offering, including integration with internet audiences — a necessary challenge for radio platforms, but an opportunity also.
"They weren't really in it for the long-term," he said.
"In many ways radio is a bellwether media because advertising tends to drop off from television and radio pretty quickly in a recession... I think we are seeing here a consolidation of media money.
"We might see a contraction in the broadcast media as we head into a Q2 recession, so it doesn't look good but radio has survived before and so has television," Mollgaard said.
"I wouldn't make any predictions about the death of radio in New Zealand, it's still a very popular media."
MediaWorks’ interim CEO Wendy Palmer said the company was being hit by lower revenue and higher costs.
"At the request of the MediaWorks Board we have undertaken a review of the entire business to identify further areas of potential cost saving and to reshape the business for the market conditions.
“This has led the Board to take the difficult decision to take Today FM off air and to explore options for a digital content offering. This is a hard day for this talented team who put everything into building a new talk platform in Aotearoa. They’ve worked tremendously hard and we’re incredibly proud of the work they have done.
"We’ll be working with the team to identify other opportunities within MediaWorks where possible and to support them in their next steps."
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