The reaction on social media was swift, with many listeners and followers surprised and upset.<\/p>\n
Teu told Media Insider yesterday that it was not an easy decision. \u201cIt\u2019s just one of those times where it\u2019s a chance to have a little bit of a break for a bit, reset the mind and rest the mind because when you\u2019re doing that kind of stuff, your mind doesn\u2019t stop.\u201d<\/p>\n
Teu joined Mai FM 11 years ago and has been the breakfast host alongside Clark and Tegan Yorwarth for about four years.<\/p>\n
Mai FM breakfast hosts Tegan Yorwarth (from left), Fame Teu and Nickson Clark. Photo \/ MediaWorks<\/p>\n
Mai\u2019s morning show is the most popular music show in Auckland, with 144,100 listeners in the city each week. It is second overall to Newstalk ZB\u2019s Mike Hosking breakfast with 181,100 Auckland listeners. Across New Zealand, Mai\u2019s breakfast show has 255,800 listeners.<\/p>\n
On a Mai FM Instagram post about Teu\u2019s departure this week, Clark wrote: \u201cSaddest day of my life.\u201d Yorwarth wrote: \u201cMassive shift … we\u2019ll all miss you e hoa.\u201d<\/p>\n
Media Insider put speculation to Teu about a comment he allegedly made in a staff WhatsApp group shortly before his exit.<\/p>\n
Teu replied: \u201cWho told you this?\u201d before adding that he knew nothing about any issue. \u201cThis is the first I\u2019m hearing of this. That\u2019s not the case at all.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked if there had been any trouble in the WhatsApp group, he said: \u201cNo, not that I know of. We\u2019re pretty open inside that chat, but if there ever is, we just personally chat to each other. Do you mind me asking, are you trying to get a scoop out of me?\u201d<\/p>\n
Mai FM paid tribute to Fame Teu in social media posts this week.<\/p>\n
Teu did not respond to a follow-up phone call and text message in which Media Insider provided him with more details of the alleged comment.<\/p>\n
Earlier, he said: \u201cI\u2019ve been in this game for a while, and it\u2019s interesting how whispers get around … it\u2019s funny to actually be at the forefront of some rumours … that\u2019s crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked why his departure was so sudden, Teu said he had spoken to his family.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to step away from something when it\u2019s been a large part of your life, but it\u2019s one of these things where me and my partner like to travel and whatnot. I\u2019m afforded that with this job, but I wanted to build something else on the side.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s never a right time, but I was like, \u2018let\u2019s just make a decision\u2019, and then just went through with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
News tip? Feedback? Please email shayne.currie@nzme.co.nz<\/p>\n
Asked why he did not receive a farewell on his own show, Teu said: \u201cIt\u2019s not really my vibe, if I\u2019m being honest. When I got into this \u2013 I said it in my statement \u2013 I just didn\u2019t want to go back to pouring concrete. It was a change of career at the time \u2013 I never expected to land a job and be there for 10 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never been in it for the spotlight; that\u2019s just something that comes with the role. I\u2019m grateful for all the people I met along the way and for the listeners tuning in daily. But I\u2019ve always said at the end of the day they don\u2019t choose who sits in that seat.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never been a big fan of those farewell kinds of things because to me it\u2019s very self-absorbed and I\u2019m not that guy, I\u2019m just not about that kind of stuff. They did ask, and I was like, \u2018Nah, I\u2019ve got a statement\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was the statement read by Clark on Mai FM\u2019s drive show on Tuesday \u2013 eight days after Teu last appeared on the breakfast show.<\/p>\n
Approached yesterday, MediaWorks said it did not comment on its people.<\/p>\n
Asked what he planned to do next, Teu said: \u201cWell, my plan now is absolutely nothing. I\u2019ve got a few months of downtime planned, and then who knows where the wind will take me after that. I\u2019ve got nothing locked in place.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people would be scared and panicking about what\u2019s next, but for me, I\u2019ve got some time to just relax and reset.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u2018A team player as long as he\u2019s the captain\u2019 <\/p>\n
Former TVNZ staff Corin Dann, Paul Henry and Peter Williams at an event in 2009. Photo \/ Frances Oliver<\/p>\n
The man who sat alongside Paul Henry on TVNZ\u2019s Breakfast show for almost 10 years is effusive in his praise of him as a broadcaster but has questioned just how long he might stick it out in politics.<\/p>\n
Former TVNZ host and Breakfast newsreader Peter Williams told The Platform this week that newly minted Act Party candidate Henry was \u201cby far the best Breakfast frontman the company [TVNZ] has ever had”. <\/p>\n
On his own Substack page<\/a>, Williams said he had always believed \u201cthat of the three great Hs of New Zealand broadcasting in the last 40 years \u2013 Holmes, Hosking and Henry \u2013 he was the best of them all”. <\/p>\n \u201cHis wit is swift, nimble and razor-sharp. His interviewing is incisive, and he\u2019s able to jump the genres between factual and entertainment with ease – hence his remarkable success fronting shows as diverse as Breakfast, occasionally the 7pm Close-Up and more latterly Traitors and The Chase.”<\/p>\n But Williams is wary of Henry\u2019s political longevity.<\/p>\n \u201cHe is a team player as long as he is the captain of the team,\u201d Williams told The Platform\u2019s Michael Laws, who is standing for Parliament himself for New Zealand First.<\/p>\n Williams wrote on Substack that Henry \u201cnever sticks at anything for long\u201d, but that a career with Act was not a shock: he said Henry\u2019s speech to an Act party rally two years ago was \u201cthoroughly engaging and popular\u201d.<\/p>\n Williams said Act leader David Seymour was \u201cspot on\u201d this week when he stated that Henry infected rooms with enthusiasm.<\/p>\n \u201cHaving spent the best part of a decade sharing a TV studio with him, I can vouch for that. I can also vouch that if he\u2019s not the centre of attention, he tends to lose interest pretty quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n Williams related a story of how he and co-host Pippa Wetzell had to go above and beyond the call of duty to convince Henry to return to work after one summer break.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Breakfast era was his most high-profile and successful gig, but he was forever threatening to leave and not come back the next year. While Pippa Wetzel and Tamati Coffey and me would be back to start the new year around the middle of January, Paul would often show up in early March. <\/p>\n \u201cOn one memorable occasion, Pippa and I even went to see him on board his yacht at Westhaven Marina to convince him that he should stay on for at least another year because the show was going so well and he was obviously the anchor of it. We succeeded, but it was never going to last forever.\u201d<\/p>\n Williams referenced some of Henry\u2019s controversial comments he made on Breakfast and what he described as \u201ctimid\u201d TVNZ management.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the time, I thought his value to the company and his day-to-day performance in the most demanding role on daily TV outweighed the outrageousness of that behaviour, but management thought otherwise. Oh well.\u201d<\/p>\n Henry on selling TVNZ<\/p>\n In multiple interviews this week, including with Media Insider, Henry, 65, has said he is giving himself six years in politics.<\/a><\/p>\n But what happens if Act is relegated to the Opposition benches? He\u2019s told some media that, in that scenario, he would still stick it out for three years.<\/p>\n Henry\u2019s resignation from the TVNZ board after only a year, meanwhile, has left Media and Communications Minister Paul Goldsmith with a minor headache at a critical time for the state broadcaster.<\/p>\n The company is in the throes of a five-year digital strategy, with major investment in new technology \u2013 highlighted by its move into paid digital streaming and becoming an aggressive competitor for sports rights.<\/p>\n Henry told Media Insider that TVNZ had responded \u201cvery professionally\u201d to his resignation.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m really proud of the things that I achieved as part of the board. I\u2019m extraordinarily proud of what the board is achieving, what the executives are achieving, and what some of the staff are doing and achieving.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know about all these classic media companies. You\u2019ve lived it; you\u2019re living it now. What\u2019s happening is that this brilliant broadcaster is being turned around so that it can face the future. That is a very big, challenging job, but they\u2019re doing it very, very well.\u201d<\/p>\n I asked him whether TVNZ should be sold \u2013 the Act Party is no fan of the state owning a television network or a radio station.<\/p>\n \u201cI would say at the moment, definitely not. If the stars align and if things continue going the way they\u2019re going now, I think that it is going to be a very profitable company in the not-too-distant future, and maybe then it should be.<\/p>\n \u201cI haven\u2019t thought that far, but certainly at the moment, I wouldn\u2019t be interested in selling it.\u201d<\/p>\n While he agreed that one of Act\u2019s fundamental principles was that the state should not own a television network or airline, Henry said: \u201cAnother fundamental principle is to run the economy well and the way TVNZ is shaping up, the way it\u2019s going, I think that it will be a very profitable company in the not-too-distant future.<\/p>\n \u201cThat will be the time to sell it.\u201d<\/p>\n Lorde: \u2018A missing piece in the puzzle\u2019<\/p>\n Ella Yelich-O\u2019Connor \u2013 Lorde, as we all know her \u2013 is not only putting her money where her mouth is but, shortly, her music, too.<\/p>\n Lorde is one of several high-profile investors in the new New Zealand music digital app\/platform Lume, which officially launches in app stores today.<\/p>\n \u201cI think Lume is really smart,\u201d Lorde told Media Insider in a statement.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a missing piece in the puzzle of modern album-sharing, giving artists an opportunity for deep intimacy with their core listeners while dictating what their work is truly worth.\u201d<\/p>\n And here\u2019s music to the ears of Lume\u2019s founders: \u201cI\u2019ll be putting Virgin\u2019s XRAYS on Lume as soon as possible,\u201d Lorde said.<\/p>\n Lume launches today with 22 albums (or \u201clumes\u201d as they are dubbed) \u2013 including Tiki Taane (who famously removed his music from Spotify), Bic Runga, Fazerdaze, Fur Patrol and Phoenix Foundation.<\/p>\n The new app aims to solve several major issues in the local music industry: the lack of financial return for Kiwi musicians from streaming services (Spotify, especially, and YouTube), and a richer, digital album experience for those who have a deep love of music.<\/p>\n Unlike the streams and singles that drive Spotify\u2019s model, Lume showcases a full album experience \u2013 and not just the music. Alongside that will be exclusive creative material, such as handwritten lyrics, photography, videos or different iterations of a song and album as they came to life.<\/p>\n For a one-off price of $24.99 for each \u2018lume\u2019, the consumer receives the artist\u2019s album and value-added extras and they keep them forever. There are no subscription fees.<\/p>\n The artist and their partners, in turn, receive 80% of that revenue \u2013 a complete turnaround from the Spotify model. <\/p>\nFormer Breakfast co-hosts Paul Henry and Pippa Wetzell. Photo \/ Janna Dixon<\/p>\n
Broadcaster Paul Henry holds court at his press conference to announce his Act Party candidacy. Photo \/ Sylvie Whinray <\/p>\n
Lorde. Photo \/ Greg Bowker <\/p>\n