He's hung up his headphones to come to Wanganui and is not missing that 4.30am call from the alarm clock one little bit.
Craig Hanford has spent the past four years at Mediaworks in Kapiti, as both breakfast-show radio host and operations manager. He's now the general manager at Mediaworks in
Wanganui, based on the third floor of the Community House building on Victoria Ave and with nine staff.
"I'm enjoying the challenge so far," he said.
The changes to Wanganui since he last visited have been a pleasant surprise.
"It's now a really pretty place to live. People are very passionate about Wanganui. They're almost as parochial as Cantabrians."
Four radio stations are run from Mediaworks in Wanganui. Best-known is probably More FM, with breakfast hosts Sue Miller and Jason Granville.
"It's fun, it's local and it's really community involved."
Then there's Radio Live, with Michael Laws broadcasting his talkback show from one of those third-floor studios.
The other two stations are Solid Gold and The Rock, both broadcast from Auckland, but with Wanganui advertising inserted.
Mr Hanford said Sue Miller had been More FM's best-known voice for 23 years, and she wrote its local news as well.
"We're very lucky to have her. She's the glue that holds the place together."
His plan for More was to keep it out and about in the community, and for its advertising sales people to take advantage of the return to prosperity as the recession ends. He said that was starting to happen.
"We are just cruising out of the doldrums. It's going to be a long, slow climb, but people are just starting to feel it, especially in retail."
As well as its on-air presence, the business has embraced the internet. Mr Hanford said it had news and programming online and a Facebook presence.
Mediaworks is owned by Australian company Ironbridge Investments.
