Love him or hate him, and these days there seems to be much more love than hate, you can't deny that Paul Holmes has been an extraordinary contributor to New Zealand broadcasting. Paul will do his last breakfast shift at Newstalk ZB this Friday (December 19). His show has been number one in the the Auckland market for most of its 22 years of existence, and this year it hit number one in Wellington for the first time as well. Forty-three successive ratings surveys have had Paul at number one in the tough Auckland market. In his last survey, he had 20.9 per cent of the market. The second highest rating station had six per cent. That's all pretty incredible.
Paul also had 15 years of television success with his nightly current affairs show Holmes. Yes he's had his ups and downs with both his television and radio careers, not to mention his colourful personal life, but there is really no-one else to rival him in his NZ broadcasting success. He's been a pioneer of a certain style of populist current affairs that he does so well and with such heart that you can't help but be captivated.
Newstalk ZB boss Bill Francis has handled Paul's departure from Breakfast brilliantly. He has an excellent successor in Mike Hosking; the succession plan was announced a long time ago to give listeners a chance to get used to the idea; and Paul will still have a role with ZB, contributing some words of wisdom to Breakfast every morning, and taking over the Saturday morning show that Hosking does now. TVNZ could learn from Francis and ZB in how to manage dignified exits for veteran broadcasters.
Good luck in your new life, Paul. You will be missed, and your legend will live on.
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