Listeners aghast at Concert FM axing
Concert FM listeners have reacted with dismay at RNZ’s moves to drop the classical station’s presenters.
The state-owned broadcaster began consulting staff on Wednesday on a proposal that would include 18 redundancies and axe almost all jobs at RNZ Concert.
It plans to create 17 new jobs at a new youth-oriented music channel based in Auckland and remove RNZ Concert from its FM slot, along with all of its presenters. It would instead broadcast classical music around the clock on AM, online and on Sky.
According to RNZ, the weekly cumulative audience for RNZ Concert is 173,300 – or 4 per cent of the population aged 10+.
A Facebook group named Save RNZ Concert had more than 5000 members, and a change.org petition had more than 2000 signatures as of yesterday morning.
A woman whose love of Concert FM ended in a district court battle said she was upset to hear the station would be losing its presenters and moving to AM. Janice Lee successfully fought a $500 noise control fine from the Grey District Council after her neighbours complained about her playing Concert FM.
‘‘I can’t do a lot of things without listening to Concert FM. I’m feeling strongly that we need to fight this,’’ she said.
Music teacher Marnie Barrell, who said she listened to Concert FM 24/7, felt the decision to ‘‘relegate classical music to a very inferior automatic streaming on AM radio, is extremely disappointing and unacceptable’’.
‘‘There are many thousands of 18 to 35-year-old people who love classical and jazz,’’ she said. ‘‘Most of my senior students listen to nothing but classical music, and would be greatly impoverished by having no radio station with informative commentary and acceptable sound quality.’’
Arts Centre of Christchurch chairwoman and the former chairwoman of Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, Felicity Price, said it was a ‘‘bizarre decision’’.
‘‘To sack all its engaging hosts and use taxpayers’ money to instead set up an Auckland radio/online radical sharing alternative that would be more appealing to the non-white youth market is simply absurd, short-sighted and surely in breach of its charter of ‘reflecting New Zealand’s cultural identity’ and ‘recognising the interests of all age groups’,’’ she said.
Using taxpayers’ money to compete with YouTube and Spotify at the cost of losing its charter-complying Concert FM was ‘‘just plain silly’’.
Many Concert FM listeners were elderly and enjoyed interacting with the presenters. Having an automated service would disenfranchise that sector of society, she said.
Broadcasting Minister Kris Faafoi said he was working on a plan to address concerns raised by ‘‘loyal listeners’’. He met RNZ’s chief executive and chairman last week and ‘‘made some concerns clear to them’’ about aspects of the plan.
A spokesman for Faafoi said the concerns were reminding RNZ of its charter and ensuring it understood the feedback of all listeners.
Faafoi urged people not to ‘‘build up too much expectation’’ when he was asked directly if Concert FM would be saved by the Government.
RNZ was operationally independent and ‘‘you don’t want me messing with that’’, he said.
The organisation was struggling to attract a youth audience, and the proposed youth station was one way to address that.
Faafoi said he did not regularly listen to Concert FM, but was not the target audience.
RNZ chief executive Paul Thompson said Faafoi’s plan was a ‘‘positive’’ because it showed he was thinking about how RNZ could get to ‘‘the best result’’.
‘‘Clearly he’s looking to ensure that RNZ can do as much as possible for all of the audiences,’’ he said.
The feedback had been intense and frank since the Concert FM cutback was announced, Thompson said.
‘‘It has been quite strong and quite critical of the impact of RNZ Concert, that’s to be expected.’’
In a tweet on Thursday, former Prime Minister Helen Clark urged Ministers to consult on RNZ’s decision. ‘‘Hope ministers will take an interest in this very concerning @radionz decision.’’
Thompson said he respected Clark’s position and took an open stance to feedback. ‘‘We are going to listen and have a think about what people are saying.’’