Fifty more RNZ jobs to be shifted to Auckland
Radio New Zealand has indicated there’s still a long way to go in its plan to downsize its Wellington headquarters.
In its briefing to Broadcasting Minister Clare Curran, the radio network said it planned to shift up to a further 50 jobs from Wellington to Auckland
It also signalled a scaling back of the nation’s AM radio operations. RNZ owned a large amount of broadcasting technology but said it wanted to eventually sell and decommission a lot of its infrastructure and land.
RNZ chief executive Paul Thompson said about 80 staff were in Auckland, compared with about 160 in Wellington. He wanted each office to be the same size, with both sites being big enough to operate on their own in an emergency.
The Auckland expansion was also to strengthen the station’s reach in the region, Thompson said. It had a relatively small Auckland audience.
RNZ had been moving jobs to Auckland for some time, and he said it would probably take another five years for Auckland to be equal in size with Wellington.
In the longer term, the report raised RNZ’s wish to divest from broadcasting infrastructure.
‘‘RNZ owns a significant property portfolio and other related equipment required to support its AM radio services. While the AM audience is declining, the cost of maintenance and upkeep of the property, buildings and AM equipment is increasing.’’
The report went on to say RNZ was sitting on potentially lucrative land, that could be used for housing.
‘‘We think we’re an audience and content organisation, not an infrastructure organisation.’’