December 13, 2004

Canwest makes changes.

Its a bittersweet week for the people at Canwest Mediaworks this week.

Great news for TV3
John Campbell and Carol Hirschfeld move off reading autocue to get their own show in response to the dramatic changes made by TV1 for a position in the coveted free to air 7pm slot. Hilary Barry and Mike McRoberts will take over presenting 3 News. Prime are putting together their 'play' with Paul Holmes with time to spare which is an unusual short ceasefire advantage for these three players. We will certainly see what TV1, TV3 and Prime are made of and I look forward to finally purchasing a DVD recorder and maximising its application next year.

Changes for More FM nights.
Andrew Leiataua has held the iconic nightshow for 10 years in Auckland (most successfully as "The Vault" IMHO) and has moved over to a new challenge within More FM, which is a blessing for his kids - as Dad will now be home in time for bed!

The other news, is that Dominic Bowden (NZ Idol) is hosting the all new nightshow with his producer and panel-op A.J (ex-nights in Manawatu), which will be networked from Auckland to all of the other More FM stations soon. This is a major move by More FM who until now have rejected the idea of networking. It is also timely, as....

THE GOD AWFUL SHOCKING SAD and DISAPPOINTING news that every localworks station will lose its heritage name and rebrand as More FM starting this week.

It is hard to think about this as a positive thing, although its clear why Canwest did it. Thinking backwards, all of these names are part of each area's heritage and will now forever be lost because Canwest decided its just easier to use one name. Even TRN had empthay toward heritage names when they networked Classic Hits up and down our yonder.

Example: 4XO was one of planet earth's first commercial FM radio stations. This is widely known and had an incredible history in Dunedin. It was recently struck off as a brand and More FM moved onto the 97.4 frequency.

Here's a complete list of station names that will soon suddenly vanish leaving nothing but memories:


KCC FM - Northland


Coastline 93.4 FM - Tauranga


Lakes 96 FM - Rotorua


KIS FM - Taupo


Energy FM - Taranaki


Hot 93 - Hawkes Bay


92.8 Star FM - Wanganui


92.2 XS - Manawatu


HITZ 89.3 - Wairarapa


95 FM - Levin


Fifeshire 93FM - Nelson


Radio Central - Alexandra


89.2 Foveaux FM - Invercargill


2XX - Kapiti


Resort 99FM - Queenstown

Big River Radio - Balclutha (no logo found sorry)

I may get into a sticky situation by posting every one of these logos up here, but they will stay until I get asked by Canwest to take them off (which may prove to drive in the nail)

1 comment:

Dubber said...

That's really a shame. But not at all surprising.

Consider those images backed up elsewhere as well. As with all of the digital duplication I do - it's either for backup purposes, or for educational purposes, depending on which seems the most convincing at the time.

If they disappear from your site, no doubt they'll re-emerge elsewhere.

Radio stations used to be inextricably linked to the community. Now 'community' is a word that the industry prefers not to think too much about.

I think it was Izzy Asper who said that broadcasting was no different to selling shoes. That philosophy has outlived him within the company.