Parliament radio set to go silent, ending nearly 90 years of broadcast

Speaker Adrian Rurawhe may be the last Speaker to be heard over Parliament's radio broadcast. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Don’t adjust your dial - you might be looking for something that no longer exists.

Parliament is looking for ways to save money as budget pressures bite and Clerk of the House David Wilson told a select committee on Wednesday that one area of cost saving would be to sever the broadcasting of Parliament over the AM radio network, ending 87 years of broadcasts .

The switch-off could come as soon as the beginning of the next fiscal year which begins on July 1, 2023, unless additional funding is found in the Budget.

Parliamentary trainspotters will still be able to get their fix: Proceedings are broadcast on television, and streamed in audio and visual formats online. Parliament even comes in a podcast form.

Appearing before Parliament’s governance and administration committee, Wilson said that he “had no desire to cut off the radio broadcast, but I can’t see anything else we could do that would save Parliament money”.

Money spent on the broadcasts was significant, costing more than $1m.

“Unfortunately, with the Budget as it is, something will have to go,” Wilson said.

“If we keep it, the Office is going to spend more money than the Parliament gives it.”

Radio broadcasting began in 1936 with the opening of the 25th Parliament.

Wilson told the Herald that RNZ currently manages the contract for the broadcasts.

This job involves not just broadcasting Parliament over the radio, but also managing audio levels in the chamber itself. Parliament would have to find some other way of running audio in the house if the contract were not renewed.

Wilson said the future of Parliament over the radio “really does depend on the current Budget round”.

“If there is no increase to funding that [the end of radio broadcasts] does unfortunately look like what will happen.

“It would be a great shame.

“I would really like it to continue, but I can’t do that and provide the other services to Parliament.”

Wilson said that of all the ways people watched and listened to Parliament, radio was believed to have the lowest ratings.

“We don’t have great data about it because it’s not very easy to gather, but as I understand it does have the lowest viewer or listenership, but probably it does have a skewing to an older listenership.”