Community radio sacks a good sport

The Community Radio Hamilton board has pulled the plug on one of its most experienced presenters, causing friction among trustees.

Walter Blackburn's Saturday morning show The Sports Breakfast was taken off air last Saturday for the first time since he took it on six years ago.

The station's general manager says the action was taken because Mr Blackburn didn't meet the conditions of being a volunteer at the station.

But Mr Blackburn says community radio standards have declined with more responsibility taken away from volunteer broadcasters.

The stoush appears to have started when a newsletter sent to broadcasters at the end of January questioned the need for a Community Broadcasters' Society, a committee representing broadcasters if they need help with any conflicts. This outraged Mr Blackburn, who called it "the foundation of community radio".

"I like procedures and I like them black and white," said the former presenter, who has a reputation for demanding accountability from authority on his shows. As a result he wrote a series of letters to the board of trustees passionately outlining his stance.

The board eventually met Mr Blackburn only to give him an ultimatum and four guidelines, regarding his behaviour, that he had to agree to.

A disillusioned Mr Blackburn did not respond and received an email from general manager Phil Grey revoking his broadcasting privileges.

But trustee Melvan Driscoll is firmly against the decision and voiced his anger through a letter to the Waikato Times, in which he wrote "someone purporting to act with the authority of the trust has silenced Walter".

Mr Driscoll, who described himself as "a listener, broadcaster and trustee; in that order", was appalled by the decision to get rid of Mr Blackburn.

"I still don't know who pulled the plug on behalf of the trustees. There was no resolution by the trust at any formally constituted meeting to exercise that power," he said.

Board chair Lorraine Hooper said Mr Driscoll was present at all of the meetings and she had made the final decision on behalf of the board.

Mr Blackburn said community radio had declined drastically since his initial involvement, with more and more responsibility taken away from the volunteer broadcasters.

"Access Radio was set up for broadcasters to make their own programmes and we had a more active role as to what was on air. The trustees have usurped that role," he said.

He cited issues like the increasing number of pre-recorded shows, the lack of live crosses to community events and heavily scripted shows as symptoms of its decline but both Mr Grey and Mrs Hooper denied having any involvement in dictating the content of programmes.

Mr Grey wanted to make clear "his [Mr Blackburn] removal was 100 per cent unrelated to the content of his radio shows".

Winston Hooper, a contributor for long-time sponsor Hamilton Workingmen's Club, said: "He [Mr Blackburn] has done a great job and it's just a shame ... he provided a very good service for a wide range of sports."

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