Sport airwaves fall silent
Broadcasting doyen Keith Quinn fears for the future of career sports broadcasters following Radio Sport’s demise.
Media company NZME closed its Radio Sport radio station with immediate effect yesterday as the coronavirus crisis takes a bite out of advertising sales. The postponement and cancellation of international and domestic sport from the pandemic has also had a massive impact.
The future of the station remains doubtful, but Stuff understands staff have been left gutted by the word ‘‘indefinitely’’ being used by NZME when describing the shutdown.
The station’s social media channels were closed down around the same time as Radio Sport was pulled from the airwaves at 1pm yesterday.
Radio Sport’s future has been under a cloud after NZME chose not to renew the rights to broadcast live commentary of New Zealand Cricket’s home internationals plus domestic games from next summer in February.
Some on-air staff have been with the station for more than two decades.
It is understood some staff only learned of the shutdown late yesterday morning. Some of those staff were yet to learn what the shutdown would mean for their position.
The station has been an institution on the airwaves since 1996 when it became the dedicated Radio Sport network, replacing
Sports Roundup.
Retired sports broadcaster Quinn described ending Radio Sport as a ‘‘shock’’ and a ‘‘sad day’’ for the industry.
Quinn regularly popped up on the show over the years as a guest. He recalled a regular five minute piece on Martin Devlin’s breakfast show in the early days, which he relished.
With Radio Sport taken off the air and the chances of it returning appearing unlikely, Quinn said it was concerning for sports broadcasting.
‘‘It’s another example of the fact that even maybe into the 1990s and new millennium there was an opportunity for young blokes to make a career and last a long time [in sports broadcasting],’’ Quinn told Stuff. ‘‘That’s now going to be very difficult for anyone to consider if they want to make a career out of it.’’
Financial pressures facing all New Zealand media, the rise of podcasts, and other broadcast options on the internet were all challenges, Quinn said.
He was fortunate to walk into a job with the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation-TVNZ straight out of high school and be employed in the media for 42 years. The landscape had changed vastly since then.
‘‘I often say concerning my own time, I had it in the good years.
‘‘It looks like that’s not going to be at all possible now because Radio Sport was an outlet for guys who had those ambitions.’’
Long-time Radio Sport host Brendan Telfer, who worked at the station from 1999-2013, was also saddened by the news.
The early years of Radio Sport were a special time in his life, which he looked back on fondly.
‘‘We were new. We were something different. We got a lot of listeners for that reason and we enjoyed ourselves and had a lot of fun,’’ he told Stuff.
‘‘It was a great time in my broadcasting career [and] why I stayed there as long as I did.’’
Radio Sport’s departure will leave a large void for many devoted sports followers around the country, who tuned into their mixture of commentaries, talkback, and other segments.
Telfer didn’t believe it was a situation where Broadcasting and Communications Minister Kris Faafoi and the government needed to be fighting harder for the struggling New Zealand media.
‘‘It’s market forces at work here. This is what NZME have decided. It’s not working financially.
‘‘I think it’s a fairly forlorn hope to expect the government would bail out a sports radio station anymore than they would a country-western music station or a rock station.
‘‘Sport is just a commodity product in the electronic media and if it’s not able to stand on it’s own two feet for whatever reason [it’s too bad].’’
Telfer said no-one could have predicted the Covid-19 crisis and how an event which began in China could have had ramifications for a sports radio station in New Zealand.
‘‘These are the things that happen out there on the private market and free market.
‘‘Obstacles and hurdles when they come along, if you can’t meet them you go under.’’