Former RNZ news boss Richard Sutherland\u2019s review \u2013 released to the NZ Herald under the Official Information Act \u2013 did not hold back on myriad issues afflicting the station, resulting in \u201cpersistent audience decline\u201d.<\/p>\n
It described the proliferation of on-air voices \u2013 \u201cespecially in news\u201d \u2013 who did not meet audience expectations, and it said an audit of all RNZ National presenters was urgently needed.<\/p>\n
Since that review, RNZ has appointed a new chief audio officer \u2013 respected broadcast producer and journalist Pip Keane.<\/p>\n
One of her biggest initial tasks is to find a new Morning Report host, after Corin Dann announced in October he was stepping into the role of business editor at the organisation.<\/a><\/p>\n Morning Report has also made several programming changes in recent months \u2013 moves that appear to have helped lift its audience. <\/p>\n The changes include shorter news bulletins and new discussion panels, including a head-to-head political panel featuring opposing MPs every Wednesday – a format that ZB has been using for years.<\/p>\n RNZ\u2019s other key shows, including Nine to Noon (258,300, up 20,200), Checkpoint (225,100, up 18,100) and Saturday Morning (208,100, up 4400) also recorded audience increases on the previous survey.<\/p>\n A breakdown by major cities shows RNZ has gained audience mainly in Auckland (132,700 listeners, up 16,700) while Wellington (87,700, up 700) and Christchurch (63,900, up 2600) have had smaller gains.<\/p>\n The only area of major concern for RNZ in this survey would be RNZ Concert \u2013 it dropped from an audience of 170,700 to 154,100.<\/p>\n RNZ chief executive Paul Thompson said the RNZ National results showed that the programming changes were beginning to have an impact. He expected to see further growth in 2026. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve only really begun the work in our audio plan with our chief audio officer being in the role for a little over a month. One of our key focus areas was growing the Auckland audience and seeing a lift in that audience in this survey across all of our major shows is really gratifying.\u201d<\/p>\n Morning Report\u2019s audience is now 352,200, compared with 424,400 for ZB\u2019s Mike Hosking Breakfast.<\/p>\n Thompson said RNZ\u2019s audio plan set clear targets to firstly stabilise and then grow RNZ National\u2019s audience. The organisation had been aiming to reach an audience of 500,000 by November 2026 and 520,000 by November 2027. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve achieved our November 2026 goal a year early with these latest results, and we now want to build on that success in 2026.\u201d<\/p>\nMorning Report hosts Corin Dann and Ingrid Hipkiss. Photos \/ RNZ<\/p>\n
Newstalk ZB breakfast host Mike Hosking. Photo \/ Michael Craig<\/p>\n