www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/mediawatch/audio/2018732872/rnz-set-to-cut-back-concert-and-launch-new-youth-service

The broadcaster is proposing to remove RNZ Concert from its FM frequencies and transform it into an automated non-stop music station which will stream online and play on AM radio.

It would be replaced on FM by a service aimed at a younger, more diverse audience as part of a new multimedia “music brand”.

arghhhhhhh

   

leave concert fm alone and put the yewth stuff online and am !

Exactly!

I remember fighting for the Concert Programme to be ad free in the 80's.

A sad day indeed...

Any online petition against this move? Not happy.

We could start a petition ourselves, just had a quick search and found www.change.org/.
Anybody have any experience with this sort of thing? Avaaz might be a little over the top...

Its all about the money honey...

RNZ should be about reaching a broad NZ audience, not primarily a 18-35 yr old audience.

DarkLantern blog - darklanternforowen.wordpress.com

sign the petition to keep concert fm !

www.change.org/p/minister-of-broadcasting-media-and-digital-communications-kris-faafoi-minister-please-save-rnz-concert-and-fund-the-new-youth-network?recruiter=11521442&recruited_by_id=e94c5518-3854-4b4a-b606-ea03c0f72baa

There was an interview with a couple of people on RNZ early this morning....theres going to be a stouch for sor sure if they think they can just run rough shodd over their audience.

RNZ CEO Paul Thompson said “that they need to be thinking 5,10, 15 years ahead, so they need to connect with younger New Zealander’s”. Presumably he means that Concert’s mainly older listeners will be dying off in that time period and RNZ Concert will die with them if they don't change the demographic now!
But the news just published yesterday in the UK suggests a more optimistic future for classical music radio:

Classical music station BBC Radio 3 posted it’s highest ratings in three years as young people migrate to classical music, while Radio 1, the BBC’s flagship youth station slumped to 8.79 million, the first time in it’s history that it had dropped below 9 million. The decline illustrates the difficulties the BBC faces in it’s pursuit of the under 35’s, the same audience RNZ now wants to target with their new station!

New listening figures showed that BBC Radio 3’s weekly audience rose by 16.4% to 2.13 million in the last 3 months of 2019.

I’ve been listening to Radio 3 as I work at my computer and I like what I hear and if the RNZ proposal goes ahead, that and other online classical and jazz stations will be what I will listen to. Does anyone know of a good internet radio for the kitchen!

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/02/06/radio-3-boasts-highest-audience-ratings-three-years-radio-1/

An interesting article by Toby Manhire

thespinoff.co.nz/media/07-02-2020/rnz-is-overhauling-its-music-network-and-a-lot-of-people-are-mad-as-hell-about-it/

this is the big petition with 14k+ signatures that keeps getting mentioned in the media.

secure.avaaz.org/en/community_petitions/paul_thompson_and_willy_macalister_at_radio_new_ze_keep_rnz_concert_on_fm_and_retain_their_presenters/

Feb 7, 2020 11:06:56 GMT 12 michaelw said:

sign the petition to keep concert fm !

www.change.org/p/minister-of-broadcasting-media-and-digital-communications-kris-faafoi-minister-please-save-rnz-concert-and-fund-the-new-youth-network?recruiter=11521442&recruited_by_id=e94c5518-3854-4b4a-b606-ea03c0f72baa

Why are people signing this petition paying up to $30 to do so? I signed the bigger petition you linked to below. 

Feb 7, 2020 22:32:20 GMT 12 mijoh said:

An interesting article by Toby Manhire

thespinoff.co.nz/media/07-02-2020/rnz-is-overhauling-its-music-network-and-a-lot-of-people-are-mad-as-hell-about-it/

You may have heard the Helen Clark has weighed in with her subtle protest.

DarkLantern blog - darklanternforowen.wordpress.com

DarkLantern blog - darklanternforowen.wordpress.com

To rub salt into the wound of losing RNZ Concert to the proposed gutted automated AM service if this plan comes to pass, is that there are only 8 AM transmitters in the network across the entire country compared to the present over 30 Concert FM transmitters which presently cover most towns and cities. So if you live outside the places listed below you won’t receive the service on radio. I expect most of us here are interested in hi-fidelity so won't bother with it anyway.
Sorry MichaelW, there's no coverage in Palmy!  

AM Network Frequencies:
Auckland: AM 882 Khz
Bay Of Plenty: AM 657 Khz
Waikato: AM 1494 Khz
Napier: AM 909 Khz
Wellington: AM 657 Khz
Christchurch: AM 963 Khz
Dunedin: AM 900 Khz
Southland: AM 1314 Khz
.

Feb 7, 2020 23:32:32 GMT 12 michaelw said:

this is the big petition with 14k+ signatures that keeps getting mentioned in the media.

secure.avaaz.org/en/community_petitions/paul_thompson_and_willy_macalister_at_radio_new_ze_keep_rnz_concert_on_fm_and_retain_their_presenters/

Yes, signed. This is the one I got from Orchestra Wellington

Feb 8, 2020 15:28:37 GMT 12 mijoh said:

To rub salt into the wound of losing RNZ Concert to the proposed gutted automated AM service if this plan comes to pass, is that there are only 8 AM transmitters in the network across the entire country compared to the present over 30 Concert FM transmitters which presently cover most towns and cities. So if you live outside the places listed below you won’t receive the service on radio. I expect most of us here are interested in hi-fidelity so won't bother with it anyway.
Sorry MichaelW, there's no coverage in Palmy!  

AM Network Frequencies:
Auckland: AM 882 Khz
Bay Of Plenty: AM 657 Khz
Waikato: AM 1494 Khz
Napier: AM 909 Khz
Wellington: AM 657 Khz
Christchurch: AM 963 Khz
Dunedin: AM 900 Khz
Southland: AM 1314 Khz
.

well that sucks donkey balls  

rnz really hasn't thought this through.

i don't know why the small petition mob needs donations, i didn't follow the link

MichaelW, you could try a simple experiment to see what sort of reception you will get of the RNZ AM network transmitter nearest to you which may be the Wellington one. You will need the supplied AM loop antenna connected to your Marantz tuner which should be rotated to find the best signal. The AM transmitters will be active next week Tuesday to Thursday afternoons and evenings when parliament is in session.

Even more salt is rubbed in when you realise that if this poorly thought out plan goes ahead Concert will have to share the AM Network with parliament, so when parliament is in session there will be be no Concert programme on radio!!! 

Feb 8, 2020 12:59:41 GMT 12 Owen Y said:

I think Helen Clark still has some influence on the present cabinet and I’m hopeful that government will intervene in this proposal and give RNZ more capital to have both Concert and Youth radio if it’s needed, which I doubt it is as the 18 - 34 group seems to me to be well covered by commercial radio.

thanks but i have no desire to listen to AM.

there's a local guardband FM station here which broadcasts classical 24/7.

it's semi-automated and was broadcasting through some awful quasi-surround matrix.

it appears that has stopped and so has signal strength, it's largely unlistenable now

back in the day HC and her mob could have setup good public broadcasting with their charter but for the commercial imperative which stuffed everything.

tvnz6/7 was rather good while it lasted.

Finally Jacinda Ardern has weighed in on this. She doesn't seem happy.

____________
Pureaudio
www.pureaudio.co.nz/
www.facebook.com/pureaudio.co.nz/

www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/409169/jacinda-ardern-on-rnz-concert-changes-we-don-t-have-to-lose-one-for-the-other

"I feel very strongly about this. When I came in as Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage, one of the priorities I had was access - that we need to broaden the access of all New Zealander to the arts,... We don't have to lose one for the other.""

DarkLantern blog - darklanternforowen.wordpress.com

The only reason Cindy has waded into this is the petition and the backlash. I bet you all a boatload of Donalds gold she knew exactly what they were proposing to do!

Latest news:-
www.stuff.co.nz/national/119403097/government-to-free-up-fm-frequency-to-keep-rnz-concert

The most interesting snippet today was that frequency 102MHz has been put aside for 20 years for RNZ to use as a youth music service.

____________
Pureaudio
www.pureaudio.co.nz/
www.facebook.com/pureaudio.co.nz/

Feb 10, 2020 21:30:19 GMT 12 garym said:

The most interesting snippet today was that frequency 102MHz has been put aside for 20 years for RNZ to use as a youth music service.

Yes, I’d like to hear RNZ CEO Paul Thompson answer the question of why the 102MHz frequency was not considered for youth radio.

By hiring ex George FM’s Willy Macalister as Head of Music they now seem to have a clear bias away from Concert programming towards youth radio.

Jacinda Ardern said "My frustration here is that I see this beyond a programming decision and into a structural decision."
She said when Broadcasting Minister Kris Faafoi was briefed very recently on some of the proposed changes, he expressed concern and one of his clear concerns was over the loss of the FM frequency for Concert.
"He explicitly asked for time so that we could see if whether or not there was something we could do to prevent the loss of the FM frequency for Concert. RNZ went ahead and announced this regardless."

Of course it's not just about the FM frequency, I want a fully functioning Concert network with presenters and quality programmes, live concerts etc, not shuffling music through an automated playlist as they have proposed! 

RNZ's chief executive has admitted the public broadcaster did not ask for an additional FM frequency for its proposed youth channel before going public with plans to take Concert off FM in favour of the new station.

it was interesting listening to lisa owen grill her boss yesterday

when asked if rnz manoeuvred the govt into making the 102 offer, he replied they weren't smart enough to do that.

It’s encouraging that RNZ journalists like Lisa Owen have the editorial independence to probe their boss in this way! It was an interrogation that former Checkpoint journalist Mary Wilson would be proud of! 

Feb 12, 2020 3:48:17 GMT 12 mijoh said:

RNZ's chief executive has admitted the public broadcaster did not ask for an additional FM frequency for its proposed youth channel before going public with plans to take Concert off FM in favour of the new station.

What a lightweight tosser. They need a real CEO.

breaking news - rnz have withdrawn their proposal

yah !

www.stuff.co.nz/business/119461828/rnz-shelves-concert-consultations-talks-would-need-to-start-from-scratch