AUCKLAND, Today: Not everybody is celebrating the merger of MediaWorks stations Radio Live and Magic. One insider has written to M+AD saying: “It’s not so much a merger – more of a closure of Live” (which is exactly the way M+AD ed David Gapes – an old radio hand – sees it).
Radio Live has been a revelation – by far the brighter and more entertaining of the two talk formats, it’s generally starred personalities of a liberal bent, compared to the starchy, boring conservatives over on NewstalkZB.
“It is unfortunate that the presence of one of only two talk format radio networks nationwide will disappear, probably forever,” says our anonymous correspondent.
It seems to us that the long-running Live story had plenty of life left in it. MediaWorks should’ve pumped more resources into it, instead of simply rolling over because they lacked the imagination or the will to make it work.
Live/Magic will be a music/talk hybrid? A contradiction in terms! And a doomed one, at that.
Give us a break!
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