Radio deserves a sporting chance

The plug has been pulled on Radio Sport but there will always be a need in New Zealand for a dedicated sports broadcasting radio service.

It’s scarcely a priority now – with government resources commendably channelled to containing coronavirus’ spread and economic impact – but sometime in the future there has to be a case for NZ On Air funding a Radio Sport-style service on a Radio New Zealand frequency.

Surely a state broadcaster could step in to fill the void given the historical importance of sport to New Zealand?

Let’s reflect, for a moment, on what we’ve lost.

Every Kiwi sports lover grew up listening to Radio Sport or its Sports Round-up forerunner.

For generations, Radio Sport was a geography lesson on air. Live cricket crosses to exotic holiday spots were the closest many listeners came to religious ritual. You could set your cellphone alarm around some satiated sports commentator’s tribute to the quality of Central Otago stonefruit, or Bay of Plenty kaimoana, while breathlessly, and briefly, interrupting the gustatory flow for the first wicket’s fall.

Some of us are ancient enough to have been lulled into beachside somnolence by the mellifluous tones of Iain Gallaway at Molyneux Park. Still others hung out for every utterance from softball enthusiast Garry Ward at Hataitai Ballpark.

As the hazy days of summer shortened, focus turned to the nation’s muddy footy fields. Some Radio Sport contributors – often enthusiastic amateurs who took their roles as seriously as a seasoned pro – were predictably parochial. Others were equally eloquent and colourful (stand up Taranaki’s Phil Quinney and Nelson’s Alan Smith).

So, a sports journalism landscape without Radio Sport is as eerily empty as a lunar surface before Apollo 11’s first imprint.

Some of our greatest sports broadcasters have graced Radio Sport. The station was required listening from its early days with an eclectic hosts, including the always entertaining Martin Devlin, the experienced old pro Brendan Telfer, and ex-able Tasmans muso Graeme Hill.

You could rely on Radio Sport for expert and accurate sports coverage and commentary, a dizzying array of diverse guests and talkback groupies, and, often enough, a good belly laugh. Especially from Devlin in his first stint at the station, including a memorable exchange with the befuddled early morning caller who asked: ‘‘Is this Radio Pacific?’’. ‘‘Yes, it is,’’ Devlin replied, ‘‘start whingeing now’’.

You could also expect – and come to respect – strong opinions evinced by Devlin, Darcy Waldegrave and Mark Watson.

Radio Sport’s coverage of New Zealand’s blue ribbon sports – rugby, rugby league, cricket, netball, football and Olympic codes – was both excellent and exhaustive, but, equally importantly, the station also gave so-called ‘minor sports their 15 seconds of soundbite fame.

The flag would barely be lowered at some age-group triathlon in Turkmenistan, before a Radio Sport host would have a Kiwi minor medallist on a staticky Skype call. A Radio Sport interview would often be the only publicity those athletes would get, outside their own community newspaper. Hosts who did their homework – Jason Pine, Andrew Alderson and Glen Larmer to name just a few — became such trusted names with Kiwi sports, for their generous, gentle guiding of novice interview subjects.

We’ve hardly heard our last

All Blacks test radio commentary. There will always be a radio outlet for big sports – provided they don’t get too greedy – but what about codes who don’t command massive audiences but still supply New Zealand with world champions?

Sport and commercial media have been uneasy bedfellows at best, each digging the other in the ribs for a greater share of the blanket.

Radio Sport was owned by NZME, whose first duty is to their shareholders, not to sports listeners. They have been forced to make a tough commercial decision in the harshest environment ever for New Zealand media.

The question which must be asked (when the time is right) is how vital is a national sports channel to New Zealanders? Is it important enough to divert a decent dollop of taxes towards resurrecting and maintaining its presence?

Sports Minister Grant Robertson is hellishly busy in his primary portfolio, guiding and distributing the nation’s finances, but he has, in the past, expressed his support for grassroots sport.

Could he some day be persuaded to ring-fence some cash for a publicly funded radio (and video) channel?

Many of us kicked up a proverbial stink when Radio New Zealand threatened to undermine its Concert Programme in favour of launching a youth channel.

Would it be tantamount to poking a sharp stick into a nest of hyperactive hornets to suggest there would be, at least, as many New Zealanders vitally interested in sport as in classical music?

Highlanders head coach Aaron Mauger has delivered a muchneeded dose of realism to the deep pay cuts coming in rugby, saying that players and coaches are simply fortunate to be in an industry that has a chance of surviving the coronavirus crisis.

‘‘In our context we’re lucky there’s been a lot of good work done in the past,’’ Mauger told Stuff. ‘‘We’re still in a position to be talking about future competitions. There’s a lot more less fortunate, whose businesses are going under.

‘‘In terms of requests for people to take pay cuts, it’s the least we can do to help our game survive, which has been so good to all of us over the years.’’

The savage economic damage caused by coronavirus is becoming clearer each day, with NZME taking the axe to Radio Sport on Monday. It is understood further brutal cuts to the NZME sports department are imminent and they clearly won’t be the last in the sports media.

In the broader economy, Air New Zealand has also announced plans to cut a staggering 30 per cent of its workforce in the next 12 months. Against that backdrop, whatever pay cuts New Zealand’s rugby players and coaches take, will pale into comparison against the financial distress of many other New Zealanders.

‘‘It’s a no-brainer,’’ Mauger said of the cuts. ‘‘Everyone has been asked to because it’s the best way of helping our game survive.

‘‘Everyone has got to play their part and I don’t think there has been any issue from players or coaches.

‘‘We’ve all been asked to take a cut and if we don’t do that the game doesn’t survive.

‘‘Everyone is playing their part to make sure we’ve still got a structure, we can keep doing what we love and have something to go do when we get to the other side of this isolation period.’’

Highlanders players, coaches and staff who were on tour in Argentina were already in selfisolation, a 14-day period that ended yesterday.

When Mauger returned from Buenos Aires, he and his wife took the difficult decision of sending their two eldest children to stay with friends as a precaution, while they kept their two youngest at home with them.

The family was reunited when the national lockdown was announced and Mauger said he and the rest of the Highlanders were in good health.

‘‘There’s still a fair amount of uncertainty about what the next stage looks like,’’ Mauger said.

‘‘Everything is dictated by what you can and can’t do, which is stipulated by the Government.

‘‘The longer we go on without any team conditioning and rugby