RNZ guts concert radio as it targets youth

In the biggest overhaul of its music services in decades, RNZ is planning to gut its classical music station RNZ Concert and replace it on FM radio with music for a younger audience as part of a new music brand.

• This story was first published by RNZ

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”.

RNZ Concert would be taken off FM radio on May 29 and the youth platform would be phased in ahead of its full launch on August 28.

RNZ's music staff were informed about the proposed changes this morning in an emotional, occasionally heated meeting with the RNZ music content director Willy Macalister, head of radio and music David Allan, and chief executive Paul Thompson.

According to documents for staff, the move would eliminate 20 jobs at RNZ Concert including all presenter roles from late March.

Those would be replaced with 13 jobs at the new youth platform and four in the downsized RNZ Concert service.

The documents for staff say the proposed changes are aimed at securing new audiences for RNZ.

While its listenership is predominantly Pākehā and heavily skewed towards older demographics, the new music brand would target people aged 18 and 34 including Māori and Pasifika audiences, the document says.

Mediawatch understands the new youth platform would have a playlist spanning multiple genres with a heavy focus on New Zealand music. It would be active on social media.

Last month chief executive of commercial radio industry umbrella group the radio Broadcasters Association - Jana Rangooni - voiced her concerns about a potential new youth station. 

"We would have serious concerns if a taxpayer-funded broadcaster launched products and platforms that targeted audiences already well served by commercial radio broadcasters," she told Stuff

RNZ has been looking at drawing younger audiences with music since 2015 when an internal review concluded its “approach to the delivery of music content remains in a time warp."

A year later  - with little fanfare - the ‘RNZ Music’ brand was launched as part of a strategy to bring in new listeners.

At the time, Thompson told Mediawatch he wasn’t interested in duplicating commercial broadcasting on the air or online.

"Why would we provide anything the commercial broadcasters are quite happily doing?” he said.

“I hope what we do will pull in more people - especially online - but I don't see it as a massive audience growth initiative."

The station also launched youth-focused digital platform The Wireless - which had some music content - in 2014.

But the Wireless was closed down and folded into the rest of rnz.co.nz in 2018.