No awards for Radio NZ staff

An e-mail sent to all Radio NZ staff today:

2010 New Zealand Radio Awards

This is to advise you that due to budgetary constraints Radio New Zealand has – reluctantly – withdrawn from this year’s New Zealand Radio Awards. As you know, Radio New Zealand’s funding was frozen in this year’s Budget and we have been forced to implement a range of cost-saving measures to offset an increase in non-discretionary overheads totalling $1.5 million in the current financial year.

Unfortunately the New Zealand Radio Awards carry significant entry costs for Radio New Zealand and the decision to temporarily withdraw has been made to protect expenditure on core services. This decision will be reviewed after the 2010 Budget.

Peter Cavanagh
Chief Executive and Editor-in-Chief

I understand the staff are less than impressed.