Bunty in tune with listeners
A Waikato radio stalwart is keen to stay on air as long as he is relevant, and says regional radio stations will always have their place, despite their shrinking numbers.
Classic Hits 98.6 Waikato’s presenter Mark ‘‘Bunty’’ Bunting, half of the Bunty and Justine in the Morning show, said listeners would always want to be able to tune in to hear Waikato news – including cancellations, and he was keen to be the man delivering the news as long as possible.
‘‘No one wants to be the old guy on the radio who doesn’t realise he’s lost it. ‘‘How embarrassing would that be?’’ Bunting proved last week he still has ‘‘it’’, taking out the Best Music Breakfast Show - Regional prize at the annual NZ Radio Awards.
He and co-presenter Justine Allen edged out the crews from More FM Manawatu and Classic Hits Dunedin, in Bunting’s eighth win in 10 years.
‘‘It might sound a bit cheesy, but I’ll keep doing this as long as I can make a difference.
The competition for Waikato listeners for a Waikato-based breakfast show dropped last November when More FM Waikato’s breakfast show was taken over by a networked programme from Auckland.
Bunting said they had no statistical evidence, but anecdotally he had spoken to a lot of listeners who had changed frequency so they could continue to get Waikato-based news in the morning.