{"id":561304,"date":"2026-08-07T01:12:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T01:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/561304\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T01:12:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T01:12:08","slug":"media-insider-rnz-saturday-morning-to-get-single-new-host-to-replace-pairing-of-susie-ferguson-and-mihingarangi-forbes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/561304\/","title":{"rendered":"Media Insider: RNZ Saturday Morning to get single new host to replace pairing of Susie Ferguson and Mihingarangi Forbes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe changes include recruiting a new presenter for Saturday Morning, establishing a new Auckland-based executive producer role, and reducing the programme\u2019s production team from five roles to three,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese changes are part of RNZ\u2019s broader work to strengthen live audience engagement while ensuring programmes remain financially sustainable. <\/p>\n

\u201cMoving the programme\u2019s presentation and production to Auckland will also enable closer collaboration with RNZ\u2019s wider audio teams and make the most of our new Auckland facilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Forbes told Media Insider today that she was grateful for her time in the Saturday Morning chair since August 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m all right, it\u2019s fine. I really just have a lot of aroha for anyone who loses their roles in this kind of horrible environment of the media at the moment because it\u2019s pretty tough,\u201d Forbes said.<\/p>\n

On her own role, she said: \u201cIt\u2019s been a pleasure really, and it\u2019s been a really awesome opportunity for me to sit in the chair, gain some new skills, and work with some amazing people.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said change was hard, but she was fortunate to have other work that she could now focus on – Forbes has her own production company, Aotearoa Media Collective, alongside Anabelle Lee-Mather.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll just go back and refocus with Annabelle and do all the mahi that we do over there.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully, there are some more opportunities in the future with RNZ – we have a pretty good relationship with RNZ through all of our Mata [work].\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MihingarangiMihingarangi Forbes and Annabelle Lee-Mather own production company Aotearoa Media Collective.<\/p>\n

RNZ initially met Saturday Morning staff, including Ferguson and Forbes, in June to outline the proposed changes. Sources say staff were left shocked.<\/p>\n

Like some other RNZ shows, such as the weekday Morning Report, Saturday Morning has had challenging recent ratings.<\/p>\n

Its total audience is 169,100, according to the latest GFK survey. That was a drop of 10,000 on the same comparable 8am-12pm period of the previous survey.<\/p>\n

Audiences had fallen in Auckland and Wellington but were up slightly in Christchurch, according to the GFK data.<\/p>\n

Potential names in the mix to host the show include Paddy Gower and Nights host Emile Donovan. <\/p>\n

The RNZ spokeswoman said today that Saturday Morning remained \u201can important part of RNZ\u2019s schedule, and our focus is on building on the programme\u2019s strengths while ensuring its long-term sustainability. We are now working with affected staff and supporting them through the transition\u201d.<\/p>\n

RNZ is understood to have met with staff from the show today \u2013 it is 51 days since they were presented with an initial proposal outlining the possibility of major format changes.<\/p>\n

Staff have been in an extended feedback and consultation process since mid-June. <\/p>\n

That consultation ended last week.<\/p>\n

News tip? Feedback? Please email shayne.currie@nzme.co.nz<\/p>\n

RNZ confirmed in June that it had presented a proposal to staff<\/a> that involved a reduction in overall roles, in part to help make the show \u201cfinancially sustainable\u201d.<\/p>\n

It is understood the current 8am-12pm show has a mix of full and part-timers, split between Auckland and Wellington.<\/p>\n

The broadcaster has been seeking feedback from staff \u2013 including presenters and producers \u2013 on the proposed changes, including fully relocating the show to Auckland.<\/p>\n

In an email to staff today – leaked to Media Insider – RNZ chief people officer Sarah Neilson said the company would be working with affected staff \u201con next steps for them individually\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cSaturday Morning has been a much-loved part of RNZ for many years, and that won\u2019t change. Our focus now is building on its strengths while ensuring it continues to remain sustainable into the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the full move to Auckland, Neilson told staff: \u201cCo-locating the programme\u2019s presentation and production to Auckland will provide greater access to audiences, communities, content opportunities, audience insights, and collaboration with other RNZ audio and audio leadership teams. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe consider that these factors would better support the programme\u2019s audience growth objectives than a model where leadership and production responsibilities are distributed across locations. We can also leverage our new Auckland facilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand\u2019s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThe changes include recruiting a new presenter for Saturday Morning, establishing a new Auckland-based executive producer role, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":561305,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[95,93609,430,7123,156,273,5820,16049,1333,305,12022,2936,5836,1073,272283,1304,117,111,139,16546,69,1118,251703,4482,45,3599,1534,312,58218,117722,7563,61],"class_list":["post-561304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-and","tag-aroha","tag-celebrities","tag-current","tag-entertainment","tag-environment","tag-ferguson","tag-forbes","tag-get","tag-have","tag-host","tag-insider","tag-lost","tag-media","tag-mihingarangi","tag-morning","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nothing","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-pairing","tag-replace","tag-rnz","tag-roles","tag-saturday","tag-says","tag-single","tag-susie","tag-those","tag-to"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=561304"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561304\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/561305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=561304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=561304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=561304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}