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  • I'm James Cridland, the radio futurologist.

  • I’ve just been on holiday to New Zealand. MediaWorks operates the national newstalk

  • station Radio Live, and I tuned into the morning show, simply called Paul Henry.

  • With regular news bulletins, guests and interviews, Paul Henry presents the archetypal morning

  • radio program. He sounds warm and friendly, and has a good rapport with his guests, who

  • clearly know him well.

  • The program sounds great. While the station’s on FM throughout much of New Zealand, the

  • station almost sounds as if it’s on AM - with nice, beefy microphones that give a proper

  • punchy processed sound that’s warm and easy to listen to. The program has some tight imaging;

  • news and sports segments are enhanced by actuality and soundbites, and the whole thing sounds

  • like a really well-produced radio show.

  • But. I didn’t listen on the radio. I watched the whole thing on

  • the TV.

  • AMP also own the national television network TV3, which also takes the Paul Henry show.

  • This program, which sounds so good on the radio, actually comes from a television studio.

  • The guests sit round a table, with big chunky microphones in front of them. Those microphones

  • are the only real visual nod to radio - the studio is brightly lit, and Paul and his guests

  • mainly use autocue. The news or sports bulletins look, well, like you expect them to look on

  • the television. You can’t see any evidence of headphones or headsets; the program contains

  • none of the normal paraphenalia of radio studios.

  • It was an impressive experience. A telephone interview was excellently handled, with visuals

  • on the screen while the interview went on. A segment calledThe Panel”, which contained

  • a, um, panel of three commentators, sounded great and looked fantastic. The sports headlines

  • were covered in a pacy style that worked well in visuals and audio alike. It was clearly

  • radio-led from an editorial standpoint, but that’s probably no bad thing.

  • Ultimately, this reflects that breakfast television is mostly listened-to, rather than watched.

  • Good Morning America or any other typical morning show on the television could make

  • for a great radio show too. Start watching on the television in the kitchen, and keep

  • listening on the way to work. It sounds pretty simple to me: so I wonder why it’s so comparatively

  • rare.

  • This was probably the first time I’ve watched a great radio programme - one that sounded

  • like a great radio programme, but was on the television. And what a shame that it’s only

  • available in a tiny country like New Zealand: because MediaWorks are really showing how

  • to make great use of the content they already have.

  • So if you ever fancy a holiday, you should probably come over to New Zealand. The beer’s

  • great, there’s lots to do, and the television has some great radio on it.

  • You can get my free weekly newsletter at james.crid.land and until next time, keep listening

I'm James Cridland, the radio futurologist.

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