Facing the music

To listen to Mozart's music, said 19th-century piano virtuoso Ferruccio Busoni, was to perceive ``the uninterrupted melodiousness which shimmers through his compositions like the lovely forms of a woman through the folds of a thin dress''.

On the day I tuned into New Zealand's only classical music station, Radio New Zealand (RNZ) Concert, the aural equivalent of scantily clad voluptuousness was sadly absent. No matter; Brahms, Grieg and Handel sufficed.

Later, the station played New Zealand composer Alfred Hill. I didn't care for his string quartet (No2 in G minor), but an important part of the station's brief is to give local classical music an airing.

The cost to the taxpayer for this service is about $5 million and, in a climate of public sector austerity, it's fair to question the value to taxpayers this spending represents.  All state spending is under scrutiny. Concert is small beer compared to the $27m budget given to news big brother, RNZ National, and the $39m TVNZ receives.

The difference, of course, is TVNZ pulls in an extra $298m in advertising revenue and more than $45m from other sources. By contrast, Concert and National Radio are almost wholly reliant on taxpayer funding.

There is no question Radio New Zealand gives value for money. It is far and away the best provider of broadcast news, in my opinion, in terms of breadth of content, political and economic analysis and coverage of news events.

It won station of the year, beating its commercial rivals at the radio awards and consistently dominates the Qantas Media Awards.

The private radio sector, by comparison, is failing to deliver a quality news service, preferring the opinionated slant of Paul Holmes, Mike Hosking, Marcus Lush and the like.

Newstalk ZB is further undermining its performance by shedding up to nine staff from its roster. Radio Live continues to be grossly under-resourced, although quite what happened to its content-sharing agreement with the state-owned broadcaster is unclear.

In terms of audience share, RNZ National also dominates, boosting the number of listeners to more than half a million, a 17.5 per cent share of all radio listeners aged 15 and over, according to its annual report.

Concert, however, is continuing to decline, down to a still-respectable 201,000, or 7 per cent share.

The Radio Network's Newstalk is top commercial radio dog, with 439,000 listeners, while Mediaworks' The Edge is second with 409,000.

It's worth noting that RNZ pays for a separate listener numbers survey, as its competitors don't want the state broadcaster skewing its figures, which are important to advertisers.

RNZ is a relatively cheap service, as a ministerial-commissioned report by KPMG shows. The Radio New Zealand Baseline Funding Report says the broadcaster is severely under-funded and under-resourced, and it needs an additional $6.7m to $7.6m to meet its charter obligations.

It also found the network delivered its outputs efficiently and there were limited opportunities to boost third-party revenue, meaning the state should cough up if it wants a comparable level of service to continue.

Certainly, staffing costs are anorexic in comparison to the private sector, apart from chief executive Peter Cavanagh's $340,000-plus package. The next five top-paid employees  surely comprising the chief operating officer, financial officer and broadcasting stars such as Kim Hill and Sean Plunket  pull in  $120,000 to $169,000. Another seven (heads of department, senior announcers, perhaps) are paid $100,000 to $110,000. Holmes and Hosking wouldn't get out of bed for that money.

Now, according to news reports, a pay freeze has been implemented and RNZ is looking at ways to cut $1.5m from its budget. This is disturbing,  as a quality national news service is important as a check on government and corporate power, plays a fundamental part in the functioning of democracy and a crucial role in providing New Zealanders with a forum in which to participate.

Broadcasting Minister Jonathan Coleman has all but said there's no extra money in the kitty, which is why the Government should look again at RNZ Concert and perhaps sell the station. Its $5m budget would certainly go a long way to meeting RNZ National's funding woes.

In Britain, one of the most successful commercial radio stations is Concert FM, which broadcasts through Europe and attracts significant advertising.

Even if the private sector didn't want to buy Concert, arguments for its retention are weaker than for its news sibling. After all, if someone wants to hear Mozart, they can play some vinyl, CDs or go online.

Sure, Concert performs other important functions, particularly its recording and broadcast of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and the Auckland Philharmonia, but these could be met through New Zealand On Air.

But there is no comparable alternative to the consistent excellence of RNZ National and if New Zealanders care about a decent news service then hard decisions have to be made.

It is time, perhaps, to let the private sector provide classical music and for Concert's share of public money to go to RNZ National. I'm sure a pay rise would be welcome and deserved.

Nick Smith is a senior financial journalist.