Merv Smith to leave 1ZB

Press, 5 January 1987, Page 6

Merv Smith to leave 1ZB

PA Auckland Merv Smith, a wellknown Auckland broadcaster, is switching from Radio New Zealand to the Auckland private station, Radio i. Smith has been Radio IZB’s early bird breakfast show host for 25 years. He said he was leaving the station because changes to the programme’s format were interferring with what he would like to Play. “I like gentle, countrystyle music without too many screaming guitars,” he said. Smith said that he was tempted to Radio i by the “easy listening music” and greater freedom to plan his own show. “Radio New Zealand has always been very strict, but Radio i does not see things quite the same way,” he said. He will leave IZB on January 27 and plans to start on the Radio i breakfast show late in Febru-

ary. After 30 years with Radio New Zealand, Smith said that he was unhappy to make the break, but there was no acrimony between him and the station. “I have always said that stations are bigger than the announcers. There were changes being made that did not suit me so it was time for me to leave,” he said. The station manager for IZB, Mr Brent Harman, said Smith’s resignation last Thursday was like a “bolt from the blue.” The changes to the breakfast show format were prompted by the increasingly fragmented and competitive radio market, he said. “While the audience wants Merv Smith, they also want regular and comprehensive news bulletins, sports, weather and traffic information,” he said.