Thanks Brent, it's been magic
Queenstown's mayor Glyn Lewers is guest on the last-ever Outlet Queenstown podcast this week.
Hosted by Brent Harbour, the podcast launched back in March 2023 on the Lakes Weekly Bulletin and Queenstown App, and has clocked more than 70 episodes, chatting to fascinating locals, including sports stars, fundraisers, volunteers, politicians, businesspeople and events organisers.
Affable Brent has also recorded scores of other podcasts for affiliated Wānaka App, Central App and the Southland App.
The popular podcast was partially-funded by the $55m Public Interest Journalism Fund (PIJF), which was made available under the Labour government to support media through the Covid-19 induced downturn.
With that funding now coming to an end, this will be the last episode, with Brent moving on to a new position with an Auckland radio station.
Brent and the mayor discuss the tough times for media in New Zealand, with redundancies across local and national print newspapers, TV and online.
"It's been a real difficult time, this year in particular," Brent says. "I mean seeing the closure of Newshub, and I worked at TV3 for a while, just all around the place people are losing their jobs. It's not just one particular company, it's everybody."
NZME has just announced plans to close almost all its free local papers in the North Island, as the industry battles social media apps for advertising dollars, while locally Crux has massively scaled back its operation.
"I just worry about that regional voice that's always been there in New Zealand," Brent says, "and [that] we're just going to get a national focus."
Brent and Glyn also discuss the past year of council work, including much-maligned infrastructure improvement work, and what's to come for 2025, including Central Government's Regional Deals and the future of Wānaka Airport.
